Issue Three: 14 dudes 14 carts

The state of the how well the inaugural season of the NEOGL would go was uncertain in the beginning: Will it gain traction? Will COVID-19 put a damper on it? Do we really, actually like golf? Well…the second official outing was hopefully an indication with 14 people showing up for a round of shitty golf at Springvale Golf Course in North Olmsted, Ohio on a chilly Saturday morning. Again, we had the usuals…Miller, Bret, Phil, Jim, Mario, and Kyle. We also had some newer faces from the two weeks before return...Jimmy F and Rob. And then we had a slue of newcomers…Ben Grimaldi, Eric (Mario’s buddy), Kyle Kerner, Nathan (unsure who recruited you for the group), and West G alums and brothers-by-law Danny Cappelucci and Travis Wright.

Team pairings were as follows:

Group One

Danny-Travis

Group Two

Kyle K -JFish

Rob-Nathan***

Group Three

Mario-Kyle

Ben-Eric*

Group Four

Phil-Jim

Miller-Bret

(*) – one stroke given

(***) – three strokes given

Prior to tee off, handicaps were set as indicated above. The boys also agreed to the following bets: Overall Score ($10), Closest to pin ($10), and Money ball ($10). Some bet, some did not.

Now onto the results...there were more teams and more newcomers. Thus, the round was destined to be interesting. Danny and Travis were in a group on their own and seemed to finish before Miller even arrived at the course. They came in with an honest 8-over 78, which would tie them for third on the day. With no team to play with, it was hard to gauge how they were doing throughout the round. Two bogeys out of the gates on the first and second hole and +4 over a three hole stretch on #8, 9, and 10 was seemed to be the difference for them. They did however pick up one birdie on #7, in which no other team picked up more than two birdies on the day.

Kyle K. and Jimmy F. had a pretty good day as well finishing an 8-over 78 with back-to-back birdies on #6 and 7. The last three holes were definitely the difference for them as they finished 5-over over that span and 2 off of what would be the best score of the day. A highlight for them was a closest to the pin on #6, which would also end up being a birdie. Let’s all seriously congratulate them for one-putting…which is a rarity for the majority of us.

Rob and Nathan had a decent day compared to expectations. They finished the front nine tied for fourth and had a three hole, bogey-free stretch during #7, 8 and 9. Overall, they finished 10-over (80).

Mario and Kyle had a good day, finishing tied for the best score with an 8-over (78). The first eleven holes were great. Two birdies and a two-stroke lead on second place at the time. Life was great. Then they collapsed faster than the Dow Jones in late February. Going 7-over through the last seven holes lost them the sole lead on the day. Kyle lost the money ball after hitting a tree and launching the ball 50 yards into the woods.

Ben and Eric came in as a pairing of what was thought to be the best and worst golfers of the bunch. Ben, thought to be the worst of the bunch, had some monster drives and decent approaches…and definitely had us questioning his initial assessment of his skill level. Ben’s short game though is a WIP…as is most of ours. Eric was a heck of a player, really picking up on the back 9 with Ben and Eric posting the lowest score on the back 9 and tying for first overall.

Phil and Jim started out of the gate slow with a double bogey and did not really recover from there with a 42 on both the front and back nine, finishing in last in overall score. Although they came in last overall, they ended up with the most winnings ($) overall…winning 3 of 4 par threes on the day. I won’t mention that all four of their par three’s were both two putts (there were only two birdies overall on a par three), but a win is a win boys! You say Michael Jordan Rules? There may have to be Phil-Jim rules on the par threes so they don’t keep winning! They have taken five of eight overall par threes across all competitions. Hell of a statistic.

Miller and Bret rounded out the outing due to Miller showing up last…per usual. Bret is always claiming they need strokes, but they proved again that they are one of the top teams…finishing tied for first. A birdie on the par three #6 was a highlight of the day along with being the only team not to post a double bogey or worse. They were as consistent as they come on the day.

Overall results on the day:

Overall score:

Tied for first at +6 (76): Kyle/Mario, Ben/Eric, Miller/Bret

Moneyball: Kyle K/Jim F, Miller/Bret

Par Threes: Phil/Jim S (3), Kyle K/Jim F (1)