TSGLeague.com

The Amen Corner

A Weekly Compilation of the

Ocean City Thursday Senior Golf League

by Mike Hirsh 

September 17, 2015

Reiff’s Hole in One Highlights Ocean City Thursday Senior Golf League’s 2015 Tournament

       On September 17th, a beautiful, sunny, late summer day forty members of the Ocean City Thursday Senior Golf League teed off at Mays Landing C.C. to contest the last outing of the 2015 season. In a fitting climax to an amazing golf year Eric Reiff’s spectacular hole in one at the par 3, 127 yard, 12th hole highlighted a fun and well contested Stableford tournament. Members of Eric’s foursome said “his drive landed about 6 feet from the hole before rolling into the cup.”Upon speaking to Eric he said “when I made the hole in one I was happy, but not overly excited, but as more and more people congratulated me during the round I did become more excited about my first hole in one.”Even though no one heard it, for those of us who love golf, we can imagine how magical the sound of that ball hitting the bottom of the cup must have been.

       Golf Digest has been tracking hole in one statistics for over 60 years and has calculated the odds of an amateur of making a hole in one one at 12,500 to 1. By the way, in comparison, a professional golfer is 5 times more likely to make a hole in one than an amateur, which seems low to me. Anyway, each year approximately150,000 hole in ones are recorded, which seems like a very large number until you realize it takes over 490 million rounds of golf to achieve this! All of this makes one wonder how many retirees are playing golf and is anyone working? These stats are fascinating because I was originally a math major at Temple U. —GO OWLS! Sorry, for the sneaky segue, but how often has Temple beaten Penn State in football? Temple fans are living the dream. Even more amazingly then beating Penn State, the Thursday Senior Golf League has produced several hole in ones over the years. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to complete my research before the deadline for submitting this column, but I promise you the names of those duffers will appear in a future column.

       Not to go on a tangent, folks, but one of the most amazing items I found while researching hole in one data was about Elise McLean of Chico, CA who scored a 100 yard hole in one in 2007. Now you may be thinking, “yea, what is the big deal?”It’s not a big deal until you find out she was 102 years old when she did it! The odds? Beyond astronomical. Any way, as someone who hasn’t gotten a hole in one yet, my hope is renewed because I have lot’s of time to do it. I dream of making a hole in one at age 100, taking the ball out of the hole, dropping dead on the spot, afterwards, walking towards Bagger Vance, the mythical golf guru in the movie of the same name, who is off in the distance standing on a hill in front of a setting sun. Beautiful!

       Sorry for digressing, but back to the tournament. Teams composed of four players from each of the three different handicap flights (A the lowest, B and C the highest) used the Stableford scoring system whereby an albatross is worth 5 points, an eagle is worth 4 points, a birdie is worth 3 points, a par 2 points and a bogie 1 point. I wonder why when the scoring was explained to the players I don’t recall points for an albatross were given? Ye of little faith. The individual player handicaps are used to determine the team composition. The team with the highest point total is declared the winner. Besides the first four teams receiving prizes, awards were also given to the golfers who were closest to the pin on the four par 3-holes. Did I mention that Eric Reiff made a hole one? The tournament was highly contested with just eight points separating the top four teams, three points separating the first and second place teams and one point separating the 3rd and 4th place teams. Obviously, the difference between first and second was Reiff’s hole in one, which was worth four points. In all, only three or four scoring shots appear to be the difference between the first and 4th place teams. This was the first time I had played this format finding it to be not only a lot fun but also very competitive throughout the whole match because the chance of a team scoring big on any one hole was always a distinct possibility and could have changed the whole outcome of the tournament.

       After the tournament a barbecue and buffet was served to the hungry and thirsty golfers by the Mays Landing food service, and as always it was plentiful and very good. During the luncheon, awards were made to the winning teams, who were:

First Place (38 points)        Team Boles                

           Dick Boles, Eric Reiff, John Benedek, Ken Lehberger

Second Place (35 Points)   Team Martinson

Tom Martinson, Jack Keenan, Frank Pizzutilla, Dave Pessano

Third Place (32 Points)        Team Decker

Ted Decker, Terry Lothian, Bob Ganskopp, Ron Denny

Third Place (31 Points)        Team Cancro

Art Cancro, Chuck Barry, Al MAlatesta, Jerry Kilkenny

The winners for the Closest to the Pin were:

Number 2 —Chuck Barry

Number 8 —Jack Thomas

Number 12 —Eric Reiff (HOLE IN ONE)

Number 15 —Tom Martinson

       Personally, I know how much work and effort must be dedicated to a successful tournament, and this tournament was a hole in one in all aspects —from the team compositions, to selecting the Stableford format, to the barbecue luncheon and to the prizes and all the other little, behind the scenes details that had to be resolved . For myself and all the membership I want to say thank you and congratulate the two gentlemen who ran the tournament Dick Boles and Joe Higgins. Gentlemen, figuratively, take your well deserved bows.

       For the TSGL the season is over and we are left with memories, both good and bad, but like my remembrances of boot camp at MCRD PI, where I tend to recall only the funny and goofy things that happened I only remember the good shots that keep bringing me back to the course not the bad ones —it was a great season, and can’t wait for it to start again next April. Even though the season is over at Mays Landing, the league has gotten a reprieve it is is being extended for three weeks in October at Greate Bay in Somers Point. Plus, an end of year can’t miss banquet is being held at Mays Landing C.C. where food, libations and dancing will mark the evening. The irrepressible Chuck Barry will DJ —that alone should be worth the price of admission. For information go to the TSGL website home

       I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Chuck Barry, who wrote this column, for four years, has assumed other responsibilities with the Ocean City Thursday Senior Golf League, therefore, he won’t be penning this weekly column anymore, and on behalf of our membership and myself I would like the offer Chuck a HUGE THANK YOU for everything you did to pen this column and promote the Golf League. Hopefully, as time passes I will be able to create a column that you, the readers, find as interesting as when Chuck wrote the column and approach it with as much enthusiasm and humor Chuck put into every column. Chuck, good luck!

       Another valued member of the Board is stepping down Bob Ganskopp, who was the Director of Finance and Administration. Again having served as a board member and President of our homeowner’s association where I live I know how much time and effort Bob put in behind the scenes that the members had no idea was happening to ensure the TSGL ran as smoothly and efficiently in all areas that it did. THANK YOU, BOB and good luck!

       Readers, until next time thank you and if you don’t have time to play 18 make the time. As my best friend always said “I don’t ever want to look back with regrets for things I wish I had done but didn’t —life isn’t a dress rehearsal!”

Dan, thank you!