Never let it be said the MountainView/Preserve Men's Golf Association (MPMGA) golfers are afraid of a little heat! In the last few weeks, temperatures have routinely reached highs of over 100 degrees, and yet, the MPMGA always finds a quorum of golfers who are willing to sweat it out in the quest of golf perfection. I’m thinking that the sunlight might have fried our brains just a little.
While heat records were falling in the U.S., I thought a relaxing cruise on the Danube River through eastern Europe would provide some relief. I was never so wrong. Just so you know, 38 degrees Celsius is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. That number was met often on my 12-day tour. To make matters much, much worse, due to those high temps and an extended drought throughout Europe, the Danube was so shallow that riverboats weren’t able to float down the river. My river cruise turned into a bus tour (with very nice hotels along the way, but still a bus tour). We were thankful to arrive safely in 111-degree Phoenix. But it’s a dry heat!
Back to golf... My team made a mess of the last tournament I played in on Thursday, July 23. At the time you miss an 18-inch putt, you fear that miss will cost you money. Sure enough, we were one stroke out of the money, but we shared the blame equally. The winners of the two flights aren’t important here, since they have already been glorified in another newspaper. On Thursday, July 30, the tournament was a team Stableford format. First flight winners were Terry Martell, Michael Greville, Mark Dopheide, and Grant Farquhar with a nifty score of 144 points. Randy Ross, David Jones, George Kaplan, and Rick Cole took first place honors in the second flight, and the third flight was won by Alan Doan, Bruce Twining, Darryl Henderson, and Eric Sensiba. The two-man Chapman Scramble on Friday, August 7 was the last tournament completed before my writing deadline, so I suppose the winners have already spent their big bucks. First flight winners were Edward Hashim and Tim Ward. Mike Bershaw and Jim White won the second flight. Mark Kochan and Chuck Kelsey won the third flight, while the fourth flight ended in a tie between Ric Hayward, Aaron Jacobus, Terry McCarthy and Kevin Haverstock.
It won’t be long until we are relegated to playing just one course while the other is overseeded. This takes place in September and October and will be completed just in time for the return of our dear, departed snowbirds. I’m hoping for just a few days of oppressive heat to show them what they’ve been missing out on!
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