Diary of A Kansas Golf Fanatic:2014 Edition

Relatively mild weather got the 2014 golf year going in January. The 20th would mark the single largest highlight of the year, playing my 5,000the round of golf. The day was spent at the “Jewel of South Central Kansas,” Quail Ridge Golf Course. Over 90% of my rounds have been played at this great course. Sixty of my sixty-five first quarter rounds would be at Quail Ridge with only Newkirk and Elkhart also receiving play. The Newkirk rounds were uncomfortable as they only happened when Quail Ridge was closed due to weather. Only Newkirk, Springfield, Colorado, and Thousand Hills in Branson joined Quail Ridge as playing sites during the second quarter. The year was not overly artistic as April and June held the only two times I broke 40 for nine holes all year long. The loss of length (I was never more than average) has put a lot of pressure on the rest of my game so low scores became difficult and a distant memory in the past. Only Ark City’s Spring Hill and Kansas City’s Maple Park Course kept my play from being exclusively Quail Ridge during the third quarter. A new challenge emerged in August as I developed a sore hip, had three chiropractic treatments, and starting using a push cart to carry my clubs. My goal of 300 rounds looked distant at that point. The third quarter play also gave me some of the most fun for the year. Our church’s missionary to Scotland, Dan McCaskill, was home and we played five or six times. All of the golf wasn’t artistic (actually none of it was) but the fellowship on the course was great! Dan invited me to play golf in Scotland on December 2, but I dad to pass on the offer this time. Someday!!!!! I also had the privilege of playing nine with Rod Gregory and Ernie Kanitz. The memories of the day the course opened came back, but our games were much different 22 years later. Eighteen holes at Sim Golf Course in Wichita was my only departure from Quail Ridge during the last quarter of the year. It was nice to play once again where I had learned to play, but it made me appreciate what local golfers have. Our course is still an A+ course and Jeff Aldrich and his crew do an outstanding job caring for the course. Jim and Marcia Wheatcroft and staff are friendly and go out of their way to get us on the course for play. I once gave course availability a C, but would now give it an A. In the Summer earlier times would be nice, but I no longer believe more play would be accomplished. Golf play is down, unfortunately. 2014 ended up being a year of second bests. 332 rounds was second to 2012’s 346 and playing Quail Ridge 315 times was also second toe 324 times in 2012. 2014 activity did bring my three year total to 1,006 a level I will never again accomplish. My Quail Ridge total added up to 4,889 leaving me just 111 short of my goal of 5,000 times. The only downside to 2014 besides my sore hip was less times playing with the Grand kids. Girlfriends, boyfriends, cars, jobs, and school had lessened their availability. Only two golf goals for 2015: more rounds with the Grand kids and reaching 5,000 sometime in May. On to 2015!!!!!!

Quail Ridge: Thanks for the Memories

On July 17th 1992 Quail Ridge Golf Course opened to the public and with it an era of golf that Cowley County had never experienced. With the first tee time on that warm Friday morning Rod Gregory, Ernie Kanitz. and I experienced the course for the first time. Twenty years later the course with its Scottish highlands style and undulating greens is still a challenge to golfers of all abilities. One of the more humorous events of that first day was my second shot at #1 3(now #3). I hit a six iron to about six feet only to be told that the green I aimed at was #17 (now #8). I then took aim at the proper green only to see the ball disappear into the creek. Instead of a putt for a birdie three I had to settle for a double bogie six. Such is golf. Over the next six years Rod Gregory, Lowell Hargrove, the late Floyd Willis, and I played as a group 46-47 Saturdays out of the year. We didn’t always play artistic golf but we always had fun. When Rod moved to Florida and I started teaching on Saturdays, the group was no more and a special time had passed. Former PGA and Canadian PGA professional Mike Hammond managed the course for thirteen years and in the late 90’s the course was recognized as the #2 public course in Kansas. When Mike left after 13 years his assistant Ryan Kyger managed the course for a couple years. Currently Jim and Marcia Wheatcroft manage the clubhouse and Kevin Kamphaus is superintendent of the grounds crew. As the years went by my golf became more of an individual outing. From time to time one or more of my grandchildren would join me and it became a family activity. The first time my Grandson Josh McIver played we stopped at the second tee. He leaned over and said “can we keep this?” He was asking if we could keep the cart. When I told him no he was mildly disappointed but came back to play many times. Some changes have happened throughout the years. What was the front nine is now the back nine and vice versa. The housing development surrounds the course and in some places gives unintentional targets for wild golf shots. Trees have grown and become obstacles, making the course even a little more difficult. Some things have remained the same or at least similar. Last year the course was ranked #5 nationally based upon city size, fees, and other demographics. The quality of the course and its maintenance is still at a high level and ready for the next twenty years. Next Tuesday, July 17th , Ernie Kanitz and I will once again take to the course to start the 21st year. The balls will fly shorter, but the enjoyment will still be great. Happy Birthday Quail Ridge and as the great Bob Hope used to say, “thanks for the memories.”

2012: Diary of a Kansas Golf Fanatic

2012 started with mild weather and I soon started thinking in terms of beating my 2006 record of 324 golf rounds. For me a normal round of golf is nine holes. I’ve often said I get enough frustration in nine holes to last until next time. Most of the time I play two or three balls per hole so I get my swings in! The first quarter started quietly with all of my golf played at Quail Ridge Golf Course, Winfield, Kansas. I would play 24 times in January, 20 in February, and 27 in March. Playing 71 of 91 days was challenging, especially on the cooler, windier days. Actually the only thing unusual about the first quarter was that six of my twelve nines braking forty strokes were in the first quarter. April included play at several Kansas courses, including Spring Hill in Arkansas City, Colby, Oakley, and playing the Echo Hills Course in North Wichita for the last time. The course closed May 1. I had played Echo Hills many times as a sand greens course back in the 1960’s. My only other recollection of April is that it was the first month of 2012 that I played every day. Each month from then until the end of the year would include time golfing each day at a course somewhere. In May Springfield, Colorado, Neosho Oaks, Missouri, Waterville, Kansas, and Mc Donalds in Wichita, Kansas would provide entertainment and challenges. In May I started thinking in terms of playing 100 days in a row. June provided the largest number of courses played, six. Some of them were also the most challenging. They included Thousand Hills in Branson, Big Creek and Two Rivers in Mountain Home, Arkansas, Bogalusa Country Club in Bogalusa, Louisiana, Franklinton Golf Course in Franklinton, Louisiana, and of course Quail Ridge. July, August, and September were mostly spent at Quail Ridge with an August round at Bentwood in Ulysses, Kansas and a September round at Braeburn at Wichita State. I enjoyed the Braeburn eighteen with my Pastor Jeff McCaskill and his father Dan, visiting here from Scotland. During this quarter I changed my goal to 200 consecutive rounds and forged onward. July also was the twentieth anniversary of the Quail Ridge Golf Course. I arranged a round with Ernie Kanitz on July 17th, the opening day of the course in 1992. Ernie , Rod Gregory and I had scheduled the first tee time on that day, but played later in the day due to a business conflict. It was a beautiful day with a lot of reminiscing of days gone by. I couldn’t help but think of Rod, the late Floyd Willis, and Lowell Hargrove as we played. Those three and I had been a foursome during the first six years on the new course. We played about 47 Saturdays out of the year at various courses, but mostly Quail Ridge. The play that day was fun, even though the ball flew shorter, and was a time to remember. The year’s final golf quarter was spent entirely at Quail Ridge. In October my MBA students from the Southwestern College golf team encouraged me to try to complete November without missing and we were able to play every day. December loomed ahead. The first twenty-three days of December were fairly easy with extremely mild weather. The 24th was cold and windy, and Christmas Day we were to have 1-3 inches of snow. The snow passed, but a high of 28 with winds gusting to 35 mph were a challenge. I added an extra shirt and a muffler to place over my face going into the wind. My sunglasses restricted the wind and another day was added. New Year’s Eve would be the final challenge. The forecast of ice and snow made that last day seem improbable. However temperatures of 34-36 made it rain and snow. I was able to play golf in the snow for my first time (and I hope the last). Each day of December had been played and nine months in a row were perfect, 281 days in a row and 346 of 366 days of 2012. Of those 346 rounds, 324 had been played at Quail Ridge and only 24 were played riding a cart. 322 rounds were played walking and carrying the bag. Unbelievable that the weather and my personal health would allow this level of play, after all I was 68 for more than ten months of the year.