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                           RSG HERSHEY 2002
                            Dave Tutelman
                            June 10, 2002

Stream-of-consciousness rememberings:

* Left the house at 5AM Friday, and drove through rain, rain, and more
rain. Occasionally it would stop, but it always resumed. Had a big splash
of it around the exit at Lebanon, PA; since the next exit was our morning
golf course, that was not a good sign.
	But halfway to that exit, I noticed some patches of blue sky. The
sun came out, and the rain never returned. The Thor effect? You decide!

* Sunset Golf Club has an interesting ambience, completely apart from
the golf. 
	The imposing clubhouse is still under construction. The REAL
clubhouse is a trailer, and all the rest rooms at the course are
PortaPotties. 
	Also, the scenery is quite unique. You have some colossal views
of the stacks at Three Mile Island; you're almost looking down into
the cooling towers. Some wag in our group was joking about having gotten
radiation burns when his drive drifted to the wrong side of the course. 
	Finally, there are the airplanes. Harrisburg International 
Airport is quite close. There are flashing runway lights across the 
whole course, including right down the middle of the first fairway. The
starter assured us they weren't to signal, "Drive ball here," but rather,
"Land plane here." And the air traffic low over the course proved it. I
had the impression that a full lob wedge at the right time might bag one.
	Contrary to what you might expect from this buildup, Sunset was
a great place for a warmup round. A well-designed course with few quirks
and plenty of variety, it also had greens that were fast and true.

* Played Sunset with Fred and Jeff Stluka. Fun round! We each had our
strong holes, but none of us was consistent enough to put together a
particularly good round.

* The second hole is a 480-yard par-4. It sure played like a par-5. I hit
a good, solid drive and a good 3-wood, and still had over 100 yards to
the green.

* Strange occurrence on the tenth hole. You tee off from an absolute
cliff, and the fairway continues to slope down to the green, 345 yards
away. I took a 3-wood to keep the ball between the dense trees on both
sides. I wound up hitting a fade that hugged the tree line, but I was
pretty sure I'd be able to find it in the rough short of the trees.
Looked, but never found it. Dropped a ball where I thought it was, added
a penalty and finished the hole. 
	When we reached the eleventh tee (about 30-40 yards behind the
tenth green), I noticed a ball near the white tees. Picked it up, and it
was mine -- I'm sure of it. No theory really fits:
 - The group ahead included Mark Koenig and Thor, either of whom might
   certainly have put it there if my drive reached the green or
   thereabouts. They deny it vehemently, but I still consider that the
   most likely theory.
 - It took two really REALLY hard bounces off the cartpaths. There were
   indeed paved cartpaths present that could account for that. But the
   scars one generally associates with big bounces were not present on
   the ball.
 - I really can hit a 3-wood 380 yards, if it is sufficiently downhill.
   Yeah, that's the ticket!

* Strange occurrence on the fifteenth hole. Uphill 190-yard par-3. I get
all of a 3-iron, but pull it towards the sixteenth tee and the woods
beyond it. We yelled "Fore" to our group on sixteen, and they were alert
when the ball crashed into the woods. They searched for, and found, the
ball a good 20 feet into the woods. As I walked up the hill, they told us
to follow the trail of sticks into the woods. They had lain branches end
to end, from the edge of the woods to the ball.
	I found the ball, but things looked pretty bad. It was sitting up
in the woods, but there were weeds all over the backswing and follow-
through, and bushes (not likely to be 90% air) a few feet in front. The
only opening was up above 40 degrees (to clear the bushes) but not above
60 degrees (to stay below the branches). A good swing with a pitching
wedge, and the ball was out in the open. Next shot was a pitch onto the
green.
	Thor told me later that the idea wasn't original. The group in
front of his (not one of our groups) did the same thing for his ball.

* Lunch at City Island for those of us who could find it. Not everybody
could. It was very crowded, because it was also hosting a boat show. We
walked a couple of long par-fours from the available parking to the "food
court."

* Armitage was the second course of the day that I qualified for the
senior fee. It was $16 at Sunset if you were over 55, and $12.50 at 
Armitage if you were over 60. At home in NJ, it's usually 62 or 65. I
guess people age faster in Pennsylvania. :-)

* Our foursome at Armitage was lots of fun. I had a Nassau with Coops, 
while Thor and Mark Koenig had their own match going. I didn't realize it
at the time, but it occurred to me on the drive home that, of all the
golfers I knew from RSG and eventually did play golf with, I knew Thor,
Coops, and Mark the longest -- probably in the vicinity of 8-12 years.

* I had a very slow start, and Coops was two up after just three holes. I
steadied the ship somewhat, but still lost the front by 3. I did better
on the back. On the seventeenth tee, I was 2 up on the back, which
clinched the back for me. In addition, it meant I could square the 
overall match by winning the hole. Coops and I both knew that, and we 
both rose to the occasion. I parred the hole, but Coops covered me with
a par of his own. Good stuff!

* Several times on the front nine, my concentration was broken by the
call of the Pennsylvania Cacklebird. At least that's what Coops told me
it was. (Sorry, you had to be there. :-)

* We had a loud an raucous dinner at CaddyShack, the outdoor restaurant
at Armitage. There aren't many golf courses that are "the place to go
Friday night" -- for dates, families with kids, and of course rowdy 
RSGers -- but Armitage fits that description. Good food, good beer, and a 
waitress who was either very fun-loving or very patient.

* I've seen several posts so far, and none has mentioned the Collard
Conniption (TM) at Gilligan's Friday night. Since I wasn't there to 
witness it, I just hope someone can spin a narrative to do it justice.

* Pilgrim's Oak is still a beautiful and difficult course. And they had
the nastiest possible pin positions on too many of the holes. I had heard
that they rebuilt the fifteenth green, which had been an outrageous two
tiered affair. Well, it's still outrageously two-tiered, but the upper
tier is no longer 10 feet above the lower tier and only 15 feet deep; now
it's only about 6 feet up.

* There is lots of trouble on Pilgrim's Oak, so it's something of a
victory that I lost only three balls all day. All three were in the same
spot: the lake off the seventh tee. In previous years, I didn't feel any
particular pressure from that tee shot, and I was certainly getting my
drives into the air with plenty of carry on Saturday -- even if I was
doing more than my share of slicing. But evil demons took over my swing
on that tee this year. I thinned one into the lake in the morning round.
I fatted it in the afternoon round, followed by drowning a five iron --
usually one of my go-to clubs -- from the drop area. Yechh!
	Strangely, my morning and afternoon train wrecks at #7 were both
followed by great tee shots on the [really more difficult] eighth. I put
a 4-iron right over the flag in the morning, unfortunately airmailing the
green -- but had little trouble making a bogey. That seemed pretty good
considering the troubles Terry Easton and Roger Georg were having with
the hole. In the afternoon, I backed off to a 5-iron (185 yards but
downhill); flew it over the flag again, but it bounced mid-green and
stopped in the fringe; up and down for par.

* I played both morning and afternoon with Roger. (The rest of my
afternoon group was Mark Georg and Fred Stluka.) We both observed that we
were hitting many shots, especially tee shots, exactly where we had hit
them in the morning. Muscle memory? More likely the muscle between the
ears.

* It's always fun sitting on the mound overlooking the eighteenth hole as
the groups come in. I'm glad we were in an early group (the second). 
	In our group, Mark Georg had played that difficult hole 
agressively and successfully, driving the ball to within 230 yards of the
green and right in the middle of the fairway. He went for it with a 
3-wood, and very nearly got to the green. Luckily, unlike many before and
after him, his ball hung up on the front slope instead of bouncing or
rolling back into the green-front lake. (Shades of Freddie at the 
Masters.) Mark had a good chip, missed the birdie putt, and finish a
difficult hole with a tap-in par.
	Coops had brought some canteloupes (and other refreshments) in a
big cooler. Delicious finish to the round, as we watched the others come
in and applauded every shot. We even waited for the single (not in the
RSG event) who had patiently followed after our last group, and clapped 
for him. He did appreciate the gesture, and told us we were moving OK and
it wasn't a problem for him.

* Can you make a right on Walnut Street?!?!? Coops' directions to the
Lancaster Brewery (our intended dinner site) were quite explicit about 
this. So was the one-way sign on Walnut that said any turn had to be to
the left. Several cars full of golfers were wandering around downtown
Lancaster for a good half hour before we all managed to find the
restaurant. Decent food and good beer might have been marred by the slow
service -- but we used the extra time to present the RSG-Hershey trophy
to Mike Plowinske. Congrats to Sir Mike; his net 69 is the lowest net
I've seen at an RSG schmajor.

* I never did get a chance to golf with Super Dave, who was my roomie for
the weekend. He was indeed a considerate roommate. Both Friday and 
Saturday nights, he came in after I was asleep (once from Gilligan's
and once from watching the triple-overtime Stanley Cup game), and never 
woke me.

* I always enjoy Dauphin Highlands! It's a beautiful course, challenging
but fair. (Well, the sixteenth hole is a little weird, but...) Part of
the challenge is walking it. Up hill and down dale all the way. And, of
course, the killer climb from the middle of the par-3 17th up to the
18th tee.
	The course was up to its usual challenge. The greens were rolling
pretty true, even though they didn't look that good. (I think a lot of
well-meaning golfers repair ball marks incorrectly. You see a lot of
round brown spots where they pried the ground back up, instead of pushing
the edges to the middle of the crater.) And the greens were receptive; 
hit it with spin and it WILL check up.

* On the par-5 twelfth hole, I was in three different sand traps, on my
way to a snowman. When I landed in the third bunker, Coops suggested that
my new career was really quality control of the sand. Well, I do live at
the New Jersey shore, so I'm probably better qualified than most at
checking out the beach.

* At Dauphin, our foursome had an interesting match going. We were 
playing high-low. That means there is a match-play point for the hole
between the two low golfers in each team (so far, standard better-ball
match play); but there is also a point for the hole between the worse
balls as well. That means that, even if your partner is clearly going to
score better than you, you still need to play to beat the other team's
higher score for the hole. Note that there are 36 possible "marks" a team
can get, so you could expect bigger differences during the round, but
also faster changes of lead because two points are awarded each hole.
	It was Terry and me against Jon and Coops, no strokes. (Terry and
Jon are a good match, as are Coops and I -- as we proved on Friday.) The
match was close the whole way. Until the fourteenth hole, neither team
could get more than 1 up, and it seemed the lead changed hands more often
than every second hole. Jon/Coops went 3 up on fourteen, but back to 1 up
on fifteen. It was like that all day.
	On the last tee, Jon/Coops were 1 up, so either team could still
win; remember that a hole could yield 2 points. The eighteenth is a long
par-4 at 420 yards, and the #1 handicap hole. Terry got a more or less
conventional 5: drive in the rough, 3-iron to the fairway about 30 yards
short of the green, a pitch and a couple of putts. Jon had a major
adventure, including two sand traps, a wedge from just off the practice
green in front of the clubhouse, and a chip-in with the putter from the
fringe for a world-class bogey. I hit a really good drive, put a 5-iron 
on the green with my second shot, and made a 20-foot putt for a birdie --
assuring Terry and me of at least a halve. Coops was left with a 3-foot
"knee-knocker" for his bogey, to hold up their end of the halve. It was
in the center of the hole. Good stuff!

* Hey Jon, the orange Sunday shirt isn't a half-bad idea. I would never
give you a hard time for a loud shirt. Ever notice MY Sunday shirt? You
WERE in my foursome this Sunday. And those broad red and white stripes
with blue trim has been my RSG Sunday attire for several years now.

* The drive home went very smoothly until I was back in NJ. The Turnpike
had a substantial traffic jam. Fortunately, I only had about 8 miles of
Turnpike, so it didn't cost me more than 10-15 minutes. I realize it was
beach weather all weekend, so I wasn't surprised to see the Garden State
Parkway much more gridlocked than the Turnpike had been; it's the main
drag back from the shore. Fortunately, I was just about home by then, and
used back roads rather than getting on the Parkway.

Coops, thanks for hosting this. It was a great event.

Cheers!
DaveT