The following message is a courtesy copy of an article that has been posted to rec.sport.golf as well. PRELUDE The 6th annual RSG-Ohio was held this past weekend in the Central Ohio area. It was awesome!! Thanks to all of you for coming from the 4 corners of the universe!! I got to meet a lot of new faces and see the many that return most years. We had 35 golfers from many different states, plus Canada of course!! Representatives arrived in spite of changed airline schedules, interminable waits predicted at the borders, and some understandable expectancy to fly so soon after the WTC tragedy. The courses this year were all designed by Jack Kidwell, who passed away earlier in the year. This prolific designer had a part in many many golf courses in and around Ohio, always moving very little earth and defining his own "cliche", as simply Kidwellian. FRIDAY AM - Pre-warmup round Fri AM, we gathered at Woodland golf course. This is a bit of a drive and hard to find, but it is $19.00 for all you can play!! And it is a fantastic deal, with excellent and tricky bentgrass greens, wonderful routing through the trees, a couple very difficult holes including #11 a monster par 4 with 2 creeks crossing and #13 a nearly 600 yard par 5 into the prevailing wind (a birdie hole? Well I birdied it in the morning and so did Mike Plowinske). As wee teed off, the sky was spitting a little bit, and with 60 percent chance of rain predicted for the day, the naysayers were doubting the legend that is me. But somewhere during the second hole it completely stopped, and we played in an enjoyable breeze the entire day. I played a match with my Hero, Dave Tutelman, as ORDERED by Squeaks after we played when she was here. Dave T was a bit rusty, and had trouble on the front, but we had a rousing good match for the back. Very enjoyable. I also played with Mark Koenig (Dallas, TX) and Robert Hamilton from Houston, TX. It was a great group and we had a great time. Mark had his personalized "Drunk #%#$#$" Pro V1s, and was kind enough to give me one, with a hand written RSG-OHIO '01. Thanks Mark! During the lunch break (Woodland had made us some sandwiches per my request, as they normally only have hot dogs and chips), we all toyed with the Pegg Putter which was donated (Thanks Jeff!!). My personal take on the putter, is that I like it as a training aid - it is very revealing, but am not very comfortable using it in actual play. Mike Plowinske decided it works better backwards (left-handed), where you hit the ball between the two "prongs", he says it really starts rolling smoothly that way... FRIDAY PM - Warmup Round (TM) Friday afternoon, I played a rematch from a previous RSG Hershey, myself and Deuce Dean against Super Dave Osborne and Steve Metzler, who have long attended the Pittsburgh-Hershey-Ohio events. It was a see-saw match, and very very much fun as it always is playing with these nutcases, er, I mean gentlemen. The match was halved, and we decided that was fine and we would just have a beer together. FRIDAY EVE - Meet and Eat TM) Fri Evening we gathered at a huge table of 24 loud obnoxious golfers and ate and drank and made merry.... the highlight of the evening when one of the waitresses, who is a trained singer and hopes to get into broadway musicals, sang Italian Arias per our request. She had a fantastic voice and we all enjoyed that very much. We went through their selection of beers, settling on an Elliot Ness pale ale, which was very fine to drink. The next day however, was exceptionally 'windy', which we blamed on that particular brew. SATURDAY AM - The Main Event (TM) Sat AM began at 8:00 AM at Indian Springs Golf Course, one of Jack's finest (Kidwell of course). I say 8:00 AM but we didn't tee off until at least 8:30 due to some screwup with tee times and other groups. I had the great pleasure of playing with Scott Newell from Washington State, who I have long desired to meet. Also in our foursome were RSG-Ohio two time champion, Jim Hoskins, and Mark Georg whose soul belongs on a golf course. What a great group to play with!! The weather was absolutely perfect - high of about 71 and sunny. I wish I had double-bogied the eighth hole. Not often that I wish for a double bogie, but, well, I played a pretty good 17 holes of golf. Number eight is a pretty simple hole, uphill but not long, though there is trouble right (I found it), and left you are blocked out from the green (I found that too), and the uphill makes you choose the wrong club (I did that), and the green is severely sloped so you don't want to be long (I was). Sigh, brain took a picnic, I took a 9. A double bogie would have won me the RSG-Ohio trophy! Other highlights include Scott on #6 had his ball resting against an apple in the rough. I guess if he moved the apple his ball would move, so he just swing through and both the apple and the ball went flying. The apple may have gone further than the ball. On #11, a par 3 over water, I nailed a wedge dead on the pin... I watched it come down, lots of action as it seemed to zing back and forth around the pin, I thought it was in!! Nope, but only 3 inches for my putt. At least I got the closest to pin prize. Jim Hoskins has not had a chance to play much golf this year due to getting married and having twins, but his beautiful free swing was fun to watch. Mark Georg, well his soul belongs on a golf course, and even though playing poorly for him, he just always seems comfortable in that environment. Which brings us to #7. Longish par 3 all carry over water/swamp, with a wooden bridge the whole way over the swamp. Mark's ball was not going to carry the hazard but was heading toward the bridge. I was hoping it would hit the bridge and bounce over - thunk! but we never found the ball. So Mark walks back the long walk over the bridge to the tee. Unfortunately, he topped his next ball, which found the hazard. Then, it seems he had only taken one ball with him to the tee! So as he starts to walk over the bridge again, Jim yells to him that he would hit him another ball!! He did and it was pure and straight - right on the tee, which is a small target amidst the swamp!! Pretty cool! We had a contest on every single hole. Most were the usual, long drive on every par 5 (they are all very long and straight on this course), closest to the pins on par 3s, long putts. But we came up with some unusual ones: shortest missed putt, closest to the fairway bunker but not in it, etc. One that DIDN'T work was 'longest shot to the green that ends up on the green'. On a par 4... uphill... that you can't see from the fairway. DOH!! Anyway I had so many prizes to give out and I thought it would be fun, a little orange landscape flag stuck through a baggie with a 3x5 card was a great system so we didn't have to carry heavy signs to stick in the ground and the course didn't have to place 18 of said signs. SATURDAY NOON - Rewards and Repasts (TM) There are now two titles at RSG-Ohio. The Champion, which is given to low net, who gets his name on the Fabled CoffeeMaker trophy and gets the coveted Maroon Champion's Jacket to wear for a year; and the Premier Golfer, given to low gross, and who gets to keep the Premier Golfer Coffee Cup, with original artwork by my two sons. Announcing, the RSG-Ohio Champion of 2001 is Gary Hayenga!!! His game has been getting better over the past year, when I first met him at RSG-Ohio 2000. Then he came to RSG-Pittsburgh, won the trophy at RSG-Wisconsin, and is now RSG-Ohio champion!! Congrats Gary!! Gary also won first choice of the many prizes, and I believe he chose the Pegg Putter (http://www.peggputters.com). Announcing, the Premier Golfer of RSG-Ohio, 2001 is Patrick Inglis of Canada!! Nice shooting Patrick!! I am not going to list all the awards and prizes, there were many... I took home a putter from Parabolic Golf for a long drive - Bill PA (aka SPONSELLER) won all the other long drives (thanks for missing the fairway Bill :-), though deferred to others for the prizes after the first one. Everybody got a gift certificate from an online retailer who chooses to remain anonymous, but who donated lots of stuff, also a logoed RSG-Ohio putter, which is so utterly cool if you don't have one you just, well, are not as cool as anyone that does :-). The putters with logo, were donated by Toucan Golf (http://www.toucangolf.com), thanks Toucan Golf!! The logo was designed by Jim Hoskins, with help from Deuce Dean. Someone took home a titanium driver head from Clubmaker Online (http://www.clubmaker-online.com), and Dave Tutelman took a set of grips donated by Chicago Golf (http://www.chicago-golfsports.com). Thanks to all who donated prizes - including Mark Koenig for a dozen Pro V1 Drunk B#@!&%#$! Balls, plus some Ryder Cup wear, Jon Green and Joe Conte for other golf balls, David Sneddon for an Open Championship hat, and a shirt I believe.... hope I did not forget anyone, if I did - THANKS!!! SATURDAY PM - Match Play Madness (TM) Saturday Afternoon we play a gemme called Match Play Madness (TM), as Ohio vs the World. We often have to borrow from one side or another to make the teams even, and the World had to donate 2 or 3 players to Ohio this year. Thus, Tony Harmon from Kansas played for Ohio against Mark Koenig. I 'played' in that group against Jon Green (played -very poorly). I posted a separate writeup last week regarding Match Play Madness (TM), but the gist is that you don't ever touch your ball or get a drop. If you can't finish the hole you are out of the hole. I finished very few holes, losing balls in long grass on many, and lost badly, even though I valiantly tried to hit a ball in weeds and 6 inches of water, getting completely wet and muddy. Now, Mark Koenig had Tony dormie with 3 to play when Tony was fighting back... won the 7th (thisis a 9-hole match), stuck his ball within 3 feet on the par 3 8th, which is an almost-island green. Mark struck the right edge of the island and rolled into the hazard. His ball was completely under the water. He then calmly steps up, wisely puts a towel in his belt to protect his attire, and pops the ball out, but too far - over the green into a bunker. Tony made his bird and took it to the 9th. I don't remember the details of the 9th, it may have been halved, but The World took the match. Not-Kaptain Guy Cooper was meanwhile the Seve Ballesteros of Match Play Madness (TM), he was not playing as he wasn't feeling 100 per cent, plus he really seemed to be enjoying himself cruising around, tracking all the matches. In the end, Ohio reigned victorious, but I hope all enjoyed playing my little creation, and hope you come back and play it again!! SATURDAY EVE - Grub, Grog, and Gossip (TM) We always have a prize Sat Evening for the best story of the previous days events. 4 stories were told, the first being Hoskins hitting balls back to the tee for Mark Georg to avoid the long walk, the second being Koenig's spirited water shot during Match Play Madness. The third was Mike Plowinske's tee shot hitting a tee marker, popping straight up in the air and disappearing, to be found later on another adjacent fairway by Patrick Inglis. The winning entry was this poem by David Sneddon. We obviously are not literary critics, it was the sentiment of the moment: There are a few tht say and some might wager that Atlanta may be a Shmajor But those who play and those who know The Premier Shmajor... is Ohio Scott Newell is good don't let his h'cap fool ya That guy's gonna win like Hayenga Madness was played with cunning and fervor Coops being the Non- Playing captain whatever It all came down to a win to Ohio I can't rhyme anymore So all thanks to Thor! Randy, I am sure he meant nothing against Atlanta, just having some fun... SUNDAY AM - More Golf (TM) Sunday came with perfect weather again, and we played a very tough track south of Columbus - the Player's Club at Foxfire. I joined forces (rode the back of) Mike Plowinske against Patrick Inglis and David Sneddon. What an absolutely wonderful foursome to be in. This was so much fun for me, I really appreciated golfing with you guys!!! I recently broke my 5-wood against a tree (unintentionally), and stuck a Jackaroo back in my bag. It is the 15 degree, and previously I was always hooking it, but now am hitting it ok. Sunday I hit it very well, and probably should have used it more. Every time I got it out, my entire foursome started going "Jackaroooooo!!" Anywhoooo, America overpowered those pesky Canadians, mostly due to Mike's stellar play - he shot a 76 on a very tough course! Wonderful to watch, Mike! EPILOGUE I hate when it ends.... everybody leaves... I miss you guys, and really hope we can see each other again, next year at Ohio, or Pittsburgh.. or RSG-NW, or Hershey, or Atlanta maybe... or RSG-Denver.... somewhere.... >From the great depths of post-RSG-Ohio depression, I close this writeup with a wish to all of you for great golf, good friends, and thanks for coming!!! See you next year!!!! PS: got a voicemail from Mark Koenig about SPONSELLER and an illegal U-turn and never showing up at a restaruant? Bill didja get arrested??? -- -- -- David "Thor" Collard -- http://ttsoft.com/thor -- thor@lucent.com