Party Time – 1st Half in the Books

Congratulations to everyone who played nine holes without dying Tuesday. Results and Final First Half Standings are now posted.

In a pretty tight finish, the Wolfe Team emerges as 1^st Half Champions with a 1-point margin over the Loew Team (don’t tell Jack – he’ll be steamed), 1.5 over the McEvilly Team, and 3 over the Nelson Team, which made a late push. The Wolfe Team will be making their 3^rd straight playoff appearance, in quest of their 3^rd straight league championship.

Congrats to Dave Delveaux on his 38 Tuesday night. I single him out because I somehow didn’t get his name down on the list that went to the newspaper. Dave Rieves was the low shooter with a 36, including six pars. In addition to those two, Andy Taylor, Jason Thomas, and new golfer Jeff Pollei shot 37’s, and Will Nagel and Chris Weber shot 39’s.

By the way, Jeff Pollei (who was subbing for David Miller Tuesday) would like to make himself available to the league as a sub. I will add him to the sub list, but his contact information is 608-263-7332 (w) and jpollei@uwsa.edu. Jeff’s line score was 001010111 (which is actually a binary score of 87). He really fell apart there at the end. (Edit: I just realized this doesn't mean much unless I explain that his line score shows zeroes for pars, 1's for bogeys, etc.)

Now that the first half is over, it’s time to relax a bit. Next Tuesday is the league scramble, followed by a world-famous Bill Scheer cookout. I got dinner payment from most of you on Tuesday. I will collect ($9.50) from the rest this coming Tuesday. You are not required to stay for dinner. Let me know if you plan not to stay. Tee times are set and are posted on the blog - upper right-hand corner.

Here is the updated list of the top Sy Brandt Sportsmanship Award contenders.

1. Dave Wolfe 19.00
2. Adam Hopkins 18.00
3. Steve McDonnell 15.63
4. Dave Delveaux 15.25
5. Paul Schuettler 14.88
6. Steve Smith 14.75
7. Ed Corcoran 14.63
8. Andy Taylor 13.50 (tie for 8th)
9. Pat McEvilly 13.50 (tie for 8th)
10. Ed Meachen 13.38

Week 9 Pairings - June 23

Things to remember for Tuesday:

1. Tuesday is our last chance to catch the McEvilly team for the first-half pennant. It starts all over in July.
   
2. The League Scramble is next week. I will post tee-times in several places. Make sure your teammates know your Scramble tee time.
3. Bring $9.50 for the cookout/buffet on the 30th. I will be waiting to collect when you get off the 9th green.
4. It's gonna be HOT. Here are the Extreme Heat Guidelines: (1) Hydrate. (2) No Speedos on the course.

There is a long, drawn-out explanation of pairings at the bottom of this post (in case you're interested).

4:52 & 5:00	Wolfe vs. Moritz
David Wolfe	16		Paul Schuettler	13
Adam Hopkins	17		Bob Lomasney	14
Paul Barnett	14		Tom Hidde	15
Mike Sanders	18		Bob Moritz	16
5:07 & 5:15	Nelson vs. Miller
Steve McDonnell	9		David Miller	12
A Tomaszewski	29		Ed Meachen	13
Mike Williams	11		Doug Hoerr	13
Brad Nelson	21		Charlie Hoslet	14
5:22 & 5:30	McEvilly vs. Kraus
Dave Delveaux	10		Lynn Paulson	10
Ed Corcoran	14		Steve Smith	14
Pat McEvilly	13		Andy Taylor	11
Herb Stanford	24		Mike Kraus	16
5:37 & 5:46	Thoeny vs. Williams
Travis Thoeny	4		Dave Rieves	6
Ed Molter	12		Matt Blouin	15
John Loescher	16		Bob Crowe	18
Rob Zimmerman	23		Ron Weiss	20
5:53 & 6:00	Dvorak vs. Loew
Jason Thomas	9		Chris Weber	8
Mike Warren	11		Scott Gomez	8
Jeff Dvorak	13		Shawn McGettigan	13
Phil Julson	20		Doug Smedema	33

In the Rule Book, I made a cursory attempt to explain how I do pairings during the season. I also posted more detail on the subject in this blog in May 2008.

Since I've updated the pairing methodology a bit this year (and will do so again next year) here's the explanation.

During the 1st half, my goal is to have each player play three rounds with each of his teammates, and to give each golfer a mix of first group and second group starts. In order to do that, I put together a grid that shows the pairings for each of the nine weeks. Ranking each golfer 1-4, by handicap, the grid looks like this. What it shows is that, in week 1, the #4 and #1 golfer for each team go out in the first group and the #2 and #3 golfer follow them in the second group. (1's play against 1's, 4's against 4's, etc.)

Week:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	4	1	1	3	4	4	2	1	1
	1	3	2	2	2	3	3	3	2
	2	2	3	1	3	2	4	2	3
	3	4	4	4	1	1	1	4	4

During the 2nd half, then, I'll keep the teammates paired the same way (i.e. week 10 the same as week 1, etc.) but pit them against the opposite two golfers from the opposing team. This meets the goal of having everybody be in a foursome with everybody else in the league.

On paper, this meets all my goals. In practice, though, people's handicaps are fluid, and a golfer may be his team's #2 golfer one week, and #3 (or #4) the next. This means the goals are not usually completely met.

To that end, I have used week 9 matchups to "even out" the teammate pairings and get them as close as I can to "three rounds with each teammate." (I think next year, I'll use both weeks 8 and 9 to do that.) I only had to manipulate (i.e. deviate from the original grid) two foursomes to even things out.

This is probably more information than any of you are interested in, but there you have it.

Results, Scramble News, Etc.

Results from Week 8 are now posted, but who really even wants to read about the McEvilly team moving one step closer to locking up the first half championship? Well, maybe the other three teams (Wolfe, Loew, Nelson) within striking distance with one week to play.

Scramble News: After a brief and unscientific survey of golfers as they came in on Tuesday, I have decided that the league scramble will consist of the already existing ten teams. Well, that simplifies my job! (Just for grins, I'll post in a comment what the mixed teams would have been.)

Using the random number generator feature of Excel, I randomly generated the order of play for the scramble. Here are the resulting tee times. Captains, if you can find a willing trading partner, feel free to trade tee times. Just let me know you've done so. (Okay - Here's a confession. It's not random that I have the first tee time. I took it so I can be done when the golfers come in and report scores, and to answer any issues the clubhouse or golfers have about the cookout. An abuse of power? Perhaps, but I'm going to just call it a job requirement.)

June 30 Scramble Tee Times
4:52 - Wolfe
5:00 - McEvilly
5:07 - Thoeny
5:15 - Nelson
5:22 - Dvorak
5:30 - Loew
5:37 - Kraus
5:45 - Moritz
5:53 - Miller
6:00 - Williams

Back to this week's results. Congrats to Scott Gomez, with a league-low 36, and Lynn Paulson and Travis Thoeny on their 38's. Only three birdies this week out of 351 holes. I think people were thinking rainout and weren't prepared to golf.

Here is the updated top ten for the Sy Brandt Sportsmanship Award.

1 Dave Wolfe 15.75
2 Adam Hopkins 14.75
3 Ed Corcoran 14.63
4 Paul Schuettler 14.13
5 Steve McDonnell 13.38
6 Steve Smith 12.88
7 Dave Delveaux 12.75
8 Mike Warren 12.13
9 Andy Taylor 11.50
9 Pat McEvilly 11.50

Week 8 Pairings - June 16

Pairings for Tuesday are below. As of right now, there's rain predicted during the day, but a miraculous clearing with sunshine in time for league play.

4:52 & 5:00	Wolfe vs. Kraus
Jeff Sartin (PB)	New		Lynn Paulson	10
David Wolfe	17		Steve Smith	13
Adam Hopkins	17		Andy Taylor	11
Mike Sanders	18		Mike Kraus	15
5:07 & 5:15	Thoeny vs. Loew
Travis Thoeny	3		Chris Weber	8
John Loescher	16		Shawn McGettigan	13
Ed Molter	13		Scott Gomez	9
Rob Zimmerman	22		Doug Smedema	33
5:22 & 5:30	Dvorak vs. McEvilly
Jason Thomas	9		Dave Delveaux	10
Jeff Dvorak	13		Ed Corcoran	14
Mike Warren	11		Pat McEvilly	13
Phil Julson	18		Herb Stanford	24
5:37 & 5:46	Miller vs. Moritz
David Miller	12		Bob Lomasney	14
Doug Hoerr	13		Tom Hidde	15
Ed Meachen	12		Paul Schuettler	14
Charlie Hoslet	13		Bob Moritz	16
5:53 & 6:00	Nelson vs. Williams
Steve McDonnell	9		Dave Rieves	6
Brad Nelson	21		Bob Crowe	18
Mike Williams	11		Matt Blouin	14
A. Tomaszewski	31		Ron Weiss	20

Week 7 Results and Standings

If you haven't yet done so, please follow these links to read the posts on the 2009 League Scramble and Gimmes.

Results and standings for week 7 are posted on the right of the blog. The McEvilly team increased their 1st-half lead ever so slightly, and are now up 1.5 points on the Wolfe team with two weeks to go. The Kraus team may be the ultimate kingmakers, though, as they play each of the top two teams in the last two weeks. A sweep might catapult them (or another team) into the championship.

So, did anything interesting happen Tuesday? I mean aside from . . .

• Mike Williams playing holes 3 through 2 instead of 1 through 9 like the rest of us (to finish at 37),
  
• Steve McDonnell playing through two groups to catch up to his own foursome (to also finish at 37),
• Dave Rieves hitting a season-low 34,
  
• Paul Shuettler being the first this season with 12 putts, or
  
• Shawn McGettigan employing a Designated Putter?

See you next Tuesday.

2009 League Scramble!

Relax - Your pairings are posted below this important message. In addition, if you haven't read yet the Commish's treatise on Gimmes, please do so here.

This season, on June 30, we’ll be taking a break from the grind of pennant races to have a league-wide scramble and cook-out at Glenway. Below are the scramble rules and information about the night.

I will compose the teams based on golfer handicaps after week 8 (June 16). The teams will be comprised as follows, with #1 representing the league golfer with the lowest handicap and #40 representing the league golfer with the highest handicap. I will announce the teams before week 9 (June 23). It is important – if you plan to have a sub for the scramble – that you let me know ahead of time who that sub will be. If they do not have an established handicap, it would also be good to know how well they golf, so the teams can be built relatively evenly.

• 4:52 Team A: #1, #20, #21, #40
• 5:00 Team B: #2, #19, #22, #39
• 5:07 Team C: #3, #18, #23, #38
• 5:15 Team D: #4, #17, #24, #37
• 5:23 Team E: #5, #16, #25, #36
• 5:30 Team F: #6, #15, #26, #35
• 5:37 Team G: #7, #14, #27, #34
• 5:45 Team H: #8, #13, #28, #33
• 5:52 Team I: #9, #12, #29, #32
• 6:00 Team J: #10, #11, #30, #31

For those of you unfamiliar with the "scramble" format, the rules are as follows:

1. Each foursome plays as a team and keeps one score for the team (including putts).
2. After each golfer tees off, the team picks one shot to play next, and each golfer hits from there. The three people whose shots won't be used should retrieve their balls and drop within a club-length of the ball to be played, but if the ball you are playing is in the rough or a hazard you must play from that rough or hazard. You may improve your lie (winter rules).
3. Follow this same procedure until your team holes out.
4. When putting, the first person puts a mark down to identify where the others should putt from if the first person misses.
5. At least one tee shot from each golfer in the foursome must be used on one of the nine holes. You do not decide until after everybody has teed off on a hole, unless you are forced to use a specific golfer’s tee shot on holes 7, 8, or 9 because you have not used one of their tee shots yet.

There will be cash prizes for the top 3 foursomes. The tie breakers are as follows, in order of priority:

1. Most birdies
2. Least bogeys
3. Fewest putts
4. Fewest total strokes on the five par 4 holes

There will also be four "regular" holes prizes:

• Longest holed shot (putt or chip) on #3
• Longest drive in fairway on #4
• Closest to the pin (on the green) in 1 shot on #6
• Closest to the pin in 2 shots (on the green) on #7

There will be a food buffet (including brats, burgers, potato salad, beans, chips, and dessert) served at about 7:00 p.m. Your cost for the buffet will be $9.50 (I will be subsidizing tax and tip out of the general league fund). If you can't stay to eat, please let me know by Week 9 (June 23). You are on your own for beverages.

It should be lots of fun! Thank for playing and good luck.

- Dave

Week 7 Pairings - June 9

Below are the pairings for Week 7. I've learned from Dick Moll that he won't be golfing this year. He hopes to be back in the future. The Williams team will have a replacement in place soon. In the interim, I'll leave that line blank until I know who the sub will be.

4:52 & 5:00	Dvorak vs. Williams
Mike Warren	11		Matt Blouin	15
Jeff Dvorak	13		Bob Crowe	18
Phil Julson	18		Sub	?
Jason Thomas	9		Dave Rieves	6
5:07 & 5:15	Moritz vs. Loew
Tom Hidde	14		Scott Gomez	8
Paul Schuettler	14		Shawn McGettigan	13
Bob Lomasney	14		Doug Smedema	33
Bob Moritz	14		Chris Weber	7
5:22 & 5:30	Thoeny vs. McEvilly
Ed Molter	12		Pat McEvilly	13
Rob Zimmerman	22		Herb Stanford	23
John Loescher	15		Ed Corcoran	15
Travis Thoeny	3		Dave Delveaux	10
5:37 & 5:46	Nelson vs. Kraus
Mike Williams	12		Andy Taylor	11
Brad Nelson	21		Steve Smith	14
A Tomaszewski	31		Mike Kraus	15
Steve McDonnell	9		Bruce Marble (LP)	11
5:53 & 6:00	Wolfe vs. Miller
David Wolfe	17		Charlie Hoslet	12
Mike Sanders	18		David Miller	12
Adam Hopkins	18		Doug Hoerr	12
Paul Barnett	14		Ed Meachen	12

Gimme, Gimme, Gimme

There have been some reports of scoring issues in regard to the use of the "gimme" during league play. I'd appreciate it if you can help teammates, opponents, and subs understand how to utilize it. Below is some background followed by league policy (made up just now, by me) on gimmes. We can discuss further at the banquet, if you don't like these rules and guidelines.

What is a gimme? In our league play, a gimme is a concession by one's opponent that you are so likely to make the next putt that you can pick the ball up (without putting it into the cup) and count your next putt as made. These are not legal in stroke play - in fact, they're only legal in Ryder Cup Match Play. (Technically, there is a difference between a conceded putt and a gimme, but I'm not going to go into that here. For the purposes of this discussion, assume they mean the same thing.) A big reason gimmes are used (and even encouraged) is to help speed up play. If the next hole is ready for you and a group is close behind you, it speeds things up if putts are conceded, as opposed to putting them out.

Here, then, are the rules we will follow with regard to gimmes in the UW Men's League. I will try to remember to update the rule book with a section on gimmes.

Rules

• A player may concede his opponent's putt if that putt is "inside the leather" - that is, if a ball is closer to the hole than the distance from your putter head to putter grip when laid flat on the green. To kindly bestow a gimme, a player may say "That's a gimme." or "Pick that up." or, if they're less tactful, "Get that *#&@ outta there."
• A player may not concede his own teammate's putt - only an opponent's putt.
• If you are the recipient of a gimme (i.e. you have been given a putt) you are allowed to pick up your ball and add one stroke to your score for the putt not taken.
• A gimme = 1 stroke. This is important enough to reiterate and emphasize. A gimme doesn't mean you made your last putt. It means you "made" your next putt.
• If your opponent concedes your putt, you may still putt out if you want. WARNING! (See next bullet.)
  
• IF you choose to putt out instead of picking up the conceded putt, you must count all subsequent strokes. That means that if you miss the putt that had been conceded, and must putt once more to hole out, you must count both putting strokes, as opposed to the one stroke you would have had to count had you picked the ball up. (This is contrary to the Ryder Cup conceded putt rules.)

Guidelines

• A player may only concede his opponent's putt. Although, in certain circumstances (an unopposed player or your teammate is busy flirting with the beer-cart girl) a player may speak for his teammate in conceding an opponent's putt. You may want to ask your teammate at the beginning of the round if he minds that you concede putts in his place.
  
• You are not required to concede a putt to your opponent. However, for speed of play purposes it is encouraged.
• You may concede some putts and not others, regardless of their relative length. (For example, you may want to see how skilled a player is before conceding that he would likely make the next putt. In addition, if a player is putting for a win or a tie, you may want to make him hole the putt.)
• The previous rules and guidelines notwithstanding, players should be encouraged to hole out on each hole. That it to say, unless it truly is a "gimme," a putt should not be conceded. In other words, a gimme is not to given for a difficult putt out of niceness or pity, even if your opponent is struggling (or, as we call it, Wolfe-ing.)
  

If anybody's got anything to add, please do so in the Comments. Thanks.

Week 6 Results and Standings

Week 6 results and standings are now linked on the right. Also, stay tuned for posts regarding (a) gimmes and (b) the league scramble planned for June 30.

Lots more shuffling of the standings in week 6, with the McEvilly team rising to the top with a one point lead. There are only 3.5 points separating the top 7 teams, so with three weeks to go in the first half, it's far from settled.

Congrats to Andy Taylor for his league-low 36 Tuesday. Although the average score wasn't all that great, there were lots of birdies this week. We might have to move to a more challenging course soon.
Hole 1 (Mike Warren)
Hole 2 (Steve McDonnell)
Hole 7 (Scott Gomez)
Hole 8 (Mike Kraus and Brad Nelson)
Hole 9 (Andy Taylor and Chris Weber)

Here is an updated list of the top ten Sy Brandt Sportsmanship Award contenders.

1. Ed Corcoran - 11.25
2. Steve McDonnell - 10.25
3. Steve Smith - 10.13
4. Dave Wolfe - 10.13
5. Ed Meachen - 10.00
6. Mike Warren - 9.63
7. Adam Hopkins - 9.63
8. Andy Taylor - 9.50
9. Dave Delveaux - 8.88
10. John Loescher - 8.88

See you next Tuesday.