Roddy Ranch
1st Event of 2004 Season 
Saturday, November 1, 2003

The fearsome foursome was back in full force for the 2004 season. Be very afraid if you are within a 320-yard radius of these guys. Left to right are Elliott "Lumberjack" Zeller, Chris "The Silent Stalker" Maters, Ed "Wild Man" Biglin, and Ron "Holy Hacker" Gallagher.

Roddy Ranch was terrific. There was very little wind and due to the rain on Wednesday night and the aeration three weeks ago the greens were more receptive than usual. It was brisk in the morning, low 40's, but the sun was out and temperatures were in the mid 60's for most of the day. We had a great field and it was good to see people we'd not seen in a while. Dennis Smith played his first tournament since winning the Faculty Staff at Poppy Ridge in June. He continued his winning ways wearing a very heavy-duty back brace (That's why he's been absent). Ross Sakamoto was out for his first event since winning the Eddie Reed tournament. Jimmy Ikeda and Elliott Zeller both returned after missing several events and both succeeded in placing. Kelly Alvarez received his belated GOY Award. David Lozow had to withdraw (again!) due to soccer coaching his son's team. Dave is getting really good at finding replacements for all the rounds he misses.

The Election

On the driving range Walburg approached Steve, who was warming up with his driver. Steve said something like, "Oh God, look who's here!". Walburg retorted, "That's 'Mr. President' to you!" Over the past two months Walburg had been campaigning hard for club president. 2,000 personalized tees, an epic flyer, promises of beer, and possible exchanges of cash have brought about the single highest ballot return ever in club history. Steve had all the members guessing. One day after the election had officially ended Steve said the election for club president was "down to one vote", but that he'd not yet had a chance to collect Friday's mail to finalize the results. On Monday, November 3rd, two day's after the Roddy Ranch tournament,  Steve made the final tally and announced that in a close race Aaron Walburg had edged Ken Lloyd for Club President. Ken has served 16 years (8-consecutive 2-year terms) as Club President, guiding it flawlessly since 1987. Indeed Ken has long been labeled "Lifelong President" by many loyal supporters in the club. Walburg could quite possible run this thing into the ground, but nevertheless he will serve as the club's 9th president (also known as the club's "Most-Indentured Servant") and its first new president in 16 years. Mike Birnbach ran unopposed as the as the club's Secretary/Treasurer. Mike is the 7th person to serve as Secretary for the club and the 6th person to serve as Treasurer. The 2004-2005 Board of Directors is identical to the 2002-2003 board, as no incumbent was out-voted. Fifteen members were vying for the nine-seat board. Eddie Reed begins his record 25th year serving on the board. The new officers & 9-member board (terms are 2 years):

2004-2005 Elected Officers and Board

President: Aaron Walburg
Secretary/Treasurer: Mike Birnbach

Board of Directors:
Kelly Alvarez (4yrs./2nd-consecutive term)
Mike Armstrong (22yrs./11th-consecutive term, 1983-present)
Charlie Flowers (14yrs./7th term, 1989-1999, 2001-present)
Van Hall (10yrs./5th term, 1995-present)
Jeff Hazel (4yrs./2nd-consecutive term)
Mike O'Neill (20yrs./10th-consecutive term, 1985-present)
Jim Peretti (4yrs./2nd-consecutive term)
Eddie Reed (26yrs./13th term, 7th-consecutive term, 1976-1977, 1979-1989, 1991-present)
Dave Webb (4yrs./2nd-consecutive term)

Secretary/Treasurer (for one more day) Walburg presented Kelly Alvarez his belated "Golfer of the Year" Award. Walburg salvaged the award from the recycling bin after discovering the clause that enabled Kelly to tie Steve Desimone for the 2003 GOY award. (Read full story.)

Dave Moers bucked up a few bails of hay, then did a bit of warm-up putting.

Dave with solid drive on #1.

Dave on #9.

Mike Armstrong hits his opening drive. With his most recent election to the Board, Mike added to his amazing record. He's been on the board for 11 consecutive years! Even Eddie Reed can't touch that.

Mike with the big stick on #9. Mike turned Walburg onto The Golf Mart, a retailer with a very large inventory, great service, and a 90-day, no-questions, satisfaction-guaranteed policy. Five days after the tournament Walburg purchased new clubs.

Steve hit a tremendous drive on the tricky 9th hole. He went on to par the hole. Steve tied two other players for most birdies on the day, with three. Steve birdied #1, #5, and #18. While on the driving range Walburg was asking Mike Armstrong, Jim Peretti, and Steve Desimone if they'd had a chance to check out the new pictures of them he'd recently placed on the web site. These were photos from the early and mid 90's that former Club President Tim Jackson had lent for scanning purposes. One of the shots was of Paul Zingg's infamous hole-in-one to edge Steve for Club Champion in 1995. They got to talking about that shot. Steve began complaining bitterly. "I don't want to remember that. I can feel it tide changing in the election." Aaron caught the remark and was ecstatic. "I'm glad you said the tide was changing", the implication being that if the tide were changing then he was probably leading in the election.

Like Mike Armstrong, Jim Peretti was also somehow re-elected to the board. Jim gets a lot of grief from fellow board members. The reason? No reason really. It's Jim! You just gotta give him grief.

Dave Wherritt made some great shots, but these were all verbal shots at his fellow golfers. His golf was not very great.

Ross Sakamoto was back for his first event after winning the Eddie Reed tournament.

Jimmy Ikeda and Ross joke with Dave Wherritt on the first tee. Jimmy was also back for the first event in a while. Jimmy placed 3rd in the second flight.

Rick Guevara and Jimmy Ikeda watch Ross putt out on the 8th hole.

Our newest member Todd Podoll takes his first swing as a member. Amazingly it was a very respectable drive.

Jeff Hazel and Gary Vollen joke around while buddy Rory takes his opening cut. Jeff had a roller-coaster round with three birdies, and a few unmentionable holes. Gary however had the day's lowest net score 68, on his way to winning the fourth flight.

Jeff Hazel also had three birdies on the day. His all came on the back nine at holes #11, #12, and #17.

Mark Steppan hits his opening drive. Mark would birdie this hole. Mark tied Steve Desimone with the day's best round, a 76. Mark won the first flight and also tied Steve and Jeff Hazel for most birdies on the day, with three. Mark's birdies all came on the front nine, at holes #1, #5, and #8.

Elliott Zeller was back for the 2004 season opener.

Elliott topped his drive here on #2, but still managed to turn in a respectable net 73 and place 3rd in the third flight.

Elliott anxiously watches his shot at hole #7. Elliott bogeyd the difficult par 3.

Ron Gallagher listens as Elliott Zeller describes what it was like topping his drive on hole #2. Ron was impressed and learned from this valuable experience. Ron hit a terrific shot at #3. He then drained the putt for birdie.

Ron Gallagher's drive on #2.

Ron on #7. Ron placed 5th in the second flight.

Here's a nice shot of Ed Biglin on #3. Ed earned a pr here.

Ed gets a full swing here on #7.

Chris Maters was doing some limbo dancing. On hole #3 he  lifted his leg and leaned back after missing a 10-foot par putt. Then on #18 he went low again after missing a 6-foot birdie putt.

John Haag looks over a putt on hole #2. Had we remembered to set out the CTP on hole #17 then John would have won. John hit a great shot, and made the putt for birdie.

Glenda Goode follows her approach shot at #5. Glenda was unable to follow up with anything like her net 62 last month at the Club Championship.

New member Chris Hansell hits a chip shot at #5.

With Mount Diablo (Yes, it's Mt. Diablo Steve Obana) as a backdrop, Jeff Day hits his drive on #4. This photo looks like a painting.

Jeff wasn't as pleased with his drive at #14.

Stacey Mackey on #4. Stacey was runn9ng a little late and missed playing the 1st hole.

Stacey on the course's signature 6th hole.

Stacey with a short chip at #14.

Walburg misses a 12-foot birdie putt on #6. With an epic scrambling spree he shot even par over nine holes for the first time in his life. On the back nine the wheel fell off as he carded six double bogies. Only Steve's 35 on the front nine bettered Walburg's 36, but only five players in the entire field turned in a worst score than his 50 on the back nine. On the back nine Walburg could be heard from several fairways away. Admittedly, most of Walburg's conversation on the back nine consisted of loud expletives or apologies to his playing partners. Members were second-guessing their voting.

At the clubhouse Walburg quickly looked over the scores and was disheartened to see that Steve had posted a 35 on the front. Later, he was trying to describe his round on the front nine. "It wasn't like I was hitting many greens in regulation (4) I was just scrambling and hitting a lot of putts. Jeff can attest to that." Of course Jeff won't ever be led down a dark alleyway of praise for a fellow golfer. Jeff instead summarized it with, "All I know is that after the 9th hole Aaron was in the outhouse for 10 minutes. I
thought he was sick and was about to knock and see if he was OK, when he stumbled out." Jeff is Aaron's biggest detractor, yet to be fair, he was in there a while, although not sick. Jeff continued, "You know what happened. He started thinking he was good."

Beer and peanuts were the order of the day at the clubhouse.

Jim Peretti had the boys (Kelly and Jeff) rolling with the story of how he hurled a golf ball at the outhouse between the 9th and 10th holes while Steve was busy inside. By the way, if anyone could throw a strike, it would be Jim.

Kelly got a big kick out of Jim's puckish behavior.

Steve claimed he didn't notice, but we all knew better.

Mike Hearn won his first UCGC paycheck. He placed 2nd in the fourth flight.

Ed Biglin bids farewell to buddy, Chris Maters

In many respects our most successful member has been Dennis Smith. Although he's been out for most of the past year, and has only played in two events during that span, he nevertheless won both times. The last event was the Faculty Staff at Poppy Ridge where he won overall low net. At Roddy Ranch he placed 1st in the third flight with a net 69. Here Dennis reveals the secret of his success, a very heavy-duty back brace. No wonder his swing is so consistent! Hopefully Dennis' back recovers quickly so that he can remove the magical brace and return to his normal, and less phenomenal brand of golf.

Eleven New Members Join Club

Please welcome our new members. The following members have recently joined. A few have already been playing with us for several months, but 2004 will be their first complete season: Brian Coburn, Chris Hansell, Dexter Hong, Mei-Mei Hong, Steven Hong, Geoffrey Mires, Todd Podoll, Greg Smith, Jeff Thomas, Charles Upshaw, Clayton Wallace.

Complete Flight Results:

Highlighted Results:

1st Flight

2nd Flight

   1st tie-breaker(L9 holes-1/2 CH):

3rd Flight

4th Flight

Blind Bogey

* We forgot to hold a CTP contest. To make up for it two contests will be held at Las Positas.
(Results tabulated by Steve Desimone.)

In The News

• Steve Desimone was on the Air this Saturday Morning on 'Hooked on Golf'. Steve was guest on this week's KNBR Radio Show (680AM), "Hooked on Golf". The show aired Saturday, November 22nd, from 8:00am until 9:00am.

• California is experiencing a late and very warm Indian Summer. Temperatures in Berkeley and San Francisco during the second half of October in Berkley have reach upper 80's. It's been warm at night too. On October 18th it was hotter in San Francisco than in Sacramento. In Lafayette it was 90-degrees on October 25th. However, Winter came on quick in the week prior to the Roddy Ranch Tournament. On Wednesday evening, October 29, it was very chilly, the first chilly night of the Fall. On Thursday evening it was even colder. It snowed in Lafayette.

• Wildfires have been raging in Southern California. The death toll reached 15 as firefighters were hoping that better weather will help them gain control of the flames. Slower winds, lower temperatures and higher humidity are predicted today and in the days ahead. The fires, from Simi Valley to San Diego, have destroyed more than 1,100 homes and charred 450,000 acres. Update: The week-old fires have killed 20 people and destroyed more than 3,300 homes, authorities reported. About 750,000 acres have been blackened across five southern California counties. State officials estimate the fires have caused $2 billion worth of damage. Two of southern California's major wildfires should be fully contained by Saturday night, with the help of rain and snow. Firefighters were still struggling to contain the larger Old fire, which was listed as 45 percent contained. Officials from the state forestry department said the Santa Ana winds that whipped up the fires when they started last weekend are expected to return next week. It was not expected to be contained until November 8. The Cedar Fire in San Diego County -- the largest in state history -- was 81 percent contained Saturday after burning 281,000 acres of land. Firefighters expected to have it contained by Monday. State officials estimate about 100,000 people have been forced from their homes.

• Solar flares are a big news item during the week prior to the tournament. Earth's magnetic field weathered a strong solar shock wave on Wednesday as the sun unleashed another powerful flare that could trigger more geomagnetic storms on Thursday. The first cloud of electrified solar gas began buffeting our planet's magnetosphere, generating bright auroras, jolting power grids and stunning a handful of satellites. Researchers classify solar flares using three categories: C for weak, M for Moderate and X for strong. Tuesday's solar outburst was classified an X17.2. The largest flare on record, one of two known X20s, occurred on April 2, 2001, but was not directed at Earth. Late Wednesday, solar scientists observed another big solar explosion, one of the top 20 on record, which directed another huge cloud of supercharged gas in our direction.
  Power grids in the northern United States and Canada are feeling the effects of the storm. Utilities have endured power surges and are closely monitoring their systems and taking protective measures to prevent surges. NASA has taken precautions as well with astronaut Mike Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri on board the international space station. They are the only humans currently outside the protection of Earth's atmosphere, are retreating during peak exposure times to the living quarters of the station, which provides the best radiation protection.

• UCGC Earns "Honorable Mention" in Annual NCGA Newsletter Contest!
  
  For his work on this web site Aaron won Honorable Mention in the NCGA's Annual Newsletter Contest. Steve Desimone presented him with this award at Wente Vineyards in January 2004.

  
  There might have been a slight mix-up, because the plaque was for "Third Place" and not "Honorable Mention", however in this life you have to take what you can get.

  Walburg assembled a collection of his three best tournament web pages (tournament summaries) and converted them into printable files for the annual newsletter contest. Judging was done by an independent panel based on appearance, golf content and service to club members. Amazingly, we won honorable mention in the Associate Club division. It's amazing because our news items were not in "newsletter" format. The shear size of each of our submissions possibly turned some heads though.

  See bottom of this NCGA page for complete story:

  NCGA Annual Meeting - Newsletter Contest Winners

  Our Newsletter Submission:

  • Letter to NCGA
  • Faculty/Staff Tournament at Poppy Ridge (42 pages, 62 pictures, 800kb)
  • 2-Ball Championship at Tilden Park (54 pages, 76 pictures, 1.4MB)
  • Monterey Trip (44 pages, 90 pictures, 1.5MB)

  Our submission was 140 printed pages. That's what happens when you print large web pages. It demonstrates how much news we offer. Paper newsletters are restrictive due to all the problems and expenses associated with paper. No golf club would ever put out a 54 page newsletter for a single tournament, but in effect, that's what we do. Our submission to the contest was thus 140 color pages which contained  tournament summaries, statistics, results, and 228 color photographs. Interesting to note is that of the twelve clubs whose newsletters won recognition, only ours and 3rd placing Bayview Golf Club offer a web site to their members. Although Bayview's web site is nice, there's not much to it. The point here is that it's neither feasible nor practical to provide both a fine web page and an excellent newsletter. The appearance of our submission was very weak, because web pages are not made to be printed. However our news is such a strength in terms of content and service to club members that it stood up next to traditional newsletters in a contest in which appearance was also a criterion.

• Michael Jackson was booked in molestation charge.