Shadow Lakes
2nd Event of 2005 Season
Saturday, November 13, 2004

Guest John Culverwell on Shadow Lake's difficult 5th hole.

Although the weather was not a factor, Shadow Lakes played tough. Primarily it was the very undulating greens which brought about the high scores. One example: Imagine shooting an 83 which included a 5-putt! Yes, this happened to a respectable golfer too. Bill Reid, a regular guest, had 5 putts on the 8th hole. Granted the hole was placed on a spine near the base of a steep incline, but 5 putts from a good golfer is saying something about how difficult these greens were.

Steve and Cal Men's Golf team in Florida

Steve was in Orlando with the 2003-04 NCAA Champion Cal Golf team playing in the 2004 Hooters Collegiate Match Play Championship, held Nov. 14-16 at Mission Inn Resort at Howey-in-the Hills, Florida. Steve and the team will be playing loads of golf at many terrific venues. This is one perk of winning a national championship. After losing to the #2 ranked team in the country (Oklahoma State 2-3 in the first round), the 15th seeded Cal Men's golf team was eliminated by the 10th-seeded UCLA, 3-1-1, Monday in the consolation round. The Bears' top finish in the fall was placing third at Alister MacKenzie Invitational, hosted by Cal, at The Meadow Club near Fairfax, Oct. 11-12. The Bears will next compete as a team at the Ping/Arizona Intercollegiate, Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2005 at the Arizona National Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz.

Overcast Start to Sunny Day

With Steve in Orlando and Ken absent as well, the task of managing the tournament fell into the hands of club president Aaron Walburg and board member (and 2004 Golfer of the Year) Jim Peretti. The biggest concern at Shadow Lakes was Mother Nature. Forecasts were all calling for a small chance of showers in the morning, followed by clearing skies by mid-day. An early morning phone call to the course was also re-assuring, and so all systems go. For the future, if ever there is doubt about the weather on the day of a tournament, phone the pro shop. We are usually very much in touch with the pro shop and if it looks like a rainout, we'll speak with the golf course staff, who will then inform members as to whether or not we're playing. On this day the threat of rain dissipated quickly. By 11am the sun was piercing the overcast sky in many places and by noon cloudy sky was all but a distant memory.

Scoring Corrections by Aaron Walburg

The scoring was handled by the staff of Shadow Lakes. It was a generous offer and we took them up on it. However in double-checking the results there were some small mistakes. I held off on finalizing the results until I had a chance to re-calculate the event from the score cards. The work paid off as I found myself (amazingly) in third place. It's nice to be able to review results from the comfort of one's home... But seriously, club policy requires that we correct any results even if they had previously been made official. Nevertheless Jim and I decided to postpone labeling the results "official" until I had a chance to go over the scoring again. To be honest I always go over all result from every tournament from the scorecards through the scoring sheets. I have to re-total all scorecards simply to verify proper score-posting. Is it a labor of love? Mostly it's just a labor. By the way, the mistake was where it usually is: the tiebreaker.

Difficult Greens; High Scores

Perhaps the biggest indication of the difficult greens can be acquired by the strange and unlikely occurrence. Both of our CTP contest winners failed to par the hole. Has this ever happened before. Perhaps, but it's not common.

As mentioned, scores were high. For the second consecutive tournament we only had one player able to shoot below net par. Last month it was Bob Sternbach shooting a 68 (2 under net par). This time it was Jim Peretti with a net 70 (also 2 under net par). Jim won the flight by three strokes over Mark Northfield (73). Placing third with a net 76 was Aaron Walburg.

In the second flight the results were just as spread out. Andrew Kang turned it around on the back nine with a blistering 41 (He'd shot 48 on the front). Andrew had the day's second best net score (behind Peretti's 70) and he won the second flight by four strokes. In second after winning a tiebreaker was Scott Meredith. Scott had also turned around his game with a 43 on the back following a 50 on the front. Ron Gallagher placed 3rd, having been defeated in the tiebreaker, yet Ron had also played better on the back nine.

Despite his 5-putt (did we mention that Bill Reid had a 5-putt yet?), Bill still somehow managed to win the blind bogey flight. It's fairly impressive, since the resulting triple bogey appeared outside of the holes (random) which determined his handicap.

Secret Societies / Inner sanctums

By the way, there was an imperceptible fist pump, a quiet celebration which took place unnoticed by anyone else Two Saint Mary's associates quietly celebrated a Saint Mary's Men's basketball team win over Cal 61-52 the previous evening. It was round 2 of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. Saint Mary's will next face Memphis at Madison Square Garden in NYC on November 18. There is a small secretive network of Saint Mary's Alumni & affiliates within the UC Golf Club. It is a very secret inner core which includes some of the club's better golfers and power players. The UC Golf Club is peppered with secret societies and contingencies. For instance there is the British Islander contingency. A very powerful group, which only includes one mediocre golfer, but it is somehow powerful. We don't know why. There is also a rather large and indiscrete secret contingent of beer enthusiasts. And of course there is even a large group of members (well hidden) who can play golf.

Successful Foursomes

As often seems to be the case, many of the day's winner's happened to play in the same foursomes. The most fortunate foursome to be a part of was the lead foursome of Northfield, Hazel, Reid, and Peretti. Although Jeff Hazel did not place, Jim Peretti won the first flight and Bill Reid won the blind bogey flight, with Mark Northfield placing second in the first flight. The next most successful foursome was Walburg, Kang Kitchener, Tabibian. Andrew placed first in the second flight and Walburg placed third in the first flight. Andrew also won the CTP.

2005 GOY Race Heats Up

Yes, It's already starting... 2004 Golfer of the Year Jim Peretti is off to another blistering start this season. You will recall that last year he took the same strong lead in the early part of the year, only to suffer some tough rounds in the latter part of the season, barely holding his lead at the finish. This year Jim already has a three point lead on the field, with a second place finish at Mare Island and a win here at Shadow Lakes.

Follow the Bouncing Ball

On the long downhill 5th hole Ryan Tabibian (unwisely) selected his driver and proceeded to crush it, but pulled it into a group of houses being constructed in that very unsafe location. Mark Northfield happened to witness the tail end of Ryan's shot, and he saw the ball as it somehow (inconceivably) got stuck on the roof. Several minutes later Ryan went looking for it, unsuccessfully.

Club's Streak of Eagles Ends

As a club, we'd had eagles for two consecutive events. At Boundary Oak Edgar Johnson had his hole in one and Van Hall took a 3 on the par 5 3^rd hole. Then at Mare Island Mark Northfield eagled the par 4 10^th hole. There were no eagles at Shadow Lakes. Indeed there was only a handful of birdies, perhaps half a dozen in all. Nevertheless we'll have to look for another streak. One thing for certain is that the record streak continues for the number of consecutive tournaments in which at least one beer is consumed by a member following the round.

Red States, Blue States, Purple States

This was the first tournament following the hyper media coverage of the 2004 presidential election. There were red states, there were blue states, but in reality the whole country was purple. The election coverage briefly eclipsed the coverage surrounding the Scott Peterson case, which was also recently decided. Regardless of how anyone voted, everyone is just glad the over-saturated media coverage of this (and the Scott Peterson Trial) has ended. For those who tire of our own media, there are other news sources which focus less on current events and more on world news. To name a few there's BBC News (which airs on PBS) or Germany's Deutsche-Welle (which broadcasts in English every few hours on KMTP, Channel 32). Deutsche-Welle is a terrific alternative to top stories about Sponge Bob balloons being stolen from the roof tops of local fast food restaurants.

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At the first tee are Dennis Smith, Rollie Otto, Dale Steele, and Scott Meredith. These guys are some of our the club's more distinguished dressers. Just don't watch them swing their clubs.

With Mount Diablo looming ominously in the background, Dale Steele makes a putt on the elevated 6th green.

Between a blurry Ryan Tabibian and Martin Kitchener, Scott Meredith hits his approach at #16.

Golfer of the Year leader Jim Peretti (yes, it's been an all too common phrase over the past 12 months) on the first tee. Jim began the day tied for third place behind Ken Lloyd and Bob Sternbach, but with a win here in the first flight Jim took a 2 point lead in the 2005 GOY race.

Jeff Hazel with his ever full and ever healthy follow through. Jeff Rivals Ryan Tabibian for the club's best follow through. Also notable are Ross Sakamoto and Steve Obana.

Mark Northfield looking dapper on the first tee. Mark was going for a lumberjack look with his sporty knitted cap.

Bill Reid captured the blind bogey flight shooting an 83 (net 77). His win required a tiebreaker over Allen Kent.

Mike O'Neill with a practice swing. Mike won the CTP in the first flight with the day's best shot to 13'-8" on the 7th hole.

New member Kevin Kendall follows his opening drive with a look of concern. This is a common look for new members. You never forget your opening drive as a new member of a club. Conversely, club veterans quickly forget a new members initial drive.

David Moers' opening drive. Dave managed a par on this tricky opener.

Dave drained this putt on #12 for his fourth consecutive par.

Dave had a rough finish, with trouble here on #17, and more trouble on #18. At least Dave photographed well today... (Hey we're trying to see the positive here...).

Some golf customs appear to verge on maniacal. Here we have three highly intelligent adult male homo sapiens, but give them a few putts to line up and all pandemonium breaks loose. In this case our three homo sapiens are John Culverwell, Mike O'Neill, and Kevin Kendall.

And speaking of quirky customs... here's a new twist on the concept of a fishing expedition. Mike's just lucky he didn't lose his balance. That would have made for an even better picture! 

Charles Upshaw hits his approach at #12. Charles has been a member, on and off since the mid-90's. He's on the cusp of re-re-establishing his index. With one more tournament under his belt Charles should be ready for the big leagues. Look out, World!

New member Jamie Sutton was given a warm introduction to the club by members Mike Hearn and Bruce Flushman.

Mike lags a putt at #18.

Jamie gives a keen eye to this putt at #18.

Allen Kent (right) was a member from 1994 to 2000. He just rejoined the club and doesn't seem to have missed a step. Accompanying him today were Dave Wherritt, Bob Sternbach, and Kelly Alvarez. Allen is therefore rethinking his decision about rejoining the club.

Kelly gives a grin to the camera as he speeds past.

Dave (Super Fly) Wherritt follows his approach at #18 with his bug-eyed glasses.

Allen Kent didn't forget how to tend the flag.

Greg Smith with a chip-shot at #18.

Next month (December 15) Br. Ron Gallagher would be named as Saint Mary's College's newest President. For now he was just a mediocre golfer attempting a lob shot on the 18th hole. Golf is humbling... even for presidents. And speaking of presidents, of course Former U.S. President Gerald Ford is still an honorary member of the club!

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Here's a good shot of Ed Biglin's chip at #18. The goal here (for the photographer) was to freeze the ball in the air. Not a bad job!

Glenda Goode at #18.

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New member Al Rollins blasts out from a greenside bunker on #18.

Martin Kitchener, Andrew Kang, and Ryan Tabibian shoot the breeze while waiting at the 4th tee.

Martin's approach on #1.

Martin gets the full workout, opting to pass on the cart (mandatory fee) to walk with his bag. Here on the 6th hole he had quite a workout.

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Martin gives this putt at#15 a good long stare.

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On #16 Martin hit a mighty drive (mighty poor).

Martin pokes at his ball semi-disinterestedly, here on #16.

Andrew Kang had a terrific round, but he didn't start playing well until this hole (#5). After a perfect drive and a decent approach to the green, he nearly made a long birdie putt. A par here is a good score. Andrew played the first 4 holes at 7 over par, and the remaining 14 holes at 11 over.

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Andrew had a poor drive on the 6th hole, but made up for it with a vengeance with this massive fairway wood, salvaging a bogey.

With a dramatic cloud-enshrouded Mt. Diablo as a backdrop, Andrew hit this nice sand shot.

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Andrew's putt at #11.

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Andrew's shot at the not-so-scenic (surrounded by houses) 13th hole.

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Andrew on the 16th hole.

Andrew drained this putt for bogey on the 16th hole.

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Andrew's drive on #18. Andrew finished with a birdie on this par 5. He turned in the day's second-best net score (72) and won the second flight by 4 strokes.

Aaron Walburg with a putt from the fringe at #5. His first par of the day was quickly overshadowed by a triple on #6. Walburg nevertheless shot a 76 and won a three-way tiebreaker to place third.

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Aaron's tee shot at #13.

Ryan Tabibian earned one of the day's 7 pars here at the long par 3 fourth hole.

Ryan's approach shot at #13.

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Ryan got creative here on the 14th hole and actually (somehow) salvaged a bogey.

Ryan offers the best reactions in the club. Often he'll kick the air and his foot will be a foot above his head at it's crest. Here at #15 Ryan missed a 12-foot par putt...

...and turned in disgust. He seems hot-headed, but ironically he's possibly got one of the club's most gentle demeanors, behind say, Dave Webb and Van Hall.

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Ryan's drive at the dramatic 16th hole.

Ryan in the home stretch. After a par at #17 he bogeyed here at #18.

Complete Flight Results: