The Metropolitan; Vol. 7, No. 7

Volume 7 | No. 7

November/December 2020

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Metropolitan AMATEUR GOLF ASSOCIATION

How to remember a year to forget

PORT’S POEM Tales of a travel writer Familiar names take 2020 MAGA awards

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INSIDE

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3. Rules/Numbers 4. Curt’s Corner 6. Final Standings 8. Bogeyman 10. POY Awards

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14. Play It Again Skip 16. Other Worldly 20. Port’s Poem 22. Travel Tales 24. Supe’s On

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By The Numbers

103

This is the number of players on the PGA Tour who average more than 300 yards in driving distance. Ten years ago - in 2010 - the 300-yard Club included only 12 members. In 2000, it included one - John Daly at 301.4 yards.

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The number of MAGA Player of the Year honors Ellen Port has celebrated. Port and other POY winners were toasted on Dec. 2 at Bogey Hills Country Club and the honorees are featured in this edition of The Metropolitan. A poem Port read at the ceremony is on page 20.

This edition of Rules Quiz features an excerpt from MAGA official John Thorman’s e-book, Let’s Get It Right.

Rambo Dear John: A player’s second shot on the par-5 13th hole came to rest up on the bank behind a dead tree.

It was a 15-foot tall 6-inch diameter trunk that was rotting away. The tree interfered with the player’s swing (i.e., he was right-handed). To my surprise, the player started elephant-ramming the trunk trying to break it off at the ground (i.e., hitting it like a linebacker). He broke loose a three-foot chunk from the top of trunk before we could stop him from hurting himself!

3.1

The millions of dollars raised

by The Memorial Tournament (by Nationwide) for charity in a pandemic year, which required the venerable championship be conducted without fans. An amazing achievement by the folks in Dublin, Ohio.

The player went on to hit a punch-shot down to the fairway and finish the hole. Should there have been a penalty? - Timber!

395

The number of feet in a putt holed by Brett Stanford in 2017, recognized by Guinness Wordd Record as the longest ever made.

The Australian trick shot artist struck the putt from the 5th fairway of Point Walter Golf Course, from where it bounded onto the green and into the hole.

Answer

Dear Timber, Are you referring to the Rules of Golf or breaking some law? At least no one got hurt. Golf is a gentleman’s game that linebackers play, too. A player may not “move, bend or break any growing or attached natural object” if doing so improves the conditions affecting the stroke (Rule 8.1a). The tree is no longer growing, but it is attached (i.e., rooted in the ground)

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The percent by which the number of junior golfers (equal to 500,000 players) may have increased by the end of 2020, according to estimates

by The National Golf Foundation. In what has been a remarkable year of growth for a sport that adapts so well to the social-distancing demands of the pandemic, the NGF also estimates new or lapsed golfers may have increased by as much as 20%, as well.

Although the player broke off the top piece of the dead tree, that did nothing to improve the area of his swing; therefore, no penalty. Had the player succeeded in breaking the tree off at the ground and gaining a normal swing, the penalty would have been two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play.

Thanks, John 3

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Curt’s Corner

MAGA STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Curt Rohe - Executive Director

Curt Rohe - curt@metga.org

METROPOLITAN CHAMPIONSHIPS Amateur Championship Match Play Championship Open Championship Women’s Amateur Championship Junior Amateur Championship Senior Amateur Championship Metropolitan Cup Matches Four-Ball Championship Mid-America Junior Cup

USGA QUALIFYING ROUNDS US Open (Local and Sectional) US Senior Open US Amateur US Mid-Amateur US Girls’ Junior Amateur US Women’s Mid-Amateur US Junior Amateur US Senior Amateur US Senior Women’s Amateur US Women’s Open US Amateur Four-Ball US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball

ADVISORY COMMITTEE Scott Thomas, Chairman Dustin Ashby Tom Barry Skip Berkmeyer Chris Kovach Ryan Eckelcamp Tom Portner Curt Rohe

2020 P.J. BOATWRIGHT INTERNS Chase Phillps Jacob Skudlarczyk Chase Holland

Happy New Year! Is there a year that says more than ever than this year - 2020?

The past year has been one for the ages and we are ready for 2021.

However, golf again has been good, and many would say it has been great!

The numbers are staggering on the amount that play is up around the country, which should mean good things for our clubs. The numbers are up at both private and public facilities. I have spoken to many of our private member clubs and they too are experiencing record breaking numbers for rounds, as are the public clubs.

While the courses have experienced high volume, so has the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association. Our individual memberships, which are all of you reading The Metropolitan, have increased in 2020. Again, that means people were playing golf, entering scores and maintaining their USGA Handicap Indexes.

As we wrap up the year, I must complete my Corner with a plethora of thank yous!

It was a trying year at times, at times not knowing if or when we would have a golf season, before finally getting started in June. We had to react to where we were playing - which county we were in, which state we were in - and adjust playing conditions accordingly for those locations.

But we did it. Once again, our Member Clubs demonstrated why they are the best in the country - and I continue to say that year-in, year-out! To those that were scheduled early on, who adjusted to a later date(s) so we would not have to cancel events - thank you!

Those clubs cooperated by ensuring a safe environment for our golfers to participate in a full schedule in 2020.

Again, thank you!

Our volunteers are, as we all know, the lifeblood of the organization.

Thank you to our Rules Committee and Course Rating Committee for sticking with us, and giving your time so we could deliver on championships we are known for, and on services to our clubs. We adapted to doing things differently on many occasions, but again, we did it!

As 2020 comes to an end, we are excited about what 2021 has in store. The 2021 championship schedule is rounding into shape and will be published on the website very soon. The highlights of the season will be the 31st Amateur Championship at St. Louis Country Club, as well as the 16th Metropolitan Open returning to Lake Forest Country Club in June.

So, I will end this final Curt’s Corner with a big thank you to Dan O’Neill and what he has brought to The Metropolitan in 2020!

We look forward to bringing you more in 2021!

THE METROPOLITAN EDITOR Dan O’Neill

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Positions Available in 2021

P. J. Boatwright Internships Three opportunities for internships in 2021 Each year the USGA provides assistance to Allied Golf Association’s (AGA’s) around the country in the form of the PJ Boatwright Internship grant, MAGA has been a benefactor of this grant since its inception in 1992. In fact, Executive Director Curt Rohe began his golf career as a PJ Boatwright Intern in 1998 with MAGA. Several former MAGA Boatwright Interns have gone on to careers in golf after their time with MAGA. In 2021, we have three (3) opportunities for internships for the season.

Visit the MAGA wesbite (www.metga.org) or contact Curt Rohe, Executive Director, at curt@metga.org.

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10. Joe

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Final Standings Player of the Year Senior

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A forgettable year gave u

who is to distance what Bill Belichick DeChamBunyan on Sunday and beat h moral to this story? You still have to get

The Bogeyman Dan O’Neill - Editor

(Editor’s note: This story appears courtesy of Morning Read (www. morningread. com) The world became all about COVID-19 in 2020. At the same time, golf is able to live with a virus better than most activities. Outdoors, distancing … they come with the territory. And as a result, the industry thrived on the recreational level.

Professionally, after a three-month shutdown, and despite a dozen or so positive tests, the PGA Tour persevered. While other sports suffered stops and starts, golf regrouped, rescheduled and resumed the year unobstructed.

That said, 2020 certainly was not your father’s year in golf. So, let’s look at some of the stories that, properly masked and socially-distanced, have stood out: Prime-time matches: OK, yeah, Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson probably had one sequel left, and tossing in Peyton Manning and Tom Brady gave it GOAT-grudge sizzle. Manning is easily the most entertaining of the bunch. But the second match, incorporating a tired Charles Barkley joke and the NBA’ s Stephen Curry, was more like an episode of Fantasy Island than golf. Next time, give it some spunk, have them play basketball.

A Masters in November: Without fans, without pastels, without egg salad, it seemed like a forced hand, a Masters for the sake of being able to say there was a Masters. The missing elements, the absence of Amen Corner eruptions made it the least-imposing Masters for players; ditto for the U.S. Open. Given the circumstance, everyone’s doing his best, that’s understood. But where a major championship is concerned, the British Open probably had the right idea: wait until next year.

Bryson DeChambeau: “Bison” came out of the COVID break the way Dr. David Banner comes out of temper tantrums. And when DeChambeau won the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, power became all the rage. “Experts” predicted Augusta National would have no chance when the battleship DeChambeau came ashore in Georgia. Then he double-bogeyed his first par 5 and finished the championship tied for 34th. Oh, by the way, tied for 29th was 63-year-old Bernhard Langer, 8

The regression of Tiger: On the heels o title – a Big Cat revival seemed to be on. B ineffectively in 2020. A tie for ninth at t proved to be his only top-30 result in a ended in a bingo number: T-38. That sa had something like 45 back surgeries, so

Phil Mickelson, Sr.: Many fantasized a Foot, expelling his demons and winnin didn’t happen. But no one anticipated M which his missed cuts outnumbered his to visited the Champions Tour twice and w Silverado might be praying he visits mor

Cinderella: Ranked 304th in the world, Symetra Tour player, won the Women’s which includes battling Lyme disease, lo Tour card by one stroke, resonated wit in an embarrassing position, with Popo Inspiration. But all’s well that ends well. year, the U.S. Women’s Open, though s leaderboard.

Spieth softly: Jordan Spieth is now five y when he won two major championships years removed from his last win: the 20 on milk cartons or subway walls, but Sp rankings and has not been able to stop made 20 starts, with six missed cuts and mind, he’s still only 27 and – filed under Golf Hall of Fame based on what he did

Fowler power: In fairness to Spieth, he a number of “names,” and that include impressive, but the owner did not have the majors, struggling statistically, Fowl the bubble for the Masters in April. Dur no major titles and five PGA Tour win Everybody pulls for players such as Spie in life. But Fowler’s career has a Chip Bec

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November/December 2020

us memorable moments

is to verbosity. Langer was paired with him by two strokes. The brake-pumping it in the hole.

of 2019 – which featured his fifth Masters But Tiger Woods played infrequently and the Farmers Insurance Open in January a scant nine starts. A return to Augusta aid, Woods turns 45 this month, and he’s o…

about “Lefty” getting even with Winged ng a U.S. Open at age 50. Of course, that Mickelson going rogue. During a year in op-10 finishes worldwide, 8-3, Mickelson won both times. Starved for excitement, re often in 2021.

, Germany’s Sophia Popov, a 27-year-old British Open at Royal Troon. Her story, osing 25 pounds and missing her LPGA th the golf world. It also put the LPGA ov ineligible for the next major, the ANA Popov competed in the last major of the she was destined to finish far down the

years removed from blowing up in 2015, s and nearly swept all four. And he is 2½ 017 British Open. His likeness is not yet pieth has slipped to No. 82 in the world the bleeding. In calendar year 2020, he d an average finish south of 44th. Keep in “only in golf ” – he is a lock for the World before his 24th birthday.

e is not alone. It wasn’t a great year for es Rickie Fowler. Yes, the mustache was a top-10 after January. Inconspicuous in ler slid to 52nd in the OWGR and is on ring 11 years on the circuit, Fowler owns ns to go with all those TV commercials. eth and Fowler, likable people, successful ck quality to it. All that marketing power

The galleries were massive to watch Tiger Woods during the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club. Had Bellerive hosted in 2020, there would have been no galleries.

has to fade if the resume doesn’t grow.

DJ Way: Only COVID dominated more than Dustin Johnson. With victories at the Tour Championship and the Masters, a T-2 at the PGA and T-6 at the U.S. Open over the past few months, the 36-year-old “D.J.” is Jack Dawson, leaning over the bow of professional golf and declaring, “I’m the king of the world!”

Rather quietly, Johnson has accumulated 24 PGA Tour wins and sits a PGA and British Open short of the career Grand Slam. Given how he finished 2020, it’s not crazy to think he could get both in 2021.

Jack backs Trump: In the midst of a contentious election year, filled with vitriol and inexorable mindsets, Jack Nicklaus came out in support of President Donald Trump. Nicklaus was widely admonished by Hollywood types and media members for having the audacity to offend their sensibilities. Just like that, Nicklaus became a rich, silly old guy, and all the class and character he has demonstrated throughout his public life were dismissed. The reaction, especially the mean-spirited nature of it, said more about closed minds and an intolerant culture. The good news is, Whoopi Goldberg supported Joe Biden’s candidacy, balancing the scales.

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November/December

A night to remember at B

On Wednesday, December 2, the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association Country Club. Although concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic limited th to celebrate what was accomplished during an unprecedented season, an individual honorees, the MAGA was pleased to present the 2020 the Host F that hosted MAGA Championships and USGA Qualifying Rounds during th are on pages 6-7. The women’s awards are selected by the executive committ championships. Our sincere thanks to Bogey

The following few pages of The Memoria 10

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Bogey Hills Country Club

n honored its 2020 Players of the Year with a cocktail party at Bogey Hills he number of attendees, it was a wonderful evening and a great opportunity nd recognize the accomplishments of our champions. In addition to the Facility Awards, acknowledging our amazing member clubs and their staffs he season. The men’s POY is decided on a points basis - the final standings tee, while the host honors are voted on by the players who participate in the y Hills for providing such a fabulous setting.

al highlight the 2020 trophy recipients: 11

2020 MAGA Aw

Host Professional Staff Dustin Hoehn Crown Pointe Golf Club

Superintendent Staff

Mike Carron Meadowbrook Cuntry Club

wards Honorees

Host Private Club

Scott Thomas accepting for Meadowbrook Country Club

Kathy Glennon poses with the Jayne Watson Trophy, which she captured in a playoff winn at Greenbriar Hills Country Club in September. Glennon was celebrated as the 2020 MAGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year at Bogey Hills Country Club. She was unable to attened the ceremony .

Host Public Club

Gateway National Golf Links

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November/December

Play it again, Ski

Don’t try to tell Richard “Skip” Berkmeyer that 13 is an unlucky number. Truly among the elite ama to play in St. Louis, Berkmeyer was honored as the 2020 MAGA Men’s Player of the Year on Wedne 2 at Bogey Hills Country Club. It is the 13th POY award for Berkmeyer, and he’s not about to give i

“No, no,” said Berkmeyer, laughing. “No, it never gets old. I mean. this has been a tough year for ev to be able to have an evening like this, to be able to celebrate something, as we’re doing tonight, it’s This is one of the great things about golf, especially this year, it helped us get through it and I’m jus have something to feel good about.”

Berkmeyer’s 1,513.3 POY points outdistanced a fine season by Chris Ferris, second in the standing 1,245 points. A highlight of Berkmeyer’s summer came in late July when he captured the Missouri Association Stroke Play championship at Norwood Hills Country Club, a place where he sowed ma golfing oats. The state stroke play title was the third in Berkmeyer’s illustrious career. Berkmeyer, w plays out of The Legends Country Club, won by four shots, with rounds of 68-71-69-63 and a total

Earlier in the year, Berkmeyer partnered with Hunter Parrish to win the MGA Four-Ball Champion Jefferson City Country Club. In addition to those wins, Berkmeyer finished in a tie for 6th at the M Amateur, T4 at the MGA Mid-Amateur, advanced to the quarterfinals of the MGA Amateur and q for match play at the St. Louis District Golf Association Griesedieck Championship. In November, was named the MGA Player of the Year for the sixth time.

At the age of 47, Berkmeyer has been a prominent figure on the metropolitan golf scene for some t decades, and as he demonstrated again in 2020, he is still the man to beat “It gets tougher all the tim meyer said.

“There’s a lot of good players in the area. That makes winning this award all the more gratifying. Yo for consistency, but the main thing is, it’s still fun. The friendships you make, the experiences you s what I love about the game, and that’s what keeps you going.”

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Other Worldly

len wins third straight Senior honor

s 2020 unfolded, Buddy Allen wasn’t sure if he would be able to make a swing, much less make a run for Player of the Year. as playing and thinking the best golf of my life,” he said. “When something was off in my swing, I knew exactly where to go to fix it. And then ...” en suffered tendinitis issues in his left elbow. A cortizone shot in April allowed m to play in the Metropolitan Open, but two holes in his elbow popped. He was barely able to finish the round and struggled to a second-day 93. visit to the doctor revealed a torn tendon, a result of his tree-trimming occupaon more than his golf endeavors. Against his doctor’s advice, Allen got another tizone shot in hopes of salvaging his season. Next, he video-taped his swing at a practice session, made some adjustments and off he went.

On Aug. 20, he won his second consecutive St. Louis District Cassett Senior hampionship at Bogey Hills Country Club. The following weekend, he collected birdies over two days and captured the Geroge F. Meyer Trophy and the MAGA nior Amateur at St. Clair Country Club. October brought a win in the Southern Illinois Senior Amateur at Green Hills Golf Club. twixt and between, there were top-10 finishes in four other championships and season’s end, his third consecutive MAGA Senior Amateur of the Year award.

As for the elbow ... “I’m going to have surgery and get it all fixed in January.” a result, Allen won’t have a chainsaw or a golf club in his hands for the first few onths of 2021. But you can count on his return by the time the summer kicks n, and you can count on him stalking another Senior Player of the Year honor.

“I think I have a better understanding of what the “dos” and “don’ts” are of ournament golf ,” Allen said. “I mean, sure, as you get older your body doesn’t ays respond. I don’t hit it as far as I used to, things like that. But I don’t make it.” ” the mental mistakes I used to. I’m a better player because of it.

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November/December

Port plays through “slump” to capture another honor When it comes to adversity, golf plays no favorites and makes no exceptions. Ellen Port is proof positive. Port is among the most accomplished amateur players St. Louis ever has seen. Her collection of United States Golf Association titles, MAGA titles, Missouri Golf Association titles and golf honors is staggering. Past or present, male or female, she is among the best.

But in golf, even the best of us can struggle. For the past several years, Port’s golf was a moving target - here today, gone tomorrow. As she dealt with changes in her professional life off the course, the illness of a dear friend and the needs of two college-age children, her game was inconsistent and her focus was drifting.

“I was in a slump, literally, for three years,” Port said. “In golf, if you play long enough, it’s going to happen. I had a new job, my best friend had pancreatic cancer and I just had a lot of stress going on.

I had to work my way out of not playing well, out of doing some things wrong and just being out of sync. But I stuck with it. It’s easy to get discouraged in this game, it happens to everyone. But I just said, “No,” and I stuck with it.”

The 2020 season was not an easy one with which to stick. Once the Covid-19 pandemic took hold of the country, golf tournaments were cancelled in bunches. National championships Port normally pursues - i.e the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur and U.S. Women’s Fourball - fell like dominoes. All were postponed until 2021.

But while some doors closed, others opened. One of just 10 players in history to win five USGA championships, Port was given an exemption into the U.S. Women’s Amateur in August. In September, she captured the Missouri Golf Association Senior Women’s Championship at Sedalia Country Club. She also tied for ninth in the MGA Women’s Amateur, and finished T3 in the MidAmateur event.

In November, Port was named the 2020 MGA Women’s Player of the Year and at Bogey Hills, she accepted her 23rd MAGA Player of the Year honor. In doing so, she paid tribute to her fellow competitors, the MAGA and all those who persevered through the adversity the year presented.

“Golf in general has kept things more normal,” said Port, who was accompanied at the awards party by her husband and occasional caddie, Andy Port. “Golf has kept us sane. We know golf is a great game and this year we experienced another reason why.”

In that context, and for the occasion of the MAGA party, Port penned a poem, which she read for the gathering in attendance. The inspiration for the prose goes back to her days as a U.S. Curtis Cup captain.

In 2014, the team held a practice session at the Champions Golf Club in Houston, the home of Hall of Famer Jackie Burke Jr. The winner of the 1956 Masters and PGA Championship presented Port with a signed copy of his book, It’s Only A Game. Inside the cover, he added an inscription, “If there are any problems, ‘Play Through Them.’ ” Port’s poem - Play Through Them - is presented on the following page.

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Ellen Port was awarded the 2020 MAGA Women’s Player of the Year trophy on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at Bogey Hills Country Club. Port has been named to the award 23 times in her distinguished career, which lincudes five USGA championships.

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November/December

“Play Through Them” Many cancelled tournaments in 2020 - for this we were bummed, But thank goodness Covid restrictions couldn’t steal all of our fun.

Curt and his team pushed through all the mess, Giving us chances to tee it up and our games to test.

We could still walk the links - face free of masks, But tending to bunkers without rakes was a challenging task.

Leaving them alone just didn’t seem right – As a ball in a footprint creates quite a plight.

Putting with the flagstick remaining in the hole, Tested many people to the depths of their souls.

Percentages say it’s better left in, But given the choice – I will take it for the win.

Did you all know…

Holtgrieve contested a “hole in one,” that bounced in and then out?

Yes, the shallow plastic cup caused a major pout.

He argued his case to the USGA, But it said, “No go Jim”, try to get one on another day.

Courses logged record numbers of rounds, People walked more - losing some pounds.

Over this past year people have seen the light, Understanding golf is the greatest game in life.

You can play it with your kids, wife or dog, Tee off in rain, snow or fog.

And now in a pandemic it’s become the new rave, To be honest, many of us golf did save!

Getiing out in fresh air kept our minds strong, And spirits were lifted when the ball flew straight and long.

So we will keep gratitude in our hearts each time we play, Thanking the Lord for granting us another day.

We will mourn the lives this virus did take, And cry, “Hurry up with the vaccine for goodness sake!”

As 2020 reaches its end and is no more, We join together in gladly closing the door.

And thank goodness this rhyme is also finished and done, Consider yourself fortunate, it was read not sung.

- Ellen Port

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Confessions of a golf l Guest Column Ron Cobb (Editor’s note: During his career at the Post-Dispatch, Ron Cobb covered the Blues, wrote extensively about tennis and later golf as travel editor, and is a member of the St. Louis Tennis Hall of Fame.)

I embarrassed myself at Royal Lytham and got goose bumps at St. Andrews, all because of the luckiest day I had in 31-plus years as a writer and editor at the PostDispatch. It was 1996, my 17th year at the paper, and the head of the features department told me she wanted me to be travel editor.

My first thought was, hmmm, do I really want to be responsible for produc-

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ing a travel section every Sunday virtually by myself?

But wisely I said yes. Over the next decade or so, I would visit 26 states and play golf in 22 of them. I’d also go to 10 other countries and play golf in each of them. I hit a lot of the biggies - Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Turnberry, Royal Lytham, Royal Birkdake, Royal Liverpool, Ballybunion, Celtic Manor, Royal Porthcawl, Pinehurst No. 2, Bandon Dunes and Edgewood Tahoe.

I teed it up in Bermuda, the Bahamas, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, the Virgin Islands, Banff, Cabo San Lucas and Hawaii. For good measure, there were also stops at Myrtle Beach, Amelia Island, South Padre Island, Mesquite, Gulf Shores, Jackson Hole and quite a few others.

I wrote about golf destinations for the travel section. But I also wrote about national parks, amusement parks and historical sites and almost always found a way to get some golf in while I was there. For instance, at Gettysburg for a story about the battlefield, I discovered the Links at Gettysburg on the outskirts of town. It had miniature cannons for tee

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loving travel writer

markers and was situated on Taneytown Road, the same road on which Union soldiers marched on their way to the Battle of Gettysburg.

At Yosemite for a story about the national park, I played Wawona, a nine-hole course inside the park.

As a travel writer at the Post-Dispatch, Ron Cobb played some spectacular golf courses arund the world, At Colonial including Pebble Beach Golf Links (lower left), Hobble Creek Golf Course in Springville, Utah (lower right) Williamsburg, and the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland (above).

I played the Golden “Must be an American chap.”

Horseshoe Green Course. Where there was a will to play, there was a On my first evening at St. Andrews, I wandered down to the road alongside the 18th hole to watch the day’s final way. groups come in. As I stood in front of the Tom Morris My dream trip in 2005 took me to the UK to play six Golf Shop, I noticed a woman was watching from an Open Championship courses. Before going, I had debated whether I’d need a rain suit. Should I spend $200 open window on the shop’s second floor. I turned and asked her, “Excuse me. Did Old Tom Morris really work for something I might not use? Fortunately, or maybe in this shop?” not so fortunately, REI was having a sidewalk sale, and “Yes,” she replied. “He worked on the first floor and I ended up buying a red waterproof jacket and yellow lived here on the second floor ... and I’m his great-greatwaterproof pants for a total of about $20. granddaughter.”

At Lytham, I was paired with the club treasurer, and we were on the second hole when it started raining.

Just writing those words gives me goose bumps again.

Out came his nice, dark rain suit. Out came my red For a travel writer who loves golf, it didn’t get any better and yellow clown suit. How embarrassing. I could just than that. imagine members looking out on the course and saying, 23

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Supe’s On Khris Rickman Superintendent - The Quarry Golf Club President -Mississippi Valley GCSA

I’m tired of talking about the pandemic.

Honestly, I’m tired of 2020 in general. Good riddance and goodbye. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. I am well aware of the date and I’m counting down the days until the New Year.

I know nothing will change between December 31 and January 1, but I can’t wait to take my first shower of 2021 and wash all of 2020’s bad mojo off me. Yuck!

It can only get better right? I’m ready to find out.

A few months ago, Barstool Sports prodcued a video about the 120th U.S. Open.

If you aren’t familiar with Barstool Sports, they are a must follow on twitter or Facebook. The name of the video is Behind The Greens. About 25 minutes long, it takes an in-depth look at the golf course preparations for the 2020 U.S. Open.

The focus is on the daily routine of the Golf Course Management Team at Winged Foot Golf Club. It is essentially a day in the life video. It’s probably my favorite thing I’ve watched all year on the internet. If you haven’t seen the video take some time and watch it. It’s fantastic!

I have watched it multiple times. There is nothing in it that I haven’t seen before.

In my 31 years of golf course maintenance, I’ve experienced quite a bit. But there is something about the way they captured the organized chaos that is the maintenance team’s daily challenge. Maintaining a golf facility is truly a passion and you can see it on their faces.

There are so many things to take away from the video. First of all, it takes a lot of people to provide great course conditions. Winged Foot has 60 employees (over two courses), with 17 of those employees living on the grounds. So many things happen on a daily basis - that no one ever sees - and the maintenance staff goes through a lot of time and effort to accomplish the smallest of details.

But I think the thing that the video has really made me come to realize is that St. Louis golf is fantastic. The choices golfers have are endless. Tons of great private and public golf clubs Some of the top facilities in the Midwest are right here in St. Louis, despite the less than ideal climate. The people who work to facilitate the game are inspiring. All of them.

From the MAGA, to the Gateway PGA, to all of my colleagues in the Mississippi Valley Golf Course Superintendents Association, those who maintain and administer golf in our area should do so with a lot of pride. Together, we provide a great golfing experience.

The St Louis golfing community is truly blessed. We have such a rich history and I’m looking forward to our extremely bright future and putting this pandemic behind us. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Open ample

A look from the tee on the 11 environmental feel with Fede secluded setting, enclosed on

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November/December 2020

n video gives our town e reason to feel proud

1th hole at The Quary at Crystal Springs. With the supervision of Khris Rickman and staff, the club maintains an erally Protected Wetlands, and untouched “environmentally sensitive aeas.� The course is a terrific test of golf in a n three sides by woods and on the fourth side by Creve Coeur Park.

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The Metropolitan

November/December

“Half of golf is fun; the other half is putting.�

- Peter Dobereiner (Golf Digest)

Quail Creek Golf Club.

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The Metropolitan

November/December 2020

Ahead of the curve

Re-live your favorite moments in St. Louis sports history with Dan O’Neill and his captiving new books. Available at area book stores and book purchasing websites. “Go crazy!” and lift Lord Stanley’s Cup in the comfort of your own home.

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