Golf Guide 2023

Ketchner aims for ‘more of same’ in Year 2

SwingEasy!

Pennhills offers months of fun on fairway

New Cable Hollow owners seek to carry on Bortz Legacy

“If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.”

- Jack Lemmon

Ketchner aims for ‘more of same’ in Year 2

By J.P. BUTLER Special to the Golf Guide

ALLEGANY, NY — Last April, Bob Ketchner said he wouldn’t be making any major changes to Birch Run Golf Club.

He didn’t feel as though he had to.

A year later, it’s clear that the club’s new owner has stuck by that decree.

Oh, there have been a couple of minor differences since the former CEO and president of Olean Wholesale Grocery purchased Birch Run from longtime owners Greg and Danny Kaye in March of 2022.

“I think one thing, we have a lot more people that are coming in and socializing after a round of golf,” he noted. Then, too, the club added a chicken barbecue last fall, something it plans to offer “on a more regular basis” on Sundays this year, with orders available to both members and the general public.

For the most part, however, Ketchner kept things as is, hoping merely to build upon the strong foundation that Birch had in place upon his arrival. Reflecting recently on his first campaign in a new position, he believes he succeeded in this endeavor.

“I spent a lot of time last year

just observing,” he said, “learning the way the business flowed and what the customers wanted. I took a lot of mental notes and tried to put them into play this year, and overall I think that last year we were well-received.

“(We heard) a lot of positive feedback from the people that played, the members, so I was very pleased. And if we can just continue to build on the positive experience that people had last year, that would be great.”

Heading into the 2023 season, which opened the weekend of April 1, again, things will look only slightly different. Birch made a couple of renovations to the clubhouse — new carpeting, painting and lighting.

“Sprucing up the place a little bit,” Ketchner said.

In addition to its regular company-sponsored events, it plans this year on adding a member-guest tournament in late July, though plans are still being finalized. The club also retained superintendent Grayson Cole, which Ketchner described as a major coup.

Mostly, the club simply wants to

“repeat what we did last year.”

Last year, Ketchner said, was a “great” one.

What made it so?

“I think the weather played a lot into it,” he said, “because we had a phenomenal weather year (as most local courses did). We could have used more rain at night, it would have helped the course a little bit. But as far as the weather went, we really didn’t lose too many days to rainy weather, which helped for the number of rounds played. So that definitely was a good thing.”

Much like he noted in a Times Herald interview last April, Ketchner isn’t particularly interested in adding more tournaments or special events to the golf schedule. “It’s not what I’m striving for because it disrupts the members’ play,” he maintained. With a background in food and business, he’ll also continue to put more of his focus into the clubhouse side of the operation.

One component that’s slightly different, however, is his perspective.

A year ago, Ketchner was brand new to the business, having just completed

the “painless process” of transitioning from a 30-year club member to owner after purchasing it from his friend, the Kayes.

Now, he’s “more prepared, obviously,” he said.

And that puts him in a better position to reach Birch’s goals of maintaining, or potentially increasing, the number of members (which last year at this time sat just north of 125) and oneoff golfers and enhancing their experience both on and off the course.

“(I’ve) learned the ups and downs, the flows of the business,” said Ketchner, just the fourth owner in Birch’s 69-year history, “when you need to have staffing, things like that. Not knowing what the business cycles were going to be like on a day-to-day business last year, by the end of the year I had a pretty good handle on what the needs were as far as staffing to take care of the customers. …

“So going into this year and looking at how we’re going to handle things, I know where I need the people to make sure that we maximize the positive experience of the customers.”

Photo provided by Birch Run

A green at Birch Run Golf Club in Allegany.

LinkedIn photo Bob Ketchner is entering his second year as owner and operator of Birch Run Golf Club in Allegany.

SWNY-NWPA Men’s Amateur set for Aug. 2-6

By CHUCK POLLOCK

Special to the Golf Guide

OLEAN, NY — The Southwestern New York-Northwestern Pennsylvania Men’s Amateur Golf Tournament will stage its 87th renewal between Wednesday, Aug. 2 and Sunday the 6th at Bartlett Country Club.

Last year’s event drew 120 entrants, the most since the 2005 tourney drew 126. The last three years, fields have averaged 118.

The tournament will open with Wednesday’s 18-hole medal qualifying round and that qualifier will slot the field into 32-man Championship and First Flights with 16-man brackets filling the rest of the field.

Match play begins on Thursday with Championship Flight losers being slotted into a Consolation Flight.

On Friday, the Championship, Consolation and First Flights will play two rounds and the other flights one, reducing the field to the semifinals.

Semis in all flights are Saturday morning with the finals Sunday. All

flights play an 18-hole final except the Championship, which is 36.

An over-60 consolation flight will continue for players that age who lost their opening-round match in any flight but the Championship (which has its own). The top eight players, based on their qualifying-round score, will be re-bracketed in the new flight and compete in match play through Sunday’s final.

In addition, for the second time, an Over-65 Flight will be offered. The flight will be a tourney within a tourney with its own separate medalist and title.

LAST YEAR’S tournament produced only the third player to claim the title the same year he was junior medalist.

When it was over, Bradford’s Spencer Cornelius, this year’s junior medalist who won with a qualifying score of 1-over-par 71, had somewhat unexpectedly beaten 10-time former champion Chris Blocher, 3-and-2.

The 18-year-old bound for Methodist University in Fayetteville, N.C., where he will double major in pro golf management and finance, earned his Men’s Amateur Championship the hard way.

Blocher, the physical education teacher and basketball coach at Hinsdale Central School, was two-up after four holes of the 36hole final, but Cornelius rediscovered his game and led by four at the 14th. At the end of the morning half, the Penn-York Junior Golf League champion, who has a 1.5 handicap at Pennhills, was still three-up.

But after intermission Blocher, 46, showed why he was in his 13th final with a tourney record for victories. He won three of the first five holes to tie the match and on No. 7 went one up.

“I KNEW that he didn’t play great the first 18 holes,” Cornelius said, “so I expected him to start making birdies and told myself to not get startled and stay in it.”

After the morning round, Blocher admitted he knew he was in trouble.

“It was one of the worst two or three rounds I’ve had this year,” he said. “I played awful and putted poorly all day. I made a few in the afternoon, but I putted poorly for me.”

And even when Blocher took the lead, he didn’t necessarily feel it was his title to win.

“I didn’t think about that, I stayed in the present … one shot at a time,” he said.

And there was good reason as Bloch-

er couldn’t pad his one-up lead while Cornelius kept making pressure putts.

“My putter saved me in the middle of the round on the second 18,” he said. “I made some clutch putts. You don’t normally make all of them, but I did today and it worked out in my favor.”

Cornelius admitted, “I think I played good … I only had five bogeys on the day (34 holes) and I was 2-under total (over that span). I’d been playing great all week and I knew if I played the same way I had been, I was going to stand a really good chance to win.”

With the victory he joined Ed Suchora (1993) and Brennan Payne (2004) as the only players to win the Men’s Amateur the same year they were

junior medalist.

In this 2019 file photo, Mitch Faulkner (right), a Bradford native and former Clarion University team member, bumps fists with his caddie at the SWNY-NWPA Men’s Amateur golf tournament at Bartlett Country Club in Olean.

Photos by Jerry Trass/Olean Times Herald

In this 2019 file photo, Mitch Faulkner (left) shakes hand with Chris Blocher at the SWNY-NWPA Men’s Amateur golf tournament at Bartlett Country Club in Olean. Blocher topped Faulkner in the final at that year’s event.

Bavarian Hills

Now celebrating our 33rd year of serving golfers, diners, bar patrons and everyone else who made their way to one of the HOTTEST spots in the St. Marys area.

Our golf course just keeps getting better and is maintained with only the highest standards of excellence.

After a great round of golf stop in the Hills Restaurant for a delicious, mouth-watering meal served by a friendly, courteous staff that is always here to make sure you enjoy your visit time after time.

To keep up to date on current events and specials at the Hills, follow us on Facebook or check out our new website bavarianhillsgolf.net to make online tee times.

Brian Jacobs / Business Manager

Blueberry Hill Golf Club was opened on May 27, 1961 as a nine hole course. Designed by golf course architects James Harrison and Ferdinand Garbin, the course was expanded to its present 18 holes in June of 1970.

Playing at 6428 yards from the white tees, accuracy, rather than length, is required to score well at Blueberry. After a good drive into one of the many tree lined and sloping fairways, even more emphasis is placed on an accurate approach shot.

Players will need to avoid steep banks, grass bunkering, and the five ponds that guard Blueberry’s greens. Imagination, along with a good short game, will be required to compensate for a miss.

With a back to front slope, a key element to scoring well at Blueberry Hill, is to keep the ball below the hole, where you’ll have the best chance at birdie or par.

Twilight Golf

Any day after 5:30pm

Play all you can until dark

$21 per person (includes cart)

Saturday - Sunday - Holidays

After 2:00pm

18 Holes (includes cart)

$33

Penn-York Junior League season opens June 26

By SAM WILSON Special to the Golf Guide

For five Mondays this summer, young golfers will again have the chance to play five different courses in the annual Penn-York Junior Golf League season.

Founded in 1970, Penn-York has allowed school-age boys and girls to play in a competitive tournament format, and today’s version of the league is no different. Now in its 54th year, golfers will play at five stops across the region, from Salamanca (Elkdale Country Club) to Bradford, Pa. (Pennhills, Pine Acres), Wellsville (Wellsville C.C.) and Olean (Bartlett C.C.), starting June 26.

League director Kyle Henzel, who assumed the position in 2017, said there was “not much to change … as they say, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”

The tour has enjoyed strong turnout in recent years, but many of the dedicated players have aged out of the program this year.

“We have averaged roughly 115 junior golfers since I took over in 2017,” Henzel said. “It has been a good run. I am a little concerned about this year as I lost a bunch of kids that went to college and were good golfers, so I am concerned about the quality of play going for ward. But, I guess that could be for any sport in the area; it seems like last year was a wall and this is a new era of sports.”

ONE AREA Henzel would like to grow, however, is the girls’ divisions, where Penn-York had 11 golfers last year. Registration cost — covering all five tournaments — will be $60 per child, an increase of $10 for inflationary reasons, Henzel said. The tour offers

a discount for families: $100 for two juniors or $140 for three.

Also included in that cost is a lunch — hamburgers or hot dogs and a drink provided by the host course — at each stop. Junior golfers will also receive a hat.

The 2023 Penn-York schedule runs as follows: June 26 (Elkdale), July 10 (Pennhills), July 17 (Wellsville), July 24 (Pine Acres) and July 31 (Bartlett).

The tour awards the Davis Memorial Trophy — named after founder Dr. Robert Davis — to the golfer with the low 18-hole average after each season. The top 10 low-stroke averages also receive invitations to play in the SWNY-NWPA Men’s Amateur tournament and the low 16 scores are invited to play in the Betty Bergreen match play tournament, both at Bartlett.

The Kevin Forrest Memorial trophy is awarded to a golfer who shows “love

for the game of golf, integrity, good sportsmanship, enjoys the camaraderie of the game and good-spirited competition and perseverance – that never give up attitude,” according to the league website.

The tour is open to juniors of all ages, up to 18.

Boys aged 16-18 play in Division I and 14-15 play in Div. II, both for 18 holes. Ages 12-13 play nine holes in Div. III and ages 11 and under play nine from the modified tees in Div. IV.

The Div. I girls include ages 14-18 and Div. III is 12-13, both playing nine holes. The Div. IV girls (ages 11-under) play nine from the modified tees.

Tee times range from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

More information can be found by email at pennyork1970@gmail.com or on the “Penn-York Junior Golf League” Facebook page.

EXPERIENCE SOME OF THE BEST VIEWS AND GOLF HOLES IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA

ENJOY OUR FINE PRACTICE FACILITY (Range, Chipping Green, Putting Green)

NEW FOR 2023:

• Lessons by PGA Professional Patrick Damore

• Renovated Clubhouse Bar

• New Dining Menus

• New Event Pavilion (Fall 2023)

• Course redesign by Albanese and Lutzke (underway summer 2023)

Cable Hollow was purchased by the Stewart family in December 2022. Come experience the changes underway… and enjoy an early peek at the renovations envisioned by a family that loves golf!

9 holes 18 holes

Weekdays $28 $38

(Monday - Thursday non-holiday, CART INCLUDED)

Weekends $17 $33.50

(Friday - Sunday & Holidays, DOES NOT INCLUDE CART)

9 holes 18 holes

Cart Rental $13.21 $19.81

Club Rental $12 $12

Friday through Sunday and holidays re-play rates are available for $10.00 per player (CART NOT INCLUDED). Groups of 12 or more on weekends will be $29.00 per player (CART NOT INCLUDED). For more information, call our golf shop at 814-274-9122

Bar & Lounge

Our bar & lounge are available every day during the summer and on a limited basis during the winter. Hours of operation are:

Dining Room

The Dining Room is open Tuesday night for Men's Night, Thursday night for Ladies' Night, and Friday nights from 4:00 PM–8:30 PM for dinners.

We are open for our members, as well as the general public. Reservations are appreciated, but certainly not necessary.

The Dining Room is available any day of the week for special events such as weddings, reunions, company functions, etc. To reserve the dining room please call (814) 274-9122. If no one answers, please leave a message.

Membership Application On Next Page

COURSE PLAY

Play: All players are required to sign in at the pro-shop before starting their round. Tee times are available by calling the pro-shop.

Dress Code: Shoes and sleeved shirts are required for course play. Metal spikes are prohibited.

Golf Cart Usage: The club has golf carts available for rental by both members and the general public. When driving a golf cart on the course:

1. You must be at least 16 years of age to drive any cart on the course.

2. Please drive carts with caution at all times and keep carts at least 20 yards away from the greens where possible.

3. Please abide by the golf cart usage sign to the left of the first tee. This will indicate either 90 degrees, meaning drive the cart in the rough entering the fairway only to get to your ball, or cart paths only. If it says cart paths only, please drive your cart on a cart path or in the rough only.

4. For all rounds, please keep your cart on the cart path only for holes 4 & 8.

5. We request that you remove all personal items and debris from rental carts and return the key to the pro shop at the end of your round.

COUDERSPORT GOLF CLUB

P.O. BOX 446 COUDERSPORT, PA 16915

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Pennhills, Pine Acres offer months of fun on fairway

By HUNTER O. LYLE Special to the Golf Guide

BRADFORD, Pa. — As the season turns and the warm weather arrives, outdoor recreation is once again coming to the forefront of mind of sportsmen and women alike. With the Pennhills Club and Pine Acres Country Club opening their courses, both provide an outlet to outdoor recreation close to Bradford.

Pine Acres opened on April 1, offering their 18-hole course to the public for the season, which will end on Oct. 15. While anyone can join as a member, it’s not a necessity, as Pine Acres offers varying rates for community members.

For those looking to stretch their legs and get a quick nine holes in, Pine Acres will charge $20. That price increases just $10 with the addition of a cart, and for the same $30 price tag walk-ons can experience the full 18-hole course without the use of a golf cart. For 18 holes and a cart, Pine Acres will charge $38. For the month of April, golfers can enjoy a deal from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. of $25 for 18 holes and a cart. Weekend rates may change and Pine Acres suggests calling ahead when preparing for the weather.

Throughout the six-month season, Pine Acres will host several tournaments, such as the Annual Howard J. Warfield Memorial Tournament, which usually takes place in June, and the Care “Fore”

Children Tournament, which is hosted in August. Official dates of tournaments are not set just yet.

JUST UNDER six miles outside of Bradford, the Pennhills Club is also preparing their greens for the upcoming season, offering a few more bells and whistles.

Unlike Pine Acres, Pennhills is a member-only course with varying rates based upon ages and programs. Anyone interested can call the course or stop by to sign up. Once a member, one unlocks an 18-hole Walter Davis design-style course with multiple programs, events and leagues.

Some of the programs include men’s days on Thursdays, women’s days on Wednedays, a junior league for ages 7-13 that takes place once a week throughout the summer, as well as lessons with Pennhills pro John Rook that include

children, adults and couples sessions that range from a half hour to an hour.

The Pennhills course also hosts several events and tournaments throughout the season, which starts April 1 and runs through the end of October. Along with the over 15 charity events, the pinnacle of Pennhills is the Blaisdell ProAm, a showcase tournament in late July where experienced golfers compete for large cash prizes. Every year, the Pennhills Club awards over $160,000 in purses.

“It’s going to be a great year. We have a lot of events going on within the club, highlighted by the Pro-Am, and we have a huge number of guests that we’re excited about,” Rook said. “We’re just waiting for the weather to cooperate with us and then we’ll see you there.”

Hilbert Athletics photo Hilbert College’s Matthew Whelan makes a putt during the Pitt-Bradford Invitational at Pennhills Club in Bradford, Pa., last fall.

Challenging and Scenic Golf Course

The 6132 yard, par 70 layout is designed to provide an interesting challenge for players of all skill levels. The front nine was built in 1927 and is cut along varied terrain and mature trees. The Back nine was added in 1960, is a bit longer and with larger greens.

Twenty years after protests, women still look ahead look Twenty years after protests, women still look ahead

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer

AUGUSTA, Ga. — It started with a letter that Martha Burk figured would never see the light of day.

When she mentioned the all-male membership at Augusta National, the National Council of Women’s Organization didn’t even vote on whether to take action.

“It was a very casual conversation at the end of a board meeting,” Burk said in a recent interview. “I had found out about this club and said I was thinking about writing a letter. Everyone said, ‘Fine, write the letter.’ I never expected my letter to go anywhere. I thought in a few years I might have followed up with a phone call.”

There was no need.

Hootie Johnson, the chairman of Augusta National, wrote a three-sentence reply to her that club matters were private. The next day he issued a scathing, 932-word statement to the media that defended the rights of a private club and said a woman joining Augusta National would be on the club’s timetable and “not at the point of a bayonet.”

So began the biggest controversy in Masters history.

It culminated 20 years ago with a rally during the third round. Burk, wearing a bulletproof vest under a green golf shirt, spoke to about 40 supporters in a lot a half-mile away from Magnolia Lane because authorities denied her permission to protest across from the club. And then it all went away, or so it

seemed. Television sponsors returned in 2005, after the Masters had cut them loose to keep them out of the fray. It wasn’t until nine years after the protest that Augusta National announced former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore had accepted invitations to join.

“We did not succeed in our goal to get the club open to women at the time,” Burk said. “They waited a long enough time that we wouldn’t get credit. But had we not done that, I think there still would not be women members.”

During the course of this battle, Burk was invited to be part of a Golf World magazine cover. The headline was “Year of the Women.” She was among five women on the cover as the top newsmakers of the year, and had no way

of knowing then that one of them — Suzy Whaley — would go on to become the first female president at the PGA of America.

THE LANDSCAPE has changed over the last 20 years, but not quickly enough for some who still see a great gender disparity. Augusta National has at least six female members wearing green jackets during the Masters.

The most noticeable — and more relevant — change is outside the club.

Two years after Augusta National had its first female members, Whaley in 2014 was elected secretary of the PGA of America, a 28,000-strong organization of club professionals. She rose to presi-

AP Photo/Matt Slocum

In this April, 1, 2023 photo, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, right, hugs Rose Zhang after Zhang won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur golf tournament in Augusta, Ga.

dent four years later. Diana Murphy in 2016 became only the second president in the 121-year history of the U.S. Golf Association.

The Royal & Ancient Golf Club voted overwhelmingly in 2014 to accept women for the first time, and later removed Muirfield from the British Open rotation when the historic golf club in Scotland rejected mixed membership.

Muirfield held a second vote in 2017 and changed with the times. The club known as the “Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers” that dates to 1744 not only has female members, it hosted the Women’s British Open last year for the first time.

The USGA announced in 2007 the U.S. Women’s Open would be going to Pebble Beach, the most iconic venue of the men’s U.S. Open. That becomes reality this summer. Also on the USGA calendar is a second staging of the U.S. Open and the U.S. Open Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in consecutive weeks.

“If you look at the world, if you look at golf, we’ve come a long way,” Whaley said. “I like to paraphrase Condi Rice. She always talks about suffrage and things that happened before. But also look forward. What can I do to make it better for those who come behind us?”

WHALEY EARNED her place on that Golf World cover as a high-energy Connecticut club pro who became the first woman since 1945 to qualify for a PGA Tour event. Annika Sorenstam, who also was on the cover, played a men’s event two months ahead of Whaley thanks to a sponsor invitation.

Whaley now serves on the board of the Annika Foundation, and they recently caught up while doing a CBS special. Whaley recalls the Masters controversy being “right on top of us” as they prepared to play against the men. They rarely made it through an interview without being asked about it.

“We were all thrown together in this women’s movement in golf,” Whaley said.

Whaley played the LPGA Tour briefly, married club pro Bill Whaley, had two daughters and never lost the itch for golf. She spent hours observing famed instructors, and it led to her getting certified as a teaching pro by the LPGA Tour and the PGA of America.

After moving to Connecticut, she was recruited to run a public course called Blue Fox Run. The owner, Lisa Wilson Foley, wanted a woman as the head pro. Whaley learned on the job.

She has seen women in roles not many were in 20 years ago — engineers behind the technology of drivers, rules officials, the general manager of a 140-year-old club that hosted the U.S. Open last year, the president of a club is hosting the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, the C-suite in major golf organizations.

“We can celebrate the progress, where we are today,” she said. “My question is where are we going next? What’s next for corporate? What’s next for media? The bottom line is this — I’m really happy with where we’re headed. We need serious support to get where we should be.”

ALEX BALDWIN is the first woman to be president of Korn Ferry Tour, the primary path to the PGA Tour, and her role is expanding to bring more tours into the pathway.

“We had a dinner in Savannah (Georgia), and we had 60 different title sponsors. We had event operators come out, we had a golf course owner. It was people who represented our tour,” Baldwin said. “It literally was 50-50 representation, men and women. I’ve been to a lot of dinners where I’m the only woman. It was a cool moment to have.”

The Korn Ferry Tour is where careers began for the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas, Bubba Watson and Zach Johnson.

Baldwin, in her fourth year as president, has noticed fewer questions about being a woman in this leadership role, and she’s happy about that. She would attribute the gains more to a changing culture in society, not just golf.

Even so, there are moments that remind her of change. One happened in Chile last week, where the Korn Ferry Tour played for the first time.

“A young woman sought me out — she was involved in a junior program,” Baldwin said. “She said, ‘I wanted to meet you. You’re a woman, and I can’t tell you how inspiring that is.’”

BURK NEVER paid much attention to golf before she wrote that letter to

Augusta National, and now she only is aware of the sport when the Masters rolls around.

At 81, her time is spent largely on equal pay and other political issues affecting women. She also hosts three-minute podcasts called, “Equal Time with Martha Burk.”

Burk, with her Texas twang, never needed a lot of time to get to her point.

“How many women are at Augusta now? Six? That’s 2%,” she said, basing it on the assumption the club has about 300 members. “Let’s do a little math. Women are still pathetically behind in U.S. business, anyway. We’ve just broken through to 10% (of CEOs) in Fortune 500s. If you equate that — which we ought to — to the membership at Augusta National, they ought to have 30.”

One of her kids recently gave her a program called “Storyworth” to share memories. One prompt asked her to tell the craziest thing that ever happened to her. The answer came easily.

She wrote a letter to an all-male club, not fully knowing about Augusta National or the Masters. She recalled her oldest son telling her, “Mother, you have attacked the Westminster Abbey of golf.”

“Even though it has been 20 years, people still stop me on the street or remark when they hear my name,” Burk concluded in her Storybook entry. “I’m fond of saying the Augusta fight will be on my gravestone.”

ELF Fund Golf Scramble set for June 4

BRADFORD, PA — The Era’s Less Fortunate Fund will host its second ELF Fund Golf Scramble on June 4 at the Pennhills Club.

Registration begins at 12:30 p.m. with a shotgun start at 1:30 p.m. There will be buffet hors d’oeuvres and awards following the scramble.

The ELF Fund, in its 40th year in 2023, is seeking event sponsors and prize sponsors for the scramble, as well as raffle items. Contact Rhonda Gray at rhondagray14@gmail.com for information.

Registration and payment this year will be online — advance registration will be appreciated. Watch on the ELF Fund’s Facebook page for more details.

Ischua Valley Country Club

2023 Membership Application

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Please remit to: Ischua Valley Country Club P.O. Box 187 Franklinville, NY 14737

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You will receive event information and club correspondence to the email addresses listed above. You can also view this information on the club website: www.IschuaValleyCC.com We are social...join us: @ IschuaValleyCountryClub

The 9th Annual JVGC Senior Open

Friday, September 8th, 2023

10:00Am Shotgun Start

All players 50 years and older are welcome! All Flights will be balanced based on Age of Players Participating. Gross Pay-Out’s per flight

Format: Individual Stroke Play

Entry: $100 per player. $50 down payment required at sign-up.

Optional $10 per player gross skins within flight

To sign-up call JVGC Pro Shop at (814) 489-7803 or Email Joe Yaegle, JVGC Golf Professional, at jry.hp.jvgc@gmail.com

New Cable Hollow owners seek to carry on Bortz Legacy

RUSSELL, PA — One of the area’s best-maintained golf clubs changed ownership recently. John and Marge Bortz operated Cable Hollow Golf Course since 1972 and were renowned for fine course conditions and regular course improvements. During their 50 years of ownership, the Bortzes built the modern clubhouse that overlooks the entire course and surrounding hills. Under their care many greens were rebuilt, ponds were deepened, holes redesigned and a full practice facility with driving range, chipping green and 7,000-square-foot putting green were installed. The course is maintained in perfect condition throughout the season with the automated irrigation system they installed.

In December 2022, John and Marge sold Cable Hollow to Arthur Stewart and

his family. Stewart was a young golfer at Cable Hollow when John and Marge started in business in 1972. He and his family operate a number of local businesses, and when John and Marge decided to retire they called their old customer and friend … and the answer was a quick “yes.”

STEWART IS an avid golfer, attending several PGA tournaments a year, where he enjoys watching the play and where he loves studying the courses. He sees Cable Hollow as an already beautiful course with great infrastructure. But he notes it is rich with opportunity to be something even more, and something more is Stewart’s passion.

In 2006, Stewart was co-founder of D&I Silica, a provider of high-quality

proppants used in the energy industry. His company quickly became one of the nation’s largest independent suppliers, and when he sold in 2013, D&I was operating over 1,000 railroad cars a day upon the nation’s railroads. Today, Stewart and his family operate Cameron Energy Company, a supplier of natural gas to 15,000 local households and supplier of high-quality lubricating oil. They also own Caledonia Land Company, a grower of high-quality Pennsylvania hardwoods. Cameron and Caledonia have grown from six employees ten years ago to over 50 today. The Stewarts bring the same spirit of growth to their new operation at Cable Hollow Golf Course.

“Our focus in 2023 will be a seamless transition and to make improvements — many of which were already planned by the Bortz family. We have finished a new clubhouse roof. We are renovating the clubhouse interior and adding an event pavilion this summer.”

FOR THE course, the Stewarts have hired a golf course architect, Paul Albanese of Albanese and Lutzke. Albanese has worked on five continents and in addition to being in demand around the world, is also the

Director of Golf Course Architecture at the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. In 2023, Albanese and the Stewarts expect to change several greens and tees. But the bulk of the work is planned for future years and is being developed in a master plan designed to bring to Cable Hollow some of the exciting course features that Stewart and Albanese are fond of.

John Bortz is excited about what he has seen. “Arthur (Stewart) and I have already been on the course planning the rebuilding of No. 6 green. My wife and I see something new happening every day at the clubhouse. Cable Hollow is in wonderful hands.”

The Stewarts have maintained the family-friendly membership rates put in place by the Bortz family.

“John and Marge understood the importance of our members, and so do we,” Stewart said.

“Our goal is to continue the fine Bortz legacy and improve it by accelerating projects they had in mind, and by adding some of our own. Some great things are happening at Cable Hollow and we are glad John and Marge gave us this opportunity. We won’t disappoint them.”

Annual JCC Classic set for June 21

ELLICOTTVILLE, NY — The SUNY Jamestown Community College Alumni Association on the Cattaraugus County Campus and the JCC Foundation are hosting the 31st annual JCC Golf Classic on June 21 at the Holiday Valley Golf Course. The event is sponsored by Community Bank.

Proceeds from the tournament provide scholarships and opportunities to students on the Cattaraugus County Campus. Last year’s event sold out quickly and raised over $15,000.

To register, visit sunyjcc.edu/golf-classic.

Sponsorships and donations for the raffle are being sought.

Last year’s tournament at Holiday Valley’s Double Black Diamond course included 144 golfers and 36 teams. Winners were crowned in men’s, women’s and mixed divisions.

Contact Carissa Bently at 716-338-1057 or CarissaBentley@mail.sunyjcc.edu with questions.

Would new PGA Tour model have stopped defections?

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. —

The PGA Tour is going to reward the biggest stars with as many as 11 tournaments that have small fields, big money and no cuts.

This should sound familiar. And there is no denying it would not have happened without the threat and the disruption of Saudi-funded LIV Golf.

But it raises a question that might shed light on the differences between the rival circuits. If this had been in place two years ago, how many of the 36 PGA Tour players who defected to LIV Golf would have stayed?

“Zero to five,” Jordan Spieth said in offering his best guess, which is all anyone can do. “It’s still not guaran-

The PGA Tour has put the prize fund at $20 million for its big events, just like LIV Golf, except with larger fields and more fresh faces. LIV is locked in with the same 48 players and the occasional alternate. But without a cut, the money effectively is guaranteed on both circuits.

Not to be overlooked, however, is that LIV players like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau — all of whom have won majors in the last five years — received a signing bonus of what has been reported to be in the $150 million neighborhood.

That was more appealing than a chance to play for the Iron Heads or the Hy Flyers.

Spieth still can recall being at a Rolex dinner during the U.S. Open last year when Koepka was part of a group that was circling the wagons for the PGA Tour. And then a week later, Koepka

have taken ideas from Greg Norman, the latter having created the World Golf Championships that were similar — but not identical — to the Shark’s failed plan of a World Golf Tour in the mid-1990s.

The PGA Tour stole a page from LIV’s playbook by not having a cut, effectively assuring sponsors and television that all the best players will play four rounds in the eight designated events, along with the three FedEx Cup playoff events.

It effectively creates a two-tier system. Then again, it’s been that way for the 25 years the WGCs have been around. Now those will be gone after this year.

The biggest criticism for the PGA Tour is doing away with a cut, regardless of its history of having no-cut events. Five years ago, the PGA Tour schedule had nine no-cut events, though not everyone felt compelled to play them (three were in Asia in the fall).

Performance still matters.

Jon Rahm, Si Woo Kim and Nico Echavarria already have won this year. About the only thing they have in common is that all start from scratch when they get to Kapalua in January.

It’s hard to argue with how these designated events are working with the star power that keeps showing up at the end. Scottie Scheffler won in Phoenix. Rahm won at Riviera. Bay Hill was the latest example on multiple levels.

The five-way tie for the lead in the final hour featured Scheffler, Spieth and McIlroy. That the winner was Kurt Kitayama also was telling.

Only 19 months ago, Kitayama was in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals just to get a PGA Tour card. Then, he finished third in the Honda Classic. He was runner-up to Rahm in Mexico. He got into the Scottish Open and was runner-up again. He finished 40th in the FedEx Cup. That would have been enough to get

: Brad Bova

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