The Schedule

So it's the second day of the year and I have already scheduled all but two of 18 vacation and comp days I have coming at work for 2013.  As I mentioned yesterday, the Wisconsin State Golf Association has posted its tournament schedule for the upcoming season and most of the other tournaments and events I are held the same weekends annually so my date book (yes I still use one of those--backed up with my IPhone) basically rolls over year to year.

Here is the schedule so far:

May 9th--Net Partners at Brown Deer Park. My usual partner, Greg, and I have played at Brown Deer twice now--with very limited success.  We never fail to start out well--but never finish strong.  One year, both of us pulled our drives into the parking lot on the 9th hole--that's a great way to derail a round.  As you might expect from a round in the second week of May, the weather has not been the best.  The first year the wind turned to the east halfway through the front nine and the temperature dropped from the upper 60's to the lower 50's immediately.  And of course neither of us came dressed for the cold.  Last year it was raining, windy and just raw--a miserable day to play.

May 11th (tenative)--Spring Fling Scramble at Hilly Haven.  Our usual foursome has played in this tournament three times and we have taken second, third and first respectively.  This is another tournament that always features sketchy weather, yet we always seem to play well.  Draining 40-foot putts for eagles help as well.

May 22nd--Net Partners at Washington County Golf Course.  Niether of us has played WCGC before--which always hurts.  Hopefully we come in with good momentum out of the scramble.

June 8th--Oshkosh City Match Play Qualifying at Lakeshore Golf Course.  I won the B flight of the Match Play back in 2009--but haven't made it past the second round since then.  For some reason (perhaps a psychological sandbag) I don't play well in the qualifier and end up in B flight.  I'm hoping to qualify for the A flight this year--even if it means less chance to win.

June 13th--Net Partners at Lake Arrowhead Lakes Course.  I'm going to be honest, I hate Lake Arrowhead.  It's one of those courses that has blacktop cartpaths running the length of the right side of the fairway--with out of bounds on the other side of the path.  For someone whose usual miss is a push--that is a deadly formula for monster scores.  Consider the first ever Net Partners event Greg and I played--where neither of us broke 110 and had to hit three (and sometime five) from the tee.

June 15th--Winnebagoland Open at Rolling Meadows.  My Father's Day weekend has rotated tournaments in recent years.  It used to mean the Badger State Games in Madison (at Hawk's Landing, The Oaks and University Ridge) where I never medaled--even though I led after the first round twice.  The BSG moved to the Fox Valley, which meant a shorter drive but the less-quality Chaska as a site.  I did take silver in the B and A flights those two years.  After BSG went belly up, I moved to the Appleton City Tournament at Reid Municipal last year--finishing middle of the pack in B.  This year, half of Reid is under renovations this year--so I'll head to Fondy for their unique 27-hole one-day format.

June 28th (tenative)--UW Oshkosh Football Scramble at Mascoutin.  As a "celebrity player" I've been getting placed with a group of players who are--shall we say--less than talented or serious about golf.  Last year, our group shot a 79--which means that I shot a 79.  I'll admit, it was fun watching the ladies attempt their first ever eagle putts on one of the par fives--courtesy of a beautiful sweeping five-wood to the front edge (we did not convert).  This year, I'm going to push for an entire group of my selection--so I can bring in "my guys" to make a run at winning.

June 29th (tentative) Charity Scramble at The Woods.  The Scramble group played here for the first time last year and finished second--and it was the most disappointing result of the year.  As always, we left a bunch of shots out there and should have won.  No guarantees that I'm dropping another 40-footer for eagle on one of the par-fives again this time around.

July 20th-21st--Fox Cities Amateur at Chaska.  It's my understanding that this event will be played at Chaska--since Reid will still be only nine holes.  It will be interesting to see how many of the "home course" guys will travel--since they won't have the advantage of knowing all of the subtleties of the greens this year.

August 16th--Net Partners at Branch River.  Branch River is the second golf course I ever played--as it was just a few miles away from where I lived as a youngster--however I doubt that experience will help much.

August 17th-18th (tentative) Oshkosh City Championship at Lakeshore Golf Course.  Every year my score gets better--and everybody else's scores in my flights keep getting better.  Can't seem to break the top ten.

August 19th-20th--State Net Amateur at Northern Bay.  This is another course that just doesn't suit my game.  While I am one-for-one on hitting the island green at TPC Sawgrass 17--I am oh-for-my-lifetime in hitting the island green at ten at Northern Bay.  On the next hole, however--a weak copy of 13 at Augusta National--I have a net double eagle and eagle the last couple of times there.

August 22nd--Net Partners at Lawsonia Links.  I love Lawsonia--but it doesn't love me.  For some reason, I lose all control off the tee there and can never recover.

September 3rd--Net Partners at Camelot.  We were supposed to play at Camelot about five years ago--and it got flooded out.  For some reason, we never got the notice the event was canceled--until we drove all the way down there.

September 9th-10th--Directors Cup (State Mid-Amateur) at River Club Mequon.  One of my goals for last year was to qualify for this tournament--with its max handicap of 11.4. The handicap revision out the week before the tourney I ticked up from a 10.9 to 11.5 after a couple of horrid tournament rounds.  D'OH!!!  I will not fail this year.  Fortunately, there is a net division--since I have no real chance to compete in the gross against single-handicappers.

September 13th--Net Partners Championship at Grand Geneva.  We've qualified for this one twice--and last year we missed out by a single stroke at the Reedsburg qualifier (thanks to my skulled pitch shot going OB on our third-to-last hole).  Best finish T14.

Yet to be determined:  Dates and courses on the Florida trip in March, what courses will be on our Radio Station Discount Golf Card, whether I'll be playing league golf this year, the delayed round at Erin Hills and what courses I'll play up north on Memorial, 4th of July and Labor Day weekends.