2014 Wrap-Up

Boyz

The 24th is complete and once again the WACOFF's showed why this remains the most important and anticipated golf event of the year.  The attendees enjoyed outstanding weather, challenging competition, plentiful stimulants (both natural and distilled from one plant source or another), and the special and delightful opportunity to rekindle and build upon the friendships and camaraderie that has been the hallmark of this group for 24+ years. This year there appeared th next generation of WACOFFs, and everyone was pleased to welcome the next generation of the Coughenour family golf dynasty,  Peter Coughenour, and the heir to the Guerriero D throne, Nicolas Guerriero, to our annual event.   More about these two later. 

Tullymore is famous in WACOFF circles for great golf and great mattresses, not necessarily in that order. The arrival of our merry band at Tullymore Lodge Thursday evening was an excuse for excessive indulgence in a variety of bad habits, and put most of the group on the DL for Friday morning golf, save for Messrs Palmer, Voshel and Stimson, who bravely carried the flag for the rest of the gang at 7am at St. Ives. Well done men.  Other notable happenings over the weekend included the birthday celebration of our senior statesman, the newly retired Larry Mann, who always brings youthful and well schooled enthusiasm to his golf game and to this event.  Marshal Hyman rediscovered the  subtle magic of Strohs beer on Saturday afternoon, allowing himself the indulgence of an afternoon liquid buzz that delighted all onlookers. Erstwhile entrepreneur Joe Mantey found himself in a deep funk contemplating the myriad of things that can go wrong with a start up cheese shop, so much so that he managed to miss dinner on Saturday.  He was well taken care of by the charitable ministrations of Dennis Holefca who brought him a doggie bag to savor.  Our young newbies Peter and Nick comported themselves as gentlemen throughout the weekend and seemed politely but genuinely amused by the timid attempts of the boomer generation to "party".  The Committee is pleased that this experimental passing of the torch went well.  The Michigan-Notre Dame game was a bust, but that sad fact did not keep the Wolverine faithful from an exercise in self-flagellation to the bitter end.  It was also wonderful to see John Coon back and in fine fettle after major reconstruction on almost every part of his lower extremities.  He also played pretty damn well for being sidelined for almost 2 years. 

The Callaway Company once again stepped up as a product sponsor of the Invitational, sending nifty towels to complement the hats from last year.  Pretty soon full iron sets will be handed out on the first tee Friday. The well-stocked bar was attacked with a gusto that surprised The Committee, resulting in the fewest number of non-empty bottles that had to be rescued on Sunday morning for several years.  Well done boys.  Who says getting old is a sobering experience?

The weekend competitions began with an outstanding Thursday Game, conceived, organized and staged by the Thursday Chairman Emeritus, Randy Moss.  The rain ended 20 minutes before tee time,  leaving Pilgrims Run at the mercy of the 16 who attended,  and the competition was fierce.  An unprecedented 3 way tie for first produced a winning team after tie-breaker in  the person of the Chairman himself and his very fashionable partner, Gary Voshel.  

The competition on Friday in the four man Cap and Floor best ball tourney was intense, with any number of teams in the hunt up through at least the third hole.  In the end, it was a two stroke victory by Glenn C and company, abetted primarily by the complete collapse of the Nielsen team on the 18th hole after a stellar 17 holes.  The Committee has not had a reliable report on the circumstances surrounding the failure of the Moss/Stimson team to deliver an acceptable card, but it perhaps signals the onset of early dementia. Perhaps it is a Chicago thing, but it may be necessary to provide a walk along scorekeeper to these guys in the future. 

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

GCoughenour/DHolefca/DHardesty/JCoon          131

Nielsen/RonHardesty/Voshell/ TGuerriero            133

PCoughenour/LMann/PeterCough/ Mantey         143

Bretz/Pavle/Keys/Hyman                                           152

Moss/Stimson/Palmer/ NGuerriero                         Incomplete scorecard

Saturday dawned clear, sunny and bright and from a weather and course conditions perspective turned into one of the most delightful WACOFF Scramble days that many of the long time participants could remember.The Tullymore course presented as a jewel in the late summer sun, and the 24th Scramble Championship was overtaken by forces never before seen or experienced in the long and storied history of the event.  Powered by the 310 yard drives and 275 yard fairway woods onto the green offered up by young bucks Peter C and Nicolas G, old hands Glenn Coughenour and Nick Pavle guided their team to a record-shattering finish of -12 under in the 2014 Invitational.  Blowing away the previous scoring record and establishing a new benchmark that may never be bested, Team Pine put together 12 birdies and an eagle to run away with what otherwise would have been a tightly contested event amongst the also-rans.  After opening with 5 straight birdies, it was simply a matter of laughing all the way to the winners circle.  The good news in this rout is that at least three other teams were playing under the illusion that they were in the hunt, so the day was enjoyable despite the fact that it was all over after the front nine.  Congratulations to Team Pine on a memorable and terrific day.  The Committee will assure that the handicapping system takes this performance into account in the years to come. 

The final results in the 24th ANNUAL WACOFF SCRAMBLE CHAMPIONSHIP:

Tullymore [Blue Tees: 6210 Yards] 2014

                                                                      HOLE  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 out 101112131415161718  in score 

                                                                        PAR  5 4 4 3 3 4 3  5 4 35    4  4   3   5  4  3   5   4  5   37 72

GCoughenour/Pavle/PeteCough/NGuerriero 4 3 3 2 2 4 4 4 3 29    3  4  2   3   5  3  4  3  4   31 60 PINE

Moss/Holefca/Voshell/Coon                              5 4 3 3 2 5 3 5 4 34    4  3  3  4    4  3  4  3  5   33 67 BLUE

Bretz/Mann/DHardesty/Guerriero                   4 4 3 4 3 4 3 5 4 34    3 4   3  4    4  3  4   3 5   33 67 TEAL

PNielsen/Stimson/Keys/Mantey                       5 5 3 2 3 4 3 5 3 33    4  3  3  6    4  3  5   3 4   35 68 MAR

PCoughenour/RHardesty/Palmer/Hyman      4 4 4 3 4 4 2 4 4  33     4  4  3  6    4  3  5   4 5  38 71 BLK

Sunday's individual competition at St. Ives brought out some fine performances from several players, less notable from others. Joe Mantey turned in a remarkable 96 to win the D flight  , while Ron Hardesty carded a 91 to steal the B class.  Paul Coughenour returned to form to cement his status as the iron horse of WACOFF in winning the A Flight.  David Hardesty completed the Sunday Hardesty Sweep by winning C Flight by a mile. 

Sunday Results [St. Ives: A/B Blue Tees (6247 Yards); C/D White Tees 5707 Yards)

A Flight

P Coughenour 83 - 7 = 76 1ST

D Bretz 87 - 9 = 78

P Nielsen 88 - 9 = 79

R Moss 104 - 13 = 91

G Coughenour W/D

B Flight

R Hardesty 91 - 17 = 74 1ST

N Pavle 93 - 15 = 78

D Holefca 97 - 17 = 80

L Mann 98 - 17 = 81

J. Stimson 99 - 15 = 84

C Flight 

D Hardesty 90 - 20 = 70 1ST 

Pete Coughenour 100 - 19 = 81 

Voshell 102 - 19 = 83 

Keys 105 - 20 = 85 

Palmer W/D 

D Flight
Joe Mantey 96 - 26 = 70 1ST
Tim G. 99 - 24 = 75

M. Hyman 105 - 27 = 78

J. Coon 100 - 21 = 80
N. Guerriero 102 - 22 = 80

As usual, this event takes work, planning, persistence, money and luck.  To that end, The Committee wishes to thank all those who contributed to the 24th, including but not limited to Ron Hardesty for the outstanding apparel and the Callaway towels, John Stimson and David Hardesty for their continued stewardship of the archives and museum, Marshal (Fire Brewed) Hyman for his precision management of the performance awards, Joe Mantey for running the first error free Friday skins game in 20 years, Randy Moss for the aforementioned Thursday festivities,  and last but never least, Paul Coughenour for his outstanding oversight and presentation of the competition events.  PWC, you are and always will be the best at what you do for WACOff.  

All in all a great 24th, with anticipation rapidly rising for the 25th in 2015.  Consensus sentiment points to Northport or Spider Lake as the venue, and The Committee is hard at work putting the myriad pieces of the puzzle together to make it an extraordinary event.  It is incumbent upon each of you to put aside all other matters and attend on September 10-13, 2015. Put the dates in indelible ink on your calendar now.

Until then, stay warm, stay loose and keep your heads down.

YrObtSvts

The Committee