2007

 Gentlemens,

The Committee hopes each and all of you arrived safely back to the real world Sunday, (Or perhaps Monday in some cases) notwithstanding the damage (perhaps irreparable, in certain cases) that many of you seemed to have done to your bodies and brains the previous three days. 

 The Seventeenth Annual is history, and it ranks among the best ever in the view of many.  Several notable milestones were achieved this year.  EVERY man at the Sixteenth returned for the Seventeenth, a WACOFF first.  This prompted the need to increase the field to 32 attendees, a WACOFF record.  The highest attendance ever (20) for the Thursday game, with six more showing up that night for dinner.  One for the record books in terms of participation.

 Other important milestones arose on the course, with the most magnificent being John Stimson's first WACOFF Scramble Championship after 17 years of effort.  Led to a -7 victory by the irrepressible Ken Kohler,  Mouth to the Stars, Team Black came from behind on the back nine to best the Paul Coughenour Maroons (with Pavle, Coon and Hyman), who held a one stroke lead at -8 after 15.    A dramatic tie breaker left the Maroons in second and a win for the aforementioned Kohler and Stimson, along with Dynamite Dave Dell and Mr. Coachable, Joe Mantey.  Congratulations to Team Black on the victory, to Ken for his first captain's victory, to John for spanking that monkee, and to Joe and Dell for repeat appearances on the winners’ podium.  Some of you are still jacking that Scramble monkee off, you know who you are, and everyone else does too.   Next year?

 The rest of the golf was amazing, starting with the Thursday game at Kingsley Club.  The combination of a tight, up and down, gorse, heather and bunker infested track with a 30 mile an hour gale wind (in the face on every tee) was likened to a military assault in the mountains of Afghanistan. The tone was set by the first group off the tee when Ron Hardesty found himself lying 7 barely 200 yards down the fairway.  It was a brutal afternoon, yet most of the boyz found the course challenging and interesting, and rose to the occasion.  The brutality of Thursday was followed by the misery of Friday at Sundance.  Add rain to the Kingsley mix above, and the Wacoff dedication to golf becomes legend.   Congrats to the two man best ball winners (AB- Schatko/Jon Snyder) CD (Keys/Pruss) and to the four man team winners:  Schatko/Snyder/Luton/Dell.

Stimson was on a roll Saturday, bringing home the Deke Shootout with his partner No. 12, Ron Hardesty.  Well done. 

 The Spider Lake Retreat proved to be all and everything The Committee hoped it would be, providing a fantastic base from which to launch our assaults on the links of Grand Traverse County.  Great location, comfortable and dare I say opulent accommodations, along with the privacy and exclusivity which brings out the best in our boyz.  The food turned out amazingly well after a last minute scramble to put it together and the shuffleboard was sublime.

 The lake and beach was the place to be on Saturday afternoon, with Jim Coughenour, Lord of the Waves, taking all sorts of brave and intrepid WAcOFF's for the ride of their lives behind his beautiful Mastecraft.  It took The Committee until today to get over the nightmare vision of John Stimson coursing over the waves of Spider Lake, sitting on his ass with his face and feet forward and his crotch totally exposed to every spin, turn and wave that Jimmy could throw at him from the cockpit of the Mastercraft.   He survived, but a lot of WACOFF nuts still ache from watching.   Visually, the winner of the least likely tube rider contest was Moss, who, between his faux Armani bathing suit and post ride "tubed" hair looked like a freak (or a serial killer, don't know which).   Thanks to Jim C for adding a whole new excitement and entertainment to the Saturday afternoon drinking time of the peanut gallery at the beach.

 Some other notable remnants of The Committee's bleary and shaky memory of the event:

 In case no one noticed, Joe Mantey was dressed by his wife this year, who evidently had tired of his rather tattered approach to his sartorial self.  If you don't believe or remember, check out the picture of his Sunday garb on the web.   

 The outstanding hospitality we enjoyed at each of the golf venues, particularly the Kingsley Club and The Bear and Wolverine.  The only exception to this seemed to be Jim Coughenour, who was nearly kicked out of Kingsley for wearing his hat in the clubhouse (Jim, what were you thinking?!!) and managed to get crosswise with what everyone else agreed were the nicest group of course marshals ever at The Bear.  We know it wasn't you Jim. 

 The wonderful smile and presence of Skip Pruss, back after five years, but only to mysteriously disappear after 24 hours.  Is it us, Skip?

 The scene Saturday on the beach, loungers, swimmers, boaters, tubers, drinkers, smokers, nappers, and every other thing going on a sun splashed, picture perfect late summer day in Northern Michigan.  Hard to beat that karma.  My vote for best slice of the weekend, marred only by:  The complete and utter failure of Jerry Snyder to put ONE frisbee toss in the proper place for Guerriero to demonstrate his Olympic calibre skills at "raft leaping", forcing him to have to dive low each time and incur the catcalls and insults of the aforementioned crowd in the cheap seats on the beach.

 The insistence of most WACOFFs on parking their car immediately in front of the building rather than walk 100 feet to the parking lot, causing gridlock each morning.  This is why global warming is real.

 Playing with Marshal on "automatic" with that hybrid 2 iron off the tee on Sunday, 220+ yards down the middle every time with your eyes closed on almost every hole.  You rule, Marsh.

 Finally, recognition and thanks to all who contributed to the Seventeenth, in no particular order:

Hardesty Brothers on Shirts, Faubs and Bobbles (Ron H, Chair). Great job again this year.  Are the sacks for use by the Michigan fans for face hiding? 

David H and John Stimson for Archives, lovingly maintained and splendidly displayed. 

David H for the sponsored bar, upon which much carnage and damage was wrought. Well done David and boyz. 

Marshal H for performance prizes, all of which seemed to go to John Coon and Paul Coughenour this year. 

Glenn Coughenour for many important things, including the use (and let’s hope not forfeiture as a result) of his membership at Grand Traverse to get us on the Bear and Wolverine at incredibly good rates, his ability to find last minute local substitutes on Friday to save the integrity of the games, and for bringing the cold keg of Heinekens to Spider Lake. We didn't finish it but Glenn said it was light enough to carry by himself at the end.  

Jim Coughenour for towing his boat all the way up there and entertaining the hell out of us on Saturday afternoon.  To the bookend Coughenour brothers for the well run parimutuel for Sunday.

To D Bretz for multiple duties this year, including organization of the Thursday game at Kingsley Club, and for his tour de force as Master of Ceremonies after Friday dinner when the regular palooka couldn't make it.  Well done, Dan, and the job is yours.

 Here The Committee would normally thank Joe Mantey for the Skins game on Friday, but The Committee is informed that he totally fucked it up so fuggetaboudit.  I guess being an economics professor doesn't translate into running simple mathematical games.

 Finally, a tip of the brim and a load of thanks and hugs to the Golf Committee in the indomitable person of Paul Coughenour, assisted this year by John Stimson and Dan Bretz, for bringing us the courses and competitions that give us something to talk about when we are drinking.  Great courses, great games and great competition guys.  Can we have some more please???

 The Committee believes Spider Lake deserves a curtain call and we will be returning next year.  A proposal has been made to alter the WACOFF format, having it begin on Thursday afternoon, with the Scramble Championship on Saturday, with golf Sunday optional.   Sort of a reverse of the current set up that has Thursday golf optional.  This addresses one of the issues most often raised when we travel to Northern Michigan, the long travel time home for some our more important and influential attendees.  Somewhat uncharacteristically, The Committee is interested in your feedback on this idea, but don't wait too long to provide it as decisions will be made in the next several weeks. 

Until Next Year

YrObtSvts
THE COMMITTEE