Golf season has officially started

Golf season doesn't officially start for me until I play my first tournament and that was accomplished this past Sunday. Jim Lemon and I have partnered for the past several years at the Fireman's Scramble, a two-person golf scramble sponsored by the Cambridge Volunteer Fire Department and hosted by the Cross Creek Golf Links in Cambridge.

Traditionally, we begin the day with a Bloody Mary, made with my own secret recipe, then drive to Cambridge in Jim's SUV while we listen to '60s music on Sirius/XM satellite radio. Last Sunday started out cool and overcast as we approached the 10 a.m. shotgun start. Sean Riley, the head golf pro at Cross Creek and an all around good guy, promised us sunshine by 11:30 and he only missed it by twenty minutes.

So the first nine holes were played in chilly, overcast conditions and the second in bright sunshine. The day turned out to be near perfect. In keeping with the fireman's theme, everyone has to putt with a fire axe instead of a putter on the 13th hole. This happens every year and those who have participated before have all kinds of different strategies about how best to do that. It requires a strategy because the fire axe is big and heavy and feels nothing like a putter in your hands at all because of the lack of control. The 13th hole is a par four so the logical play is to be on the green in two and putt for a birdie. But there isn't anything logical about putting with a fire axe so Jim and I decided to lay up with our second shots with the intention of being close to the green in two so we could chip up close and have a short putt for par. All of us know how intentions sometimes turn out and this was no different.

We were about 160 yards out, thanks to an almost perfect drive by Jim. Trying to follow our plan, Jim took out a short iron and ended up in one of the green-side bunkers. Bunker play is not one of our strong suits so I pulled out an 8-iron and attempted to lay up short of the green. Of course, I hit it flush, which I usually do when I'm not trying to and ended up on the green, some 35 to 40 feet away from the pin, exactly where we DIDN'T want to be. But Jim saved the day. He squared away at the hole, put the fire axe between his legs and rapped the ball hard with the flat end of the axe. It looked for a long time like it was going to go in but trickled off at the end, leaving us only about 18 inches from the hole for our par. It wasn't the way we intended to play the hole at all but as they say, all's well that ends well. The rest of our round was fairly solid but uneventful.

Thirty-three teams were entered with several from McCook. Joe Townsley and Tyler Loop from McCook tied Don Sackett and Jesse Chmiel from Cambridge for low score in the Championship Flight with each team shooting 67. Townsley and Loop claimed the top prize by winning on the second hole of a playoff. Al Gaskill and Jerry Carbaugh claimed 3rd, just one shot behind at 68.

Ken Houghtelling and Bob Sexton won the First Flight with a 75, followed by Russ Doyle and Kirk Kilpatrick with 76. Jim and I took third with 77, winning on a scorecard playoff over our good friends Tim Shannon and Kent Kilpatrick.

Charlie Khulman and Ted Mashek won the Second Flight with an 81, followed by Dave Guthrie and Doug Liess with 82, and Janet Cornwell and Bev Elliott with 83.

The Fireman's Scramble is always a wonderfully run event and this year was no exception. Jim Jones did a great job of hosting the event, along with soliciting donations for the raffle drawing and the flag prizes and area merchants were generous as always with their contributions to the event. If you're not doing anything next April, make the twenty mile drive to Cambridge and join us for a really entertaining day. It's a wonderful way to start the golf season and Sean Riley is always working overtime to make sure the members and guests at Cross Creek have a great time and get their money's worth.