Hacker Page

Results for July 21, 2023

We dodged another weather bullet, as what looked like a washout just 24-hours earlier, turned into a great, albeit hot and muggy, afternoon for golf!  If there are no more rain-outs, we are on schedule for an 8/25 finish (scramble and banquet). The officers started the discussion about the banquet last night, and a couple of venues came up that will be investigated, starting with the upstairs banquet room at Eagle Crest itself.  I will talk with Sharon and see what they can offer for a group our size.  The second option is the Charlton Tavern, just 13 minutes from the course, in the heart of the Hamlet of Charlton.  If anyone knows of other venues within close range of the course, let us know.

This week’s play saw most handicaps stay the same, with 2 going up and 2 going down. Most of us have now played both sides at least 4 times.  Comparing everyone’s handicap to their average strokes over par for all rounds thus far, most fall within the 80-100% range, which seems to indicate the handicap formula is fairly consistent.  There are a couple of outliers, which seems to happen mostly with the lower handicap players, which is indicative of them having some higher (or lower) than expected scores during the season.   

Now for the matches.

Dan Palmerino was the top points-earner on the night, thanks to the combination of a 2-under handicap round for himself (low net for the group), and, unfortunately for Bob, a struggling 12-over-handicap round for him. After a tough opening hole, Bob appeared to be righting the ship as he managed to get the match to all-square at the 3rd.  However, another difficult time on the 13th gave the lead back to Dan, who then went on to win the next 4 ½ points for the 7-2 win. Nice round Dan!

Despite making birdie at the first hole, and then shooting 1 over his handicap, Mark was on the receiving end of two 6-3 losses at the hands of Jim and a card match with Pete. After splitting the first hole, Jim took and kept the lead for the remainder of the round.  With only 1 point after 7 holes, Mark fought back to win each of the last 2 holes by 1 stroke. Way to hang in there Mark.  Pete recorded his best round of the season so far, breaking the 60 barrier for the first time this year and shooting a net 1-under par, 2nd lowest on the night.  Great round Pete!

The adage “beware the sick or injured golfer” seemed to stand up to scrutiny this week as, in addition to Jim recovering from some unknown ailment in his win over Mark, Gloria was on the mend following a water-skiing-related back injury, as she defeated Tommy 6-3. It started out looking good for Tom as he won the 1st hole and tied the 2nd.  But Gloria squared things up at the 3rd and then went on to take 4 ½ of the next 6 points for the win! Nicely done Gloria.  Mark, guess who you play next week…

In the “Ironman” matchup, Andy managed to eke out a 5 ½ - 3 ½ win over Dave, narrowly avoiding a tied match at the last hole. Both players finished with net over par rounds thanks to each taking double-par scores on separate holes. Just a bogey on those holes would’ve meant net scores of 35 and 37.  Ah Scoop, what might’ve been 😊  Nice round Dave!  Looking forward to next year’s match (don’t miss it, I know I won’t).

On the other side of the Michalski spectrum, Sue, unfortunately posted her highest score of the season, dropping her card match to Dan Fusco 5 ½ - 3 ½. It was fun to watch her last hole though, as she breezed her way up the long uphill par 5 in easy fashion, laughing all the way.  It IS a funny game…  Nice finish Sue, always have a fun time playing with you!

Finally, in the two matches with subs, both matches ended in ties, with the league members Dan Fusco and Tim taking the bonus points by a mere 1 stroke differential.  Dan took the early lead in his match with Ev but fell back to all square at the 14th.  It was a see-saw round from there as each had a 1-up lead that the other brought back to all square, with Dan winning the last hole to accomplish that at the end.  Nice match kids!

Tim and Lisa looked like it was going to be all Tim as he took a 3-up lead through 5 holes. But Lisa was having none of that, and she nibbled away at that lead over the remaining 4 holes to end the match in a tie. Way to hang in there Lisa!  Tim, what can I say?  She’s tough!

Thanks to Ev and Lisa for taking a chance on the weather to join us this week!

Mark continues his season-long run of no others! (I just leave this here as a space-keeper 😊 )  Keep it up Mark, we’re almost there…

League Standings

The gap at the top narrowed slightly as Andy moved to within 2/10th of a point of Dan Fusco at the top. Jim held on to 3rd place while Dan Palmerino and Gloria traded places with Dan moving into 4th and Gloria dropping down to 5th.  Look for more volatility in these standings going forward as more and more players start dropping low scores.

Hacker Cup

As we conclude the regular season of the Race for the Hacker Cup, Dan Palmerino moved into the top-seed spot going into the play-offs, edging out Dan Fusco by just 650 points. It is still a family-affair at the top, as Jim held onto 3rd place followed by Dave and Andy rounding out the top-5 positions.

As a reminder of how the play-off scoring works. Each player starts with a set number of points, depending on their seed location.  Each week, points are scored and accumulated exactly the same as they are during the regular season. The lowest of the 4-weeks of points will be thrown out. The player with the highest number of points using their seed points and the best 3 scores from the playoff weeks, will win the Hacker Cup, and have their name engraved thereon for perpetuity (or, until we run out of room for names 😊).

The Numbers:

Low Gross

43

Mark, Jim

44

Dan P., Andy

46

Dan F.

 

Low Net

34

Dan P.

35

Pete

36

Jim

 

NEW for 2023

Knockout Champion

Dan Fusco still leads the season here. Dan Palmerino will take over the wearing of the gloves for the round, as he outlasted everyone through 6 holes this week.  Dan, remind Jim to bring the gloves with him next week, please.

Eagles and Birdies

This time, it was the first hole on the back nine that gave up the birdies.  Just 2 this week though.

#1 – Mark, Andy

 

Closest-to-the-pin


No winner this week. Carryover protocol is invoked for the 6th hole next week.

Week #

Player

Hole #

Prize $

Distance

1

Matt

14

$10

~8’

2

Dan P

3

$10

~15’

3

N/A

17

$10

N/A

4

Mark

6

$15

17’ 9 ½”

5

N/A

14

$10

N/A

6

Dan F

3

$15

13’ 3”

7

Dan F

17

$10

9’ 4”

MID

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

8

N/A 

6 

$10

 N/A

9

Dan F 

14 

$15

3’ 0” 

10

Jim 

3 

$10

3’ 0”

11

 N/A

17 

$10

 N/A

12

 

 6

$15

 

13

 

 

$10

 

14

 

 

$10

 

15

 

 

$10

 

TBD

 

 

$10