What results!  Those playing in the Fall Classic outdid themselves this year.  Imagine shooting 10 under and coming in last!  The teams shot lights out in my personal favorite format.  The Bramble gives us all a chance to play 18 holes of golf - without ever having to suffer the consequences of a bad drive.  I'll take it.  It gets us swinging freely, laughing - we putt like the pros (Leopold sank a curling 48 footer on #2 for us and go for the pins (you made 9 net eagles out there boys - nice.)  Team results were outstanding:

-15    Hastings, Valenti, Cohlan, Power
-14    Vogel, Fish, Castiglia, Zimmermann
-13    Cook, Leopold, Sanossian, Schimoler
-12     McGaley, Pappas, HorganC, GoldbergA
-12     GramoliniT, GramoliniB, Greenberg
-11    Hertz, Brandwene, Klimerman, Mueller
-10    Ennis, Thomas, Condon

Individual winners were:
Closest to the Pin                                                    
#4  Herschenfeld & Hertz @ 7'2"
#7  Hertz (repeating from 2013 AND Opening Day) @ 3'9"
#16 Leopold @ 7'10"    
Closest to the Line on #10 was Cohlan at 4'

A special shoutout to Zimmermannnn who birdied both #2 and #17.  I'm coming up on 500 rounds at Saxon and I've never birdied #17.  Maybe next week.

And while the team scores were low I was surprised at how "normal" the individual cards looked.  Nobody shot a really exceptional score; most were better than usual, but only one was outstanding - CHorgan at 78 was undoubtedly the first time he's broken 80.  Yet the rest of only scored well - which really got me thinking.  Because I've always thought it was the tee shot that gets between me and a new world record.  But even hitting Ron Sanonssian's drives couldn't get me a new personal best.  All those extra yards and balls in the short grass didn't propel me to greatness.  This is just such a tough game; so many components go into a good round.  I guess that's what makes those days so special and what makes a team Bramble so much fun.

Halelujah! Halelujah!  Not to be evangelical or sacrilegious about it, but if it takes a major religious holiday to finally bring spring and open our season, then praise be.  Skip the chocolate Easter Bunny, I'll take my eggs round and dimpled.  And I'll take my Saturdays warm and sunny.  

Opening Day went just as it should - a large turnout with large portions of camaraderie and grilled meat.  The BBQ was as good as it gets.  Just sittling outside takes months off the calendar and a warm finish trumps a cold start every time.  

In the golf event we fought our way 'round in the Scramble, but lost the battle to fast greens and blue tees.  The greens were great fun to roll, but many's the time my ball just kept rolling.  I bet our group had 20 putts miss the edge by millimeters and not stop for many meters.  Apparently Westchester is under alert for an enhanced risk of fires due to extra dry conditions - the growth spurt of grass and trees has sucked the soil dry, leaving us hard speedy greens, but endangering future growth.  Seems strange that now we have golfable warmth we are in need of ungolfable rains.

Our other obstacle out there was the tees.  It's just too much to ask many of our members to "play the blues."  It turns high handicappers into millstones and steals the fun from their rounds and ours.  Non-PGA events should allow for varied skills and ages to compete on equalized terms - that's what multiple tees and slopes are for.  It was no fun to worry about when to use that 125 yard drive - on some holes that wouldn't make the fairway or clear the hazard.  But 125 yards hit from the red tees on the right holes would have turned the group goat into the foursome hero.   I say let 'em play from where all can add to the group fun and subtract from the scores - not the other way around.

First Place:  Hastings, Herschenfeld, GoldbergA and Valenti at  -6
Second Place: GramoliniT, Gelber, Sigona, McEvoy at -5
Third Place: HorganG, Ennis, Bair GramoliniB also at -5
                 
Closest to Pin #4:     Bruce Greenberg (repeat winner from 2013)
Closest to Pin #7:     Steve Hertz
Closest to Pin #16:    Andy Eisenberg

Closest to the Line #10:  Woody Burroni

See the Scores from Saturday:      Opening Day Scores