The Tallwood Tradition
August 2016 The President’s Corner http://www.tallwoodmensclub.com Fellow members 2016 Board of Directors We have now entered August. I can’t believe how fast President – Scott Marshall this summer has gone. July wrapped a much better [email protected] round of golf for me personally. Again thanks to the lesson taken with Yo Pro and Zac, my handicap continues Vice President – Greg Garcia to drop. Congratulations to all of our flight club [email protected] champions and to Tom Brett for again taking the overall champion’s crown. Kim Aderman collected another Treasurer – Dave Choleva trophy as John Guandalini successfully defended his title [email protected] as well. I thank all those I played with in the A flight. Great golf and fantastic sportsman ship! It was a Secretary/ Communications pleasure playing with you all. – Paul Signorello [email protected] A reminder to all the membership. Now is the time to submit any nominations for the Distinguished Service Handicap – Jim Bidwell Award (DSA). The Board will be voting on this year’s [email protected] winner in the middle of September. Please get your nominations in ASAP. Membership –Bob Wahlberg [email protected] Congratulations to the Tournament Committee for another fantastic Member-Member. We had great Co-Social – Richard Potticary weather and great competition. Super Seniors is on its [email protected]. way again. Good luck to the competitors. Social had a great turnout at Parent Child and now the Two-Ball (aka Rib) Open is on its way. Co-Social – Earl Brown
[email protected] As always I look forward to seeing you all around the
course. Tournament – Tom Pickrell [email protected] Exalted Ruler DA Prez Past President –Joe Krist [email protected]
The Tallwood Tradition August 2016
Membership
Please welcome back John Enos! John has returned to the club after an extended absence.
The Board has approved to waive the membership fee for the balance of 2016 for new members who join after Two-Ball Open. That’s Free Membership! Going forward, the fee to join the best Men’s Club in the state will be only $30.00 (including a new GHIN account) or $0.00 if a new member has an active GHIN account.
Gentlemen—If you have a friend, relative or colleague, who may be interested in joining the best Men’s Club In the state, please refer him to the web site to apply for membership or email me at the address below and I will work with him to complete the application process.
Bob Wahlberg Membership Director
Past President
Tallwood Board of Director Candidates
Seeking Tallwood members that are willing to serve on the Board... Lets TALK!!
Contact: Joe Krist -- 860-989-6345 (call or text)
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Social
Well, it’s the Dog Days of Summer and the Social Calendar is just as hot. The Parent Child Tournament and Cookout was held on Satuday, July 30th. Based on the participants it was a rousing success. There was a short shower to cool everyone off, but all the divisions finished their rounds. The 18 hole division was a 2 Man Best Ball format. The gross winners were Paul Signorello and Paul Gilbert, the net winners were Andy and Augie Link and the Callaway winners were Cliff Backes and Pete McIvor. The 9 hole division was an Alternate Shot format. Gross winners were Paul and Nicky Castanho and Callaway winners were Sal and Michael Misseri. The Pro Division was won by Zac and Luke Stennett over John and Ryan Nowobilski. The event also featured our first 1 hole Division Champion, with Ryan’s son Aiden winning the trophy. Then next generations continue to come out for this fun event. The tournament was co-captained by Earl Brown and Kim Aderman. Special thanks to Chefs Pat Hart and Scott Marshall for manning the grill and keeping everyone fed. Next on the social calendar is the Two Ball Open to be held on Saturday, August 20th. The tournament will be a 7:30 AM Shotgun Start per your signup form and the online schedule. The pocket cards, which indicate 7 AM, are wrong. The popular barbeque dinner will be held under the tent following the event. The barbeque will be catered by Little Marks, who always does a great job, so come hungry. Time is running out, so get you entries in as soon as possible. The registration flyer is attached to the Newsletter. Looking forward to September is Scotch Ball 2 on the 17th. Details to follow soon. Hope to see everyone out there.
Richard Potticary II and Earl Brown Cosial
Golf Shop News
What an incredible, historical week at The Travelers. Going over Sunday afternoon made it 54 straight years that I attended at least one day of the tournament. A former Men's Club President asked me this week about my past history with the tournament. I remember walking through the cyclone fence gate on the side of the 3rd green at Wethersfield for the 1961 Insurance City Open like it was yesterday. I was hooked... I wanted golf in my life! To see Arnie, Jack, Gary was mind boggling for a 10 year old.
10 years later, with the help of an 18th hole eagle two at the Monday Qualifier at Tunxis, I survived a four hole playoff to earn the right to play in the now Greater Hartford Open, shooting a respectable 75 - 71 for the first two days. I again, qualified in 1974 and birdied #13, 14, 15, 17 & 18 at Wethersfied to shoot 70 of day 1. Not knowing what to do next, I went to the practice range still hyped.. maybe too hyped and started hitting wedges. I proceeded to hit three straight shanks ( almost decapitating) Tom Kite... the fix? start hitting the driver ! Although I did not experience any during round two, a 76 was not enough to make the cut. 3 The Tallwood Tradition August 2016
While at Tallwood, with former Club President George Bednarz on the bag as caddy, a 18th hole birdie at Black Hall qualifying site, got me into the event.. 1983 the " Last Blast " at Wethersfield. Playing with then, second year touring pro, Mike Calchevecia ( yes, the same one ) who drove it by me 40 yards plus, it wasn't my best two days. With a large contingent of member's led by a robust, and slightly lubricated Jim Bourn,following me, my rounds were simply explained by Phil Daly, " We were all behind you John, because we were afraid to be in front of you !" Talk about love!!!!
I was able to return to form in 1985. Now with then, Tallwood Golf Shop staffer, Nicole Damarjian as my caddy, a round of 71 was good enough to qualify at Lyman Orchards and the event had shifted to then newly designed TPC Connecticut Course (remember when #10 there was a par 5 where Corporate Row is now ? ) Although again, not making the cut, rounds of 76-71 were rewarding. However, I will always remember one embarrassing moment. On the old 7th hole, I had hit the green and had a makeable birdie putt, I sent Nicole to drop the bag on the next tee. While she headed to the tee, I reached in my pocket and had no maker to mark my ball. I found a stapled price tag in my pocket (had a new shirt on ), and used that to mark my ball, to the astonishment of tour rookie ( and low amateur in the Masters that year ) Rick Fehr. Always make sure you have enough tees and markers in your pocket!!!!
For over 26 years, the weekends at the tournament, were filled with the enjoyment of working with the WTIC AM 1080 family led by the late and great Arnold Dean. To be an on course reporter doing live radio with Joe D, Bob Joyce, Scott Gray, and Chuck Kaiton are memories, along with the prior mentioned years, that I will always treasure.
Bruce Corner
Bruce Berlet was a sports writer for The Hartford Courant for more than 38 years before retiring in 2008. He covered a multitude of sports, including the Hartford Whalers and Hartford Wolf Pack, UConn men’s and women’s basketball, New England Blizzard women’s basketball, Yale football, University of Hartford men’s basketball and the United States and World Figure Skating Championships at the XL Center. But the major constant was golf, from his first event at the 1970 Midway Open at Keney Park Golf Course in Hartford to his swansong at the 2008 Connecticut Open at the Round Hill Club in Greenwich.
In between there were 35 Masters, 28 U.S. Open, six PGA Championships, three Ryder Cups and dozens of New England Men’s and Women’s Championship. I was fortunate to play six holes with The King, Arnold Palmer, in the Champions Tour Media Day at Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord, Mass. I was also fortunate to have an impromptu breakfast with Arnie at Bay Hill Country Club in Orlando, Fla., reminiscing about his wife, Winnie, and my mother, Ruth, who had recently died within weeks of each other. Like most folks, mom loved Arnie, whose first of two victories in the Insurance City Open at Wethersfield Country Club was his first as a pro in the United States. I also was fortunate to have numerous one-on-one interviews at the Wethersfield CC driving range with The Merry Mex, Lee Trevino, the 1972 ICO champion who spent most of his summers while playing on the Champions Tour with his wife, Claudia Bove, living adjacent one hole in a house in which the garage housed a club-fitting center and a golf cart that he to cruise the property practicing. I was fortunate to have a private sitting with Tiger Woods at Brooklawn Country in Fairfield, where he was giving a clinic and doing a question-and-answer session for youngsters before heading to the Country Club of Fairfield, where he and his late father Earl met prospective investors before a charity tournament.
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During my Masters debut with my wife in 1977, we walked the final two rounds with Wethersfield native Bruce Edwards, a longtime caddie for Tom Watson who had to be part of the gallery because only local caddies had to be used. After a series of disappointments in major championships, Watson outlasted Jack Nicklaus to win his first green jacket. After 31 years at Wethersfield CC, the now Sammy Davis Jr. Greater Hartford Open moved about six miles south to Cromwell to the former Edgewood Golf Course that had been renovated into TPC Connecticut, with Peter Jacobsen winning his first of two titles in 1984. The course became TPC River Highlands in 1991, with Billie Ray Brown capturing his first PGA Tour title. Two of the most famous shots in tournament histories occurred late in the 1980s. In 1988, Dave Barr’s second shot on the second hole of a playoff with Mark Brooks stopped on railroad ties fronting the 17th green. Barr turned his sand wedge upside down and backwards and hit a miraculous chip that stopped 8 feet from the hole. But the Canadian didn’t get a chance to make a par when Brooks made a 12-foot birdie putt to win his first pro title. A year later, Paul Azinger holed a 45-foot chip to birdie the 18th hole and beat Wayne Levi by a stroke for his second victory in Cromwell in three years. After flinging his golf cap and punching the air several times, Azinger high-fived caddie Billy Poore so hard that he injured his shoulder. The tournament had a run of future Hall of Famers, starting in 1992, when future announcer Lanny Wadkins closed with a 66 in strong winds and then watched the finish from the TV tower behind the 18th green for two hours and ended up with two-stroke victory. A year later, Nick Price prevailed, then in 1995, it was Greg Norman, who holed a 50-foot chip from the right of the 15th green for eagle 2 to overtake close friend Fuzzy Zoeller. The following year proved to be one of the most memorable in tournament history. I got a call at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning saying I should head to the press room ASAP for a major announcement. I rarely went to the course before noon on the weekends because the leaders didn’t tee off until 2 p.m. But the caller insisted I’d want to be there, so I arrived at the TPC to find out Norman, the world’s top-ranked player who was four shots back after two rounds of his title defense, had been disqualified for using a non-conforming ball. The Aussie had practiced with the balls for days but didn’t know they hadn’t been approved by the USGA. I was the only writer at the news conference and ended up in newspapers around the world when an Associated Press photographer snapped a picture as Norman and I exited the press room. With those dramatics out of the way, the tournament became even more memorable when D.A. Weibring notched a four-stroke victory over Tom Kite only months after he had been diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy, a virus that caused temporary paralysis on the right side of his face. Stewart Cink won his first title in 1997 and nearly became the first repeat winner until Olin Browne holed a 40-foot chip on the first playoff hole, No. 18, to beat him and Larry Mize, who blew a four- stroke lead with four holes to go. At the ensuing year’s Media Day, I asked Browne to try to recreate his winning shot, giving him 10 chances. Olin said he didn’t have his clubs, so I told him he could borrow whatever club he had used from my bag. He grabbed my sand wedge and promptly sank his FIRST try. TPC River Highland general manager Billy Whaley and I stood in stunned amazement before we all broke into laughter. As the new century arrived, Notah Begay III became the only player in tournament history to birdie the last hole with the final stroke when he made a 20-footer to beat Mark Calcavecchia, a frequent challenger but never a winner in Wethersfield or Cromwell. Those dramatics were then surpassed when another future Hall of Famer, Phil Mickelson, became the tournament’s only back-to-back champion. But the high of the popular Mickelson’s two victories soon gave way to the real possibility of the tournament’s demise. Canon’s contract ended, and a new title sponsor couldn’t be found. With a deadline approaching, $4 million was raised for a “bridge plan” that got the tournament back on the tour schedule. Jacobsen made a memorable revival when he won his second title 19 years after victory No. 1, the largest time between wins in tournament history.
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New Englanders took center stage in the mid-2000s. Rhode Islander Brad Faxon shot a closing 61 and then birdied the first playoff hole after an approach from a fairway bunker to 3 feet to beat Tjaart van der Walt. Fairfield native J.J. Henry then became the only Connecticut native to reach the winner’s circle when he beat Hunter Mahan and Ryan Moore by three for his first tour title. Trinity College grad Jay Williamson nearly made three in a row for local favorites, but Mahan birdied the final hole of regulation and the first playoff hole. Arguably the most important moment in tournament history was Travelers becoming title sponsor in 2007? The local insurance magnate has elevated the event’s stature immeasurably and helped lead to a $4.5 million, state-of-the-art practice range adjacent the four-hole mini-course and learning center for The First Tee of Connecticut that opened in 2008. That’s when Cink, nearly always a tournament factor, won his second title, then Kenny Perry, who had stayed with a Wethersfield family for more than 20 years, shot a tournament-record, 22-under 258 for his 14th tour victory before joining the Champions Tour the following year. Arguably the most emotional victory in tournament history came in 2010, when Bubba Watson defeated Corey Pavin and Scott Verplank on the second playoff hole for his first tour victory. After his 3-foot par putt dropped, Watson walked over, hugged wife Angie and sobbed uncontrollably because his father was dying of cancer. Watson showed his emotions again last year after he birdied the second playoff hole to beat Paul Casey and become the tournament’s sixth multiple champion. Berlet, now 68, does freelance writing for the Southern New England Golfer Magazine and New England Golf & Leisure and assorted other publications on a part-time basis.
John N
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SCOTCH BALL-II SEPTEMBER 17, 2016
Time: 18 hole times assigned beginning at 10:30am 9 holes times assigned beginning at 12:30pm ** Call the Pro-shop to set up your starting times
Format: Two person team (man / women) – Alternate shot
Entry Fee: $30.00 per person. - $25.00 per person (dinner only) $35.00 per person (Guest teams) Green fees and carts (if riding) - paid on tournament day
Entry Fee includes: Prizes (Pro shop credits) 18 & 9 Hole Division (Net & Callaway), plus Closest to Pin (men & women) Dinner – Lobster Bake @ the Tallwood Pavilion. Includes Lobsters, Steamers, Steaks, Corn, Sides, Beer/Wine, Sodas and Desert. ------Entry Form Scotch Ball II, September 17th, 2014 Please make checks payable to the Tallwood Men’s Club. o Entries must be received no later than the Entry Deadline of Saturday, Sept 9th **Guest team entries will be accepted after Sept 6th if event is not full
Cancellation Policy Cancellations will be accepted up to and including Entry Deadline date. Refunds for cancellations after the Entry Deadline will require approval from the Tallwood Men’s Club Social director. Mail to: Tallwood Country Club Attn: Scotch Ball - II 91 North Street Hebron, CT 06248
TMC Member Name: ______Hdcp: ______
Partner: ______Hdcp: ______Callaway: ____
18 Hole Division: _____ or 9 Hole Division: ______/ Cart: Yes ____ No: _____ Use back of form to list names and details of additional participants &/or guests.
Optional: Please pair us with ______Note: To be paired with another twosome, their entry form and payment must be submitted.
Amount enclosed: $______Check #: ______
2 Person team – $60, 2 person Guest team - $70, Dinner only - $25 each person
Number of persons for dinner only: ______
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