SNEWGA 2009 USGA State Team

Saturday August 29 - Arrival - Lisa Fern-Boros - Once again I am very excited about being able to participate in another USGA event! My husband, Lance is along again this year to share the experience, this time in Fort Wayne, Indiana at Sycamore Hills. We had an early, uneventful flight and actually saw Debbie on her way to her home state of Michigan as we connected through Detroit.

Upon arriving in Fort Wayne, we headed directly to the golf course anticipating another warm reception. I guess we were really anxious because I was actually the first contestant there. I was the first to register and sign the player roster. Copies of the roster are made available to all the contestants after the event, and it has every player's signature. It may be my only first this week, haha. The volunteers were so nice and escorted Lance and me through the clubhouse; this week we get to utilize the men's locker room, very 'clubby', with its own sitting area and bar, many TV's, and attendants just falling over you to assist.

I was shown my locker for the week; the lockers are laid out alphabetically by team. Inside were many nice touches, a Vera Bradley bag that included local specialty chocolate, a memento bag tag and other sundries. Inside there is also a form to relay your thanks and comments for the member who's locker you have for the week.

I wasn't planning on it, but I squeezed in a little practice, again I was first to visit the range. It was pristine with all pyramidal balls perfectly in place; the turf was free of divots. Next I visited the putting green. I forgot how perfect they can be, absolutely fast true rolls, it felt like velvet to the touch. Lance and I went over to view the holes close by. It was odd to see a course without a soul on it, even void of the pins. The Tees, fairways and greens were visually perfect with all manicuring and cross cutting fully intact at 2pm in the afternoon.

Tomorrow is our first practice round, where we will get to experience the course. Adjacent to the putting green is the large scoreboard awaiting the meticulous calligraphy of contestants, states and scores, but in its place was a sign that stated "USGA, champions can come from anywhere".

Sunday August 30 - Practice Round 1 - Debbie Johnson - Arrival at the course was just like any other for me: I blew by the entrance on the first try. But it turned out that the second entrance, the one with the Crime Scene Unit police van was really the one to use. First bullet dodged!

Having been fortunate to have played in a USGA event previously, I at least had an idea of what to expect here. Sycamore Hills is a beautiful facility, and they and the USGA have done a fabulous job of being ready for the tournament. There are people everywhere to help us through registration, the clubhouse, the pro shop and the golf course itself. As usual, the USGA is on top of their game here.

Registration here is nothing like registration for a SNEWGA event. It takes a good 30-45 minutes to get through everything. The fun part is when you get to sign the roster of players. I see that my teammate, Lisa Fern-Boros, was the very first person to register. Team Connecticut is off to a great start!

The toughest part for me about registration is the form they ask you to fill out for the USGA’s media guide. “Where do you live?” and “what’s your best score in competition?” are the easy questions. They want to know your most memorable golf moment or experience, and they also want us to give them a good human interest story—golf-related or not. That’s much too wide open for me: I always do poorly on the “fill in the blanks” questions!

There are volunteers everywhere here. Sycamore Hills has really outdone themselves in that regard. They shuttle us to the practice area where there is a pristine pyramid of golf balls waiting for us to hit them. The balls are all brand new ProV1’s and ProV1x’s in low & high numbers. I try to stay away from the high numbers. That’s just bad golf karma!

Our tee time is at noon, and I’m playing with my teammates, Daria Cummings and Lisa Fern-Boros. The course is in beautiful shape, the rough is rather thick, and we discover that there are spotters on every single hole, and two on the par 5’s! And this is just a practice round!! As we all know all too well, it’s great when you don’t have to worry about where your ball went because you know someone saw it for you. Even when I had an oops tee shot (pulled it into some pine trees way short of where I should have been and short of where the spotter was), the spotter found my ball. Unbelievable!

The course was designed by Jack Nicklaus, and Jack is a very evil man. While the course has only slight elevation changes, he did a lot with the stream that runs through the area. On one hole, the 15^th, water crosses the hole four times. The 15^th is a par 5. Where do you drive? Where do you layup? And two of the par 3’s are all carry over water. Fortunately, they also gave us some very nice yardage books to use (because no GPS devices are allowed). The books have come in very handy.

The differentiator at this tournament is going to be the greens. They are lightning quick with subtle breaks, and a number of them are very narrow. We kind of flew through round 1 today, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s practice round where we can concentrate more on how to play the holes and the greens rather than simply determining where to aim your shots.

Sunday night, the USGA hosted the official Players Dinner. This is a formal event (dressed up!!!) where they welcome everyone and also announce any former champions (of any USGA event) that are in attendance. When they got to Carol Semple Thompson from Pennsylvania, it must have taken them 10 minutes to get through all of her championships. Not only is she one of three players here who have played in every single State Team tournament, but she has been a USGA Champion since the 1970’s. A couple of years ago, I read that she had played in her 100^th USGA championship. That’s among the Junior Amateur, the Amateur, the Mid-Amateur, the Senior Amateur, and the US Open. And she’s still at it. No one will ever touch that record.

Forecast for tomorrow is a high of 71. This is still August! Having been raised in Michigan, I’m wearing shorts (even though I’ve been living in Connecticut longer than I’ve lived in any other state, I’m going with that excuse). My teammates will probably be wearing long pants again. It’s still summer! I refuse to give in to winter wear!

Day 1 is over. Time to start getting the strategy together for the tournament. Day 2 practice round will start to employ that. Tee time is 11:51, in the heat of the day. I’m looking forward to it.

Monday, August 31 - Practice Round 2 - Debbie Johnson: Tee time: 11.51am. Got to sleep in today, which was nice. Another beautiful sunny day in Indiana. The weather has been phenomenal here. No humidity, not too hot, and a slight breeze.

This morning at the range, I ran into some players from NJ that I know from playing in WMGA events (NYC metro area). It seems that the NJ team didn’t get here until Sunday afternoon, so they’ll only get in one practice round. With the rules on hitting limited shots during the round, I’m glad we’re getting in two practice rounds. Yesterday they told us we were allowed only one tee shot on each hole, but we could hit two shots to the green if the first one missed. Today we were only allowed to play one ball all around. Uh, well, we might have taken liberties on both of those rules. If you missed your shot, you need to know what it should be. Sorry! No rules people about, so we all took a second shot (tee shot, second shot, chip shot) when needed. But fortunately we were able to keep those to a minimum.

Ironically, during the course of our round, we ran into the President of the WMGA who is scheduled to be a “guest USGA official” this week. Someone from home! As the USGA officials were everywhere, I kept looking for the CSGA’s Jeff Witherwax. He always seems to be about in our big events. Alas, to my knowledge, he is not here this week.

Today’s round seemed to go pretty well, but practice rounds are always different from tournament rounds. Hit a bad shot? Just put it in the fairway. No sense in hitting from under that tree because I surely will not be there when the tournament hits, right?? I took my first putts a bit more seriously today, as if they really counted. I’m getting better at reading the speed & the break on the greens, but I still haven’t quite figured them out. They are really quick, both uphill & downhill. Hopefully by tomorrow I’ll have them figured out well enough. I spent about an hour on the putting green after the round trying to recalibrate my putting stroke to their speed. We shall see tomorrow how well that worked out.

Course notes: on the 5th hole, I noticed quite a few things on the ground that looked like some kind of nut. The spotter opened one, and said it was a Buckeye. A Buckeye??? But we’re in Indiana, not Ohio. Nonetheless, being a Michigan State grad, I know what to do with a buckeye: crush it!!!

Tomorrow and Wednesday, my teammates and I will each play in our own groups, and we are playing with the players from Michigan and Kansas. And of all players that I could have been paired with, I got the Michigan State University women’s golf coach. My alma mater. Even though I didn’t golf when I was in college, I’m sure we’ll have much to talk about, and I’m very excited to have drawn this pairing.

Tee time tomorrow is 1:54. Lisa leads us off at 1:36, Daria is second at 1.45, and I bring up the rear. Go Team Connecticut!!! Practice rounds have ended. Now it’s time to get serious. Game on!

Tuesday, September 1 - Tournament Round 1 - Debbie Johnson: Tee time: 1.54pm. Totally get to sleep in. Arrived at the course with plenty of time to warm up and hit a lot of putts. I really need to make sure the putting stroke is on today.

I’m playing with Gail Burden from Kansas and Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll from Michigan. As we prepare to tee off, we go through the usual “identify your balls”. I’m playing Callaway Tour-i balls because I have a dozen brand new ones and the USGA always employs the “one ball” rule. Gail has Titleist ProV1’s. As I show my ball, Stacy asks me which Callaway it is. “It’s the Tour-i.” At this point, Stacy informs me that my ball is non-conforming. “What???” She had been disqualified from the Michigan Open earlier this year for playing that very ball. Evidently Paul Azinger had the same problem in a PGA tour event. “What?????” The Tour-i is Callaway’s competitor to the ProV1. It has to be conforming!

We quickly search the conforming ball list. My ball is not on it. The USGA does not allow non-conforming balls, and I do not have time to run to the pro shop to get more balls. Those are all I have with me. I’m done. I’m DQ’d!

But then Stacy reminds me that I can borrow balls, and she offers me a sleeve of her balls. I thought that was very nice of her. I’ll just buy more at the turn, and it’ll be all good.

We started the round on the back nine, and our third hole, the 12^th, is a par 5 that is reachable with two good shots. But if you’re short, your ball is in the water. There’s also water along the left side of the hole off the tee, which shouldn’t be in play (but doesn’t mean it can’t be!). I played the hole a little more conservatively than I might have since I only had 3 balls. Then I mention this strategy to Stacy who informs me that she only has 3 balls, too. “What????? You only had 6 balls with you??” And she gave me half of her stash. I was absolutely astounded that anyone would do that.

We got to the turn, and I raced into the pro shop to buy another dozen. No go. Stacy had the Callaway Tour-ix, and they didn’t have them in stock. She had lost a ball on #12, so she was down to 2 balls, while I still had all 3. But on #6, she lost another ball. Oh no!! She’s down to one ball with 3 holes to play! But I still have two spares, and there’s only one water hole left after this hole. Fortunately, neither of us lost another ball on the day.

I can’t thank Stacy enough for her generosity in loaning me her only other sleeve of balls, and her graciousness in telling me about the balls BEFORE we teed off.

Somehow, I managed to come back from that scare on the first tee to shoot a pretty good round. Including a triple bogey, I came in 7 over par. Hopefully I’ll keep it up for tomorrow (minus the triple). After I get restocked with new balls, of course… (The whole golf course knows about me now: “Oh YOU’RE the one with the illegal golf balls!!!”) I’d like to be known, but not for that!!!

Wednesday, September 2 - Tournament Round 2 - Debbie Johnson: Tee time: 9.09am. Early to rise. At least our time isn’t at the crack of dawn. We ran into players from Rhode Island, and they had 7.30am on day 1. Ouch!!!

No bad ball issues today. I now have a dozen new Callaway Tour-ix balls, courtesy of the pro shop. They were able to find them somewhere, and I was most appreciative. Everyone is falling over backwards for us here, and it’s just amazing. They are literally treating us like queens.

Today I have a gallery: my Dad, my uncle, and two cousins are following me. They, too, have noticed that no need goes untended, including for them.

Today’s round started out well, three straight pars, but then I ran into trouble. And then I ran into more trouble. Jack (Nicklaus) is evil. Have I said that before?? The greens are very narrow, and there are numerous bunkers. I can’t remember the last time I was in so many fairway and greenside bunkers. I’m sure getting my sand practice this week.

Yesterday I birdied #15, a reachable par 5. Today, I tripled it. I put two balls in the water on the hole where the water crosses the fairway four times. That’s just not gonna cut it here. Tomorrow, I hope to have a good tee shot there, which will give me a chance again at eagle or birdie.

One of my playing partners, Gail Burden, birdied 3 of the 4 par 3’s yesterday. Today, she birdied the one that she missed yesterday. But later she topped that off by taking a 9 on a different par 3. Three balls in the water off the tee will put up a big number quickly, and that’s what she did. (Gail is cursing Jack tonight, too.)

And for all of those shots in the water (mine, Gail’s, Stacy’s) we’ve had a USGA official as well as spotters right there to help us find the ball (when possible) or determine the line it crossed the margin of the hazard so as to make a proper drop. I keep saying it, but it is amazing the number of volunteers and officials that are here working and helping out.

Today’s round was not quite as stellar as it was yesterday. Still have a few kinks to work out. Daria took over the team “anchor” position with a very tidy 75. Now we just need two good scores tomorrow, and team Connecticut will be well on its way to a good showing. Tomorrow we again play with the team from Michigan, but we’ll each be paired with a different Michigan player than we’ve been playing with over the last two days. Ironically, our team tee times are exactly the same as they were today. And instead of Kansas, we’ll be playing with the team from Oklahoma. Currently we’re in 26^th place. With a couple of good rounds, we hope to jump up a number of places.

Final round, here we come!

Also Wednesday, September 2 - Tournament Round 2 - Daria Cummings: Hi from the Hoosier State of Indiana! Day two of the USGA State Team Championship is in the books, and Connecticut is solidly in the center of the pack. If we put in two good scores tomorrow we should pass a few states and finish closer to the top of the field. I am writing this at a restaurant in Fort Wayne called Paula’s Seafood Restaurant and Market. It was recommended to me by one of Fort Wayne’s Finest, who was working security for the tournament. He saw my CT hat and uniform and began telling me about visiting his sister who lives in Fairfield.

This was not the only Connecticut connection I came across this week. On day one of the competition, my ride from the driving range informed me that his wife is from Monroe and that she had graduated from my alma mater, Masuk High School. During a practice round I was able to introduce Debbie to a woman who was working as a volunteer crossing guard on a road in between the tenth and eleventh holes. She had grown up in Stamford. I have met many people with sisters living in and around Danbury and heard numerous stories about business trips and vacations to our fine state. I even met a retired dentist who took our picture and told me he had never been to Connecticut, but he had been close… he went to New York City!

This is what makes the USGA State Team Championship special. I have played in many national tournaments and have been lucky enough to represent Connecticut on four State Teams. What I have noticed about this biennial tournament that is strikingly different from other, individual competitions is how we are not identified as individual players, but as a team. At many large golf tournaments you are announced on the first tee with your name, and a combination of the club you play for and your hometown and state. If you have a caddie, their caddie bib has your last name on the back. For this tournament we are CONNECTICUT. It is on our caddies’ bibs and our state flag is proudly flown above the scoreboard and at the entrance to the clubhouse; even our lockers are arranged alphabetically by state, not by last name.

It has been very nice playing a beautiful and tough course and meeting those people who have a connection to our state and are rooting for us to play well. Thanks for letting us represent you.

Thursday, September 3 - Tournament Round 3 - Debbie Johnson: Tee time: 9.00am. Early to rise again. At least my time is virtually the same as yesterday's, which leaves me on the same schedule. Based on our state's position in the field, we drew the last times going out in the morning off the front nine. Coincidentally, we're playing with Michigan again, but each of us is playing with a different player from Michigan. We're also playing with Oklahoma in the final round.

I've been using my driver this week, but I'm still fighting it to some degree. Sometimes it works phenomenally. Other times, not so well. On the first hole, I pushed it way right. All I could do was chip back out to the fairway. On the second hole (par 5) it worked decently enough, although not nearly as well as it had the first two days. It worked so well on #3 that I only had about a 55 yard shot to the pin. I stuck that and got my first birdie of the day! On #5, I had my drive of the week: on a 515 yard par 5, I found myself 207 yards from the middle of the green. I did catch a downslope off the drive, but still... That's quite a pop. Unfortunately, my shot to the green missed, I left myself in the dreaded position of being in the rough above the hole, and I ended up with a bogey. And that was how my day went. Up, down, up, down...

My score was worse today because I put 4 balls in the water. Those four balls cost me 5 shots (one was re-teed). If not for those, I'd have had a decent, round. Plus, my driver basically left me today, except for a couple of really nice shots. As it degraded, I should have left it in the bag. But I'm an eternal optimist about its ability. Unfortunately, things don't always work out as we plan--that's golf in a nutshell.

As badly as this course beat me up the last two days, I still wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Next time I see really skinny greens, they won't be as skinny as these were. Next time I see fairway bunkers all over the place, they won't be as prevalent as these were. Or if they are, I'll have a better idea of how to handle the challenge.

All in all, playing in the USGA State Team event has been phenomenal. The prospect of meeting great players from other states is exciting. The chance to reconnect with great players from neighboring states gives the event a "homey" feel. And the opportunity to challenge your game on a premiere golf course is unparalleled. As much as my scores pained me, I'd relish another chance to try it again.