Gail Schroeder
April 30 was the last day of the Niners official league season, but the Niners will still be golfing. Members and non-members are welcome to continue playing until the weather traps us in our homes. Summer golf is very informal. As usual, it will be every Tuesday morning. Judy Johnston will be posting the sign-up sheets on the board in the hallway leading to the Pro Shop. You will pay at the Pro Shop before play. Keep your own scores. The scorecards are for your use and info only; however, you can still input them yourself to add to your handicaps. Please call both Judy Johnston and the Pro Shop if you have a last-minute cancellation. Carol Delk will be arranging the monthly luncheons and will have a sign-up sheet in the hallway also. The luncheons are usually at a different restaurant each second Tuesday of the month. Thank you, Carol, for handling this again this year!
Since many of the Niners have returned to Canada or their home states, no Niners events are planned for the summer, so I thought I would share a couple of facts for all golfers that our “Rules” person Mary Stohr shared with us. Mary has made her committee report very interesting by not only informing us of the golfing rules, but always adding something extra of interest. The definitions of “albatross” and “condor” were two of them. Personally, I never knew these terms or that they were possible, for obvious reasons! Did you?
Albatross: The most sought-after and elusive accomplishment for a golfer is to get a score on a hole equal to three strokes under par. That is called an albatross, or in the U.S., a double eagle. Essentially, an albatross is achieved when a player either scores a two on a par 5 or holes it off the tee on a par 4. When Tiger Woods was playing with PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh this year, he nearly made an albatross. Brad Faxom said on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio, “Tiger hit a 5-wood at the par 5 15th, and I guess he flew it about 256 yards in the air, and it stopped one inch from the hole for a tap-in eagle, so people were just like in awe to be able to see him play.” I tried to find out how many major league golfers had shot an albatross. One website named 34, including four women.
Condor: A condor is a score of four under par. This can be achieved by scoring a hole-in-one on a par 5 hole or by taking two strokes on a par 6 hole. There are only six recorded condors in 60 years in the USA, UK, and Australia. A condor was scored without cutting over a dogleg by Mike Crean at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in Denver, Colo., on July 4, 2002, when he holed his drive 517 yards at the par 5 9th hole. That is the longest hole-in-one currently on record.
Feel free to use this info when playing golf trivia. LOL! Have a great summer!