By Mike Morris
For those of you who don’t yet know Mike Morris (that’s me), I’m taking over LMGA’s Communications duties from Rick Colvin, who has moved up the ranks to Vice President. I’ve been playing LMGA golf for more than six years now and have walked the fairways with many of you, and I look forward to getting to know each of the members I haven’t interacted with going forward. I’ll be canvassing players for comments and observations after every match, and I welcome your input.
This past Thursday, Jan. 5, the first LMGA match of 2023 started with dense fog shrouding the fairways along the marshes. The Team Stableford 9:30 a.m. shotgun had close to a full roster – only one open tee box, the rest filled with foursomes for a total field of 68 players. At the end, the winning teams in each of the two flights handily defeated their competition.
Flight One saw Doug Ramey, Bob Jannino, Brian Mitchell and Steve Thomas amass a total 139 points, besting the runner-up team of Greg Snyder, Steve Shulman, John Bellucci and Ted Bumsted with 133 points and leaving the rest of their competitors farther behind. The Flight Two team of Mark Witbeck, David Ryan, Bill Delaney and Peter Hering won just as convincingly, scoring 131 points over their closest competitors Rick Cricenti, Joe Davis, Rick Hartbrodt and Mike Kattman with 125 points.
Despite the competition and a sizeable number of birdies recorded, only three players walked off with skins prizes for nailing handicap-net eagles! Jack Welch sank a 50 foot putt from the rough on hole 4, Peter Hering drained his putt on number 12 (technically a net Ace, but not a hole in one), and Mike Towson got his birdie with a handicap stroke on 5.
By mid-morning the fog rapidly dispersed and the sun climbed to a balmy 67 degrees, making it feel like a warm summer day at the time the competition came to an end. As John Bellucci observed, “It’s pretty hard to beat this in January.”
Membership Notes
Joe and Marcie Becker moved to The Landings November 15 from Rochester, MN, where they had lived for 30 years. Joe recently retired from his dental practice and Marcie retired from a position in IT with the Mayo Clinic. The Beckers have many good golf-related memories but the most cherished is a trip to the Southwest corner of Ireland. “We played Old Head (unbelievable views!), Ballybunion (horizontal rain), Waterville and Lahinch,” Joe said. They played with their oldest daughter, who was studying at the time in Limerick, Ireland.
Rob and Patti Clement will make The Landings their winter home starting in January and plan to spend summers at their home in Rhode Island to be close to their four children and three grandchildren. Rob owned a company called The Allied Group, which provides printing, packaging, and fulfillment services for companies in the health care and life sciences sectors. His favorite golf memory is meeting Arnold Palmer at the airport where Rob kept his plane. Arnie had flown in to play an exhibition for the opening of TPC Boston, where Rob was a member. “I got to talk with him about aviation, which we both loved, and then follow him during the exhibition,” Rob said. “It was a magical day for sure!”
New LMGA member Tom Hickey also cherishes an Arnold Palmer memory: watching with his father in 1994 as Arnie played his last U.S. Open round at Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh. Tom and Connie moved to The Landings from Pittsburgh, where Tom was a high school math and technology teacher and the basketball, track, and golf coach.
Craig and Suzanne Olin purchased a second home in The Landings this month. Craig is an internist in Stamford, CT. His favorite golf-related memory is a trip he and 11 colleagues took to Scotland 20 years ago to play many of the venues where the The Open has been held there. At the time, Craig said, he was relatively new to golf and his game “was awful.” But, he said, “The image of us all standing on the Swilcan Bridge on the 18th hole at St. Andrews at the end of an extremely windy round represents the joy of the camaraderie on the trip and the joy of golfing!”