The Northern California Golf Association (NCGA) Zone Qualifier was played last Sunday on the Little River Golf Course. Northern California is separated into 14 NCGA Zones, with golf clubs within each zone inviting NCGA members to compete in zone qualifiers. The NCGA zones stretch from the Oregon/California border to the Central Valley, Central Coast, and the Monterey and Fresno areas. Any golfer can pay an annual membership fee to join the NCGA, which also offers handicap posting and calculation. Each golf club, including Little River, has a Handicap Kiosk or Score Posting Terminal at the Pro Shop, where NCGA members can enter their score and calculate their handicap.
Ten players, five two-person teams, competed in the Little River Qualifier. Coming in first place was team Scott Deitz and Golf Notes writer, Larry Miller. Scott and Larry scored a team 6 under par. The format was to score the best ball on each hole. Ironically, Scott and Larry share the same birthday date, May 22nd. If you added their ages together, they would have a combined 160 years. Scott is four years younger than Larry. Placing second were Lindy Peters and David Coddington, scoring a team 5-under-par best-ball. Rita and Sonny Hanover tied Lindy and David in a card-off and lost second place. Scott and Larry played with Lindy and David, and what was notable was all the great bounces back on the fairway Lindy got from trees, limbs, fences, and roots. “Looks like it’s going into the trees. Nope, it bounced back on the fairway.” The Lindy bounce. Have you heard of the Lindy Hop? An energetic dance originating in the Harlem area of New York in the nineteen 20’s. Your ball hits a tree and bounces back into the fairway. The Lindy Bounce. Scott, Larry, Dave, and Lindy will travel to the Poppy Hills Golf Course in the Monterey area to play in the NCGA North Valley Zone Championship on July 6th and 7th. The top two teams from this event will advance to the finals at the Black Horse or Bayonet Golf Course in the Seaside area.
Last week, Dave Swenson and a friend were working on firewood at the Little River Golf Course. Dave and his friend cut off the stump from the recently cut-down tree on the right of the sixth fairway. You know that tree. The one that deflects your ball from going into the trees to the right of the 6th green. The trees are called the ‘tunnel of love’. While splitting the stump, Dave discovered an old Pinnacle golf ball nestled inside the stump. The ball had noticeably small dimples, as was common on old golf balls. Golf balls were first dimpled in 1905. Before 1905, they were smooth, but it was discovered that dimpled golf balls flew much further than smooth balls. How many old golf balls are nestled in the many trees on the Little River Course? If trees could talk. “I got three. I have a Calloway and two Titleists. I have four in my core.”