By TONY CHERBY/For the Sentinel
BUENA VISTA — It goes without saying, that this game of ours can be a very different beast from day to day. My hero, the iconic golf writer Gunter Badoo, put it best: “During my round last week,” he said, “I was the GOAT. This time, I was the goat.” And Michelle Wie West’s recent, rather inelegant quote might be even more apropos: “No one is actually good at golf. Everyone pretty much sucks.” (PS: I fabricated one of those quotes, but that doesn’t mean someone didn’t say it.)
And the weather can be a big part of our game’s mind-numbingly stultifying ups and downs. I have in mind the abject misery of the Tuesday Ocean City Senior Golf League playing last week while getting whacked by August conditions, compared with the pleasantries under the partly cloudy sky that Mother Nature sponsored this time. She gifted us with conditions that are what they are supposed to be in late spring in Beautiful Downtown South Jersey.
We also went from cement-like greens to lushy-plushy ones, thanks to much needed precipitation. Of course, that too makes for a very different game, and our stats confirm it. Fewest Putts, for example, went from 33 in Week 1 to 30 this time, and just two players broke 90 on May 19, while five did so in Week 2, and the size of the field was the same.
For pros, “distance control” means hitting the ball pin-high; for us, it means ending up in Buena Vista on Tuesdays rather than in Beesleys Point.
I’ll start this week’s party with our “Shot of the Day.” But first, there’s a back story from my vast archives. On 22-July-2025, George Curtis hit a fairway shot on hole 14 that was described at the time by moi like this: “From the middle of the fairway, ‘The Inspector’ flawlessly stroked a blind 7-wood (the shot was blind, not the 7-wood) over sand and rough, to the back of the green on hole 14 at Buena Vista CC. It’s one of the top 5 toughest approach shots at BV. Many of us just aim for the traps and hope. We rarely hit what we aim for.”
What happened on 14 this week was almost identical, other than the pin being up front. But same hole, same clubs, same drive, same approach shot, same result: a birdie putt from less than a foot.
Curtis was also one of five golfers who broke 90, along with DeLanzo, Probert and Ramsay. I say “90 is the new 80” for those of us born when gas was 39 cents a gallon, and you could get a 5th Avenue Bar for a nickel. Remember that candy? Or Beeman’s chewing gum? How about sticking your feet in a big x-ray box no one ever bothered inspecting for radioactivity and such when your mother took you to get new shoes? But I digress. Way to go, George. You’re getting closer to a rare eagle on our fourth most difficult hole. He also captured the Low Net prize.
Chris “Don’t let my bright smile fool you, I’m a killer on the links” Ramsay, who sports our third-lowest hcp, had the best score for the day: a sublime 82, featuring 9 pars. Both – 82 and 9 – are YTD bests, even though the year’s so young that its teeth have yet to make an appearance. Chris also tied for Fewest Putts.
Rick Schultz had a notable round as well, prevailing in a tough contest over Frank Coppenbarger, a perennially persistent performer. Rick’s trek around BVCC was highlighted by pin-wins on holes 5 and 8.
Stan “the Scheduler” Borucki tossed our two lowest handicappers into the same ring. Good call! Ralph DeLanzo and Roger Probert lived up to the billing in what I call our Match of the Day. Both fired 84s, featuring RD’s 30 putts (a tie for fewest), and 31 for RP. DeLanzo came out on top, with an assist by extra snaps that Roger had to spot him.
In another great dustup, Rich Hawthorne and Bill Gardner fired solid 90s. Again, a few strokes’ difference in the hcp column helped the winner (Bill G.) to prevail but had a much better day than his score indicates. A costly blip on No. 3 prevented him from comfortably carding our sixth sub-90 round. But he did soften the blow with a pin win on No. 12.
Tom Gahr, our scholarship coordinator, reminds us that it’s donation season. He’s collecting for our annual awards to Ocean City High School graduates on the golf team. So, pony up! Give freely and give often! It’s the best thing we do as a league. (Tom will be announcing a major award for this fund shortly. It’s great news.)
We have 27 golfers on our roster so far, with several yet to make an appearance, but there’s room for more. If you are 55, have Tuesday morning free and can navigate to Buena Vista C.C. by 8:15 a.m., contact Captain Dave Carter (rdavidcarter@live.com). And visit our website (ocstgl.golfleague3.net) to see what the heck it is that we’ve been doing so well for almost 35 years
Here are the May 26 matches: DeLanzo 4, Probert 0; Ramsay 4, Franks 0; Schultz 4, Coppenbarger 0; Gardner 4, Hawthorne 0; Hollerbach 2, Lyons 2; Borucki 4, Carter 0; Curtis 4, Mayson 0; Baird 4, Gahr 0; Cherby 4, Ghost 0. Newcomer Low Salgado logged his third qualifying round, so now he has a hcp and is ready to compete for the big bucks.
WEEKLY WINNERS
Low gross (82): Ramsay (DeLanzo, Probert 84)
Low net (66): Curtis
Fewest putts (30): DeLanzo, Ramsay
Birdies: Cherby, Curtis, DeLanzo, Gardner, Hollerbach, Ramsay
Most pars (9): Probert, Ramsay
Most bogeys (12): Borucki, Curtis
Closest to the pins:
No. 5 Schultz 9’2”
No. 8 Schultz 19’2”
No. 12 Gardner 10’2”
No. 17DeLanzo 5’1”