Tournament Season at the Club

By:
Corey Roberson

Spring and early summer are busy at the Golf Club with a number of tournaments and other events. Fortunately, we got lucky with the weather and dodged the rain on most days. Thanks to all that participated and congratulations to this year’s champions.

C-Star Member-Guest 
April 22-24

This annual event kicked off with an optional practice round followed by an 18-hole putting contest and finished with five 9-hole matches and the Lonestar Shootout. The Stag Party on Thursday night is a fun tradition for the guys and this year it was a big hit — we partnered with USA Boxing to host six sanctioned amateur boxing matches. Our very own James Sherwood called all the fights, and the men and women fighting put on a fantastic show! On Friday morning the tournament officially started with three of the 9-hole matches being played and the last two matches on Saturday. All flight winners advanced to the Lonestar Shootout on Saturday afternoon. Two teams were eliminated on each of the first three holes leaving us with the reigning champions Jeff Smith and Vance Smith vs. Steve Cruse and Tyler Hersperger. Jeff and Vance made C-Star history by winning the Lonestar Shootout for a second time and were crowned the 2021 C-Star Champions.

El Compadre Member-Member
May 7-8

We had 36 teams (72 players) competing this year. The teams were broken into six flights and played four formats over the course of 36 holes (best ball, shamble, scramble, alternate shot). It all really came down to the Alternate Shot round where scores ranged from 37 to 52. Flight winners advanced to the Shootout where we started on hole #16 and eliminated two teams on #16 and #17. The teams of Emery/Vanderpool and Harkness/Story made it to #18 to battle for the highly coveted Championship Belts. Vanderpool smoked a driver right down the middle to leave his partner 125 yards away from the green. Story also hit a good drive down the right side that got an unfortunate bounce and hung on the hill leaving his partner with a tough shot. Harkness grabbed a 9-iron and attempted to hit a cut with the ball above his feet to a tucked right hole location — he clipped it great, but needed one more stick and ended up in the bunker. Emery hit a conservative wedge shot to the front edge of the green leaving his partner easy work for par. Harkness/Story drew a poor lie in the bunker which led to a low stress victory for Emery/Vanderpool. Congratulations to our 2021 El Compadre Champions, Glenn Emery and Nick Vanderpool.

Ranch Round-Up Ladies Member-Guest
May 11-13

This year we had 22 teams (44 players) that competed in a Net Best Ball Stableford format over 36 holes. We intended to have a 9-hole Putting Contest on Tuesday afternoon but Mother Nature interrupted our plans. The ladies faced some tough conditions on Wednesday after we received almost two inches of rain the night before. Thankfully, our Agronomy team was able to rebuild the bunkers and get the golf course back in great shape. The field was broken into four flights and the flight winners advanced to the Shootout that started on #16. The Reardon/Schuster team was eliminated on #16 after the Mariachi band distracted Schuster on a tough putt. Hole #17 came strong with the drama — Brazil/Matuszak had an 8-footer that was a must make while Dommert/Smith had a 4-footer to tie them and force a chip-off. Brazil drained the 8-footer and Smith narrowly missed the 4-footer. The last two teams standing on #18 were Long/Helms and Brazil/Matuszak. It all came down to another must-make putt for Brazil — this time it was a downhill 3-footer with a little bend to the right. Brazil hit a great putt that caught the left lip and dropped for the victory! Congratulations to our 2021 Ranch Round-Up Champions, Janice Brazil and Lesley Matuszak.

Match Play Championship, Men’s and Ladies’

Played over the months of March, April and May, the field was divided into brackets of eight, with players scheduling their own matches within defined windows. This year, we introduced a ladies’ division. Congratulations to our Champions, Phillip Earnest and Yana Dommert.

Men’s Match Play Champion – Phillip Earnest

Men’s First Flight – David Cottrell

Men’s Second Flight – Steve Stroud

Men’s Third Flight – Jay Harpole

Men’s Fourth Flight – Richard Jackson

Ladies’ Match Play Champion – Yana Dommert

Ladies’ First Flight – Crystal Watts

Ladies’ Second Flight – Lisa E. Miller

Junior Club Championship
June 12-13

We had four players in the 13 & Under Division that was contested over 36-holes from the Teal tees.  Everett Cook claimed the championship with rounds of 101 and 98. Tommy Turturro rallied on the second day with a 10-shot improvement to finish second and Harlen Mangum came in third. Walker West finished fourth but his second round was 15 shots lower than his first! In the 14 & Over Division, we had four young men competing for their name on the rock in the Champions Gallery. Price Hill had a 1-shot lead over Hayes Hutton after the first round, but the two found themselves tied through 9-holes on day two. Hayes made birdie on #11 to gain a 1-shot lead then his tee shot found the penalty area on #12 and he saved bogey. Meanwhile, Price found the penalty area with his second shot on #12 and made double bogey. After birdies on #13 and #14, Hayes found himself with a 4-shot lead over Price. Hayes almost got into some trouble on #16 but made an incredible up-and-down from over the green on his way to claiming his first Junior Club Championship. This will also be his last as Hayes will be attending Texas State this fall to continue his golf career.

Senior Club Championship
June 12-13

In the Super Senior Division (65+), Jerry Merck captured the gross title for the second year in a row with rounds of 87-82 for a two-day total of 25-over par. He bested Bill Haywood by 3 shots. On the net side, Paul “General” Hester was victorious over John Iacuone by 5 shots. The General fired a second-round net 63! In the Senior Division, 21 men competed for the overall championship and to have their name carved in the Champions Gallery. Doug Bird won the net competition and was in contention for gross. He beat Scott Weisberg (2nd Place) by 1 shot and Jack Dempsey (3rd) by 4 shots. All three of these gentlemen joined the Club within the last year! On the gross side, Jeff Smith carded a 75 in the first round to sleep on a 1-shot lead over Nick Mumford and 2-shot lead over Doug Bird. On day two, Mumford got it going early with a 1-under par 35 on the front nine while Smith and Bird lagged behind with 41 each. Mumford managed to extend his lead through the back nine to 10 shots over Jeff Smith and won his second Senior Club Championship.

You Might Also Enjoy....

Developer's Corner

Preferred Builders: Home Tour Highlights

We hosted yet another wonderful Preferred Builders Home Tour in late October, closing out our 2024 bi-annual event held every spring and fall. With more than 350 total attendees, this was one of, if not, our most well-attended tours ever.

Read More »
Agronomy

Challenges. Opportunities. Moving Forward.

Fall has been a busy season for the Agronomy team. This important season kicks off after all the fun of the Ladies’ Ranch Roundup, when we begin our greens aerification process. At the conclusion of this process in October, we have now seen the extraordinary benefit of the deep vertical slicing (Graden device) coupled with the normal aerification of punching holes and backfilling with sand.

Read More »
Outdoors

Bees and Golf Courses

A long-standing interest of mine has been the benefits of using honey and bee keeping. I have enjoyed honey since I was a child and there are many benefits of having honey in your diet. Honey contains a variety of nutrients, it’s rich in antioxidants and is better for blood sugar levels than regular sugar. Research has shown it to promote heart health, promote burn and wound healing, and help suppress coughing with children.

Read More »
Staff Profile

Amanda Naranjo

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been around the game of golf. From watching golf tournaments on TV with my family to going out to the driving range with my dad during my High School years while on the Golf Team, everything I associate with golf has been positive. I decided to attend the University of the Incarnate Word and major in Fashion Merchandising with a concentration in Business. Fusing both my passion for fashion and love for the game of golf, the golf merchandising path was the perfect path for me.

Read More »