A Bunch of Old Birds Waiting to Tee Off

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1 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 THE SCORECARD Message From the Golf Historian 2 Club Championship... 7 Hole in One... 7 Robson Cup... 9 Golf Humor The Lengths Some People Will Go To Make a Shot..11 The Board and Committee Chairs...11 Patronizing Our Sponsors...14 Remember Our Sponsors Mark Your Calendar...14 A Bunch of Old Birds Waiting to Tee Off 1

2 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 Message From Resident Golf Historian Steve Ordahl is our resident Golf Historian and Researcher. He wrote this very interesting article about the history of golf. I think you ll have a great deal of fun reading the article. GENTLEMEN ONLY LADIES FORBIDDEN (GOLF) A brief history of common (and not so common) terms Golf as we know it today originated from a game played on the eastern coast of Scotland during the 15th century. Players would hit a pebble around a natural course of sand dunes, rabbit runs and tracks using a stick or primitive club. Obviously much has changed in our world since that time and golf is certainly no exception. But many of the terms we use every time we play this frustrating game have their origins hundreds of years ago. I thought it would be interesting to explore several of these. GOLF: A common misconception is that the word GOLF is an acronym for Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden. This is definitely not true. It is now accepted that golf is derived from an old word meaning club. The first documented mention of the word golf is in Edinburgh on March 6, 1457, 2

3 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 when King James II banned ye golf, in an attempt to encourage archery practice, which was being neglected. Since the king feared that Scotland was about to be invaded by England, he believed that archery practice should take precedence over golf. FAIRWAY: The original term used by golfers to refer to the playing area was the fair green. This was mentioned in the first rules in The word fairway did not appear until a century later. The origin of the word has been associated with fishermen. Fairway is a nautical term for a navigable channel. Early golf started on links beside ports and fishing nets were often laid out to dry on them. This looks the most likely origin of the term. FORE: There is a reference in 1857 in a glossary of golfing terms. Because golf balls were expensive, golfers employed Forecaddies to stand where the ball might land and reduce the number of lost balls. It is probable that golfers shouted to their Forecaddie, who would always be some distance ahead to draw attention to the fact the ball was coming and, in time, this was shortened to Fore. CADDIE: A Caddie was a term used for an errand boy in Scottish towns in the 18th Century, particularly used for delivering water in the days before modern utilities. The Oxford Dictionary records this use in Caddies are often mentioned carrying golf clubs. In the early days there were no bags and the clubs were carried in bundle which can clearly be seen in paintings of the time. 3

4 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 TEE: The tee was the area where from which you played as set out in the first rules of golf, Golfers at this time used sand to make a tee within one club length of the previous hole. For centuries, golfers made tees from sand. This was messy and towels and water were provided to wash the golfers' hands as they are today to wash golf balls. Often caddies would scoop out sand from the bottom of the hole to make the tee and this caused the hole to deteriorate; clubs often issued reminders that sand should not be taken from holes. BUNKER: Early golf developed on links land, where sand blew across the course and burns (small rivers) ran across it to the sea. In time these were shaped into the hazards that they are today, especially the sand, putting it in pits called bunkers. The sand bunker is incontestably Scottish but the word bunker in golf does not appear until the 1812 Royal & Ancient rules of golf. BOGEY: Bogey was the first stroke system, developed in England at the end of the 19th Century. In 1890, the Coventry Golf Club conceived the idea of standardizing the number of shots at each hole that a good golfer should take, which was called the ground score. Shortly thereafter, this style of competition was introduced there for use in match play. During one competition an excellent player was referred to as a regular Bogey man." This was probably a reference to the subject of a popular music hall song of the day. Over time the ground score became known as the bogey score. Later, in the middle of 20th century, bogey was used as the term for one above par. 4

5 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 PAR: Par is derived from the stock exchange term that a stock may be above or below its normal or par figure. In 1911, the United States Golf Association laid down the following very modern distances for determining par: Up to 225 yards-par 3, 225 to 425 yards-par 4, 426 to 600 yards- Par 5, Over 601 yards-par 6. As golf developed, and scores declined, many old British courses did not adjust their courses or their bogey scores, which meant good golfers were achieving lower than a bogey score. This meant the US had an up-to-date national standard of distances for holes, while the British courses didn t. Americans began referring to one over par as a bogey, much to the British chagrin. BIRDIE: Birdie, meaning a score of one stroke under par, comes from the early 20th century American slang term "bird", meaning anything excellent. The Country Club in Atlantic City lays claim to the first use of the word birdie itself. A threesome was playing the par-four second hole there when a golfer s second shot stopped within inches of the hole. He called it "a bird of shot," and claimed he should get double money if he won with one under par, which was agreed to by members of his group. He holed his putt and thereafter referred to such a score as a birdie. This phraseology was adopted by the club and began to be used commonly. EAGLE: Eagle, a score of two under par for a given hole, was the extension of the theme of birdie. It was natural for American golfers to think of the eagle, our national symbol. The term developed shortly after the birdie. 5

6 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 ALBATROSS: Albatross is three under par and is a continuation of the birdie and eagle theme, but is a British term. Three under par (often called a double eagle in the USA) is very rare as is an albatross. The first albatross score reported in the press is from South Africa when a golfer named E E Wooler scored a hole-in-one in 1931 on the 18th hole of the Durban Country Club (par yards). It cost him 40 British pounds (that s more than $4,550 today) in drinks, but, had he known that he was making history, he probably would not have minded! NIBLICK: Back in the early days of golf history, and even into the 20th century, golf clubs in a set were not identified by number (e.g., 5-iron), but by name. There were clubs called mashies and niblicks (and mashie-niblicks); cleeks and jiggers; baffies and spoons, among others. Today, we call such clubs antique or historical golf clubs. Perhaps the better name, though, would be pre-modern clubs. You can think of modern golf club sets as those containing mostly clubs identified by number rather than name, and with steel or graphite shafts rather than wood (most commonly hickory) shafts. The transition to such modern sets was completed in the late 1930s, early 1940s. A complete description of the names and uses of these antique clubs is too long for this article but if you are interested in more, try this link. We all know that golf has a rich and colorful history and is a fun and frustrating game. So grab your favorite brassie, 6

7 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 stride up to the teeing ground, and make a bird of a shot straight down the fairgreen. See you on the links! STEVE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP Steve Thomson Bob Christianson This year's Club Championship was a huge success and our new Club Champion is Steve Thomson who beat out the defending champion from 2016 in a sudden death playoff with Bob Christianson. They both shot 77 and 79 (156) after 36 holes. With a sudden death playoff starting on hole #1, Steve Thompson parred the first hole winning the club championship. 7

8 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 HOLE IN ONE Congratulations to Bruce Crawford joining the hole in one club on Monday, April 17. It was the 5th hole, on the Saddlebrooke Ranch Course and it played 123 yards as he hit an 9 iron. 8

9 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 ROBSON CUP The Robson Cup was finally played on April 19. Teams from five of the Robson communities competed. The good news was it was a great day, their course was in great shape, the host, Robson Ranch, provided a terrific barbeque lunch. The bad news was that the fearless squad from Saddlebrooke Ranch got their butts kicked rather badly. The only happy camper from Saddlebrooke Ranch was Bruce Deverman who came home with $10 in prize money. GOLF HUMOR An Atlanta lawyer went to play golf in rural Tennessee. During the round he hooked a shot into a farmer's field on the other side of a fence. As the lawyer climbed over the fence, an elderly farmer drove up on his tractor and asked him what he was doing. The litigator responded, "I hooked my shot and it fell in this field, and now I'm going in to retrieve my ball." The old farmer replied. "This is my property, and you are not coming over here." The indignant lawyer said, "I am one of the best trial attorneys in Georgia and, if you don't let me get my ball, I'll sue you and take everything you own." The old farmer smiled and said, "Apparently, you don't know how we do things in Tennessee. We settle small 9

10 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 disagreements like this with the Tennessee Three-Kick Rule." The lawyer asked, "What is the Tennessee Three-Kick Rule?" The Farmer replied. "Well, first I kick you three times and then you kick me three times, and so on, back and forth, until someone gives up." The big-city attorney quickly thought about the proposed contest and decided that he could easily take the old codger. He agreed to abide by the local custom. The old farmer slowly climbed down from the tractor and walked up to the city feller. His first kick to the shin had the lawyer hopping around on one foot when suddenly the farmer planted the toe of his heavy work boot into the lawyer's groin and dropped him to his knees. The barrister was flat on his belly when the farmer's third kick to a kidney nearly caused him to pass out. The lawyer summoned every bit of his will and managed to get to his feet and said, "Okay, you old coot now it's my turn." The old farmer smiled and said, "Naw, I give up. You can have your ball back." 10

11 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 The Lengths Some People Will Go To Make a Shot An interesting demonstration submitted by one of our fellow members Karl Knight. Click on the below link THE BOARD and COMMITTEE CHAIRS Pesident: Mark Klicker Vice President: Sam Rossi 11

12 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 Secretary: Bruce Deverman The Scorecard: communications@sbrmga.org Membership: Tim McCauley membership@sbrga.org Webmaster: Doug Strueber Treasurer: Bob Christianson Weekly Events: Jack Gressingh 12

13 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 Special Events Chairman: Harley Schlachter Handicap and Rules: Rob Nemecek AGA Delegate: Mark Martin SPima Cup: Paul Lapatosky Sponsorship Chairmen: Guy Shelton 13

14 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Apr 2017 PATRONIZING OUR SPONSORS You are probably aware that the various sponsors who have generously given money to the Saddlebrooke Ranch MGA has resulted in an increase in the prize money that is available to the members who play on the various Thursday events. This money is a form of advertising on the part of the sponsors who believe that the membership of our MGA will patronize their establishments and consider using their services. Whenever you can try to show our appreciation by considering using their services whenever you can REMEMBER OUR SPONSORS For 2016, we are pleased to have three Platinum sponsors and ten Premier sponsors. The Platinum sponsors are Coyote Golf Cars, Golf Cars of Arizona, and Kim Tucker MD The Premier sponsors are Gerry Hause Long Realty, Community Church at Saddlebrooke, Robson Resort Communities, Oracle Ford, Outdoor Creations, Brakemax, Concierge Cooling Sonoran Design Landscape Bubb s Grub and DDS Patrick Shaffer Pima Cup May 10 Board Meeting May 17 MARK YOUR CALENDER 14

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