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Thursday, June 30, 2005
Chiongbian: Looking back at the View
By Edgar R. Chiongbian
Teetime
TO VIEW or not to view? That was the question. The 500 or so players who joined the View Tee found out the answer and unfortunately it had nothing to do with the view of the city, but rather a point of view of the golf tournament.
And of course the rain had a lot to do with it.
But first, let us congratulate Alta Vista for running a very successful tournament and then to overall champions Vicente Inting Go and Bebot Baldemor for amassing a total of 81 Stableford points in one day. I know these guys and can say quite frankly that Inting Go can win any tournament he chooses to win because he works hard on his game and is good.
On the other hand, Bebot, also a game player, can go on an unpredictable journey of a hit or miss. This day it was a hit. If there was a second day, it could have been a different story.
Now let us go back to the main topic. As we view the life of mortals and of mortal sins, we expect certain situations to occur. And in general, what happens in the past can happen again so we learn from and guide ourselves with past experiences. The best excuse for being human is not “to err is human and to forgive is divine,” rather “to forget is human and to err is to be forgiven.”
Two years ago, it was also raining like buckets in the View Tee that the golf course became unplayable on almost three days. The committee went into an emergency mode and came up with a solution and offered, the best one-day score of two rounds to the winners.
It was not a popular decision but since it was a spare of the moment decision, everybody fully accepted it with compassion and chalked it down to experience. And then this year’s View Tee had the same experience with heavy rains; the committee again applied the same decision.
The players figured a wiser decision should have been made because to the minds of the many, the best of two days would give the guys who played two days a distinct advantage. And the other half of the field was able to play only one day or at best one and a half day.
The most logical and equitable way would have been to pick the days that had the least rain and then decide that the scores to count will either be the first or the second round.
We did not bring this point to criticize the committee but to give the committees from other golf courses also a chance to learn from this experience and to include a rule of play on future tournaments in the case of rain on a two-day format.
Yet another story to tell is from the rumor mill, which is running on full time, churning out whey n’ hay. We heard this rumor and found it hard to bear, so we share it with you.
It concerns a player who submitted a very high score even with the three-fourth handicap. And we understand that the committee reviewed the matter and decided to let it go without any action. Yes, that is the prerogative of the committee.
But the rumor will not die down because it was supposedly an infraction at the beginning of the game when there wasn’t an exchange of scorecards. No one is saying that cheating was involved but if I had the liberty of putting the marks on my own report card when I was still in school, I would definitely be summa cum laude!
GOLF TIP: Three shots you should already know. 1) When faced with a shot over a water hazard, make sure you have enough club so if you miss, you will miss on land. Focus on the your target, not the water and key on making a solid contact. 2) Shift your weight to the left side during the downswing but make sure to stay down through impact.
3) A lob over a bunker. Set your stance that the ball is off your instep and then hinge the club up with your wrist. Keep your knees flexed as you swing down through impact, this helps the club bottom out directly under the ball. Make a full follow through.
4) When in the trees and you need to punch out, do not take the shot for granted, otherwise you will flub the shot. Focus on hitting the punch shot to an area that will give you the best shot to the green. Play the ball back in your stance, your weight on the left foot, and follow through low to keep the shot low.
(erc@skyinet.net)
(June 30, 2005 issue)
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