Spackler 2001 Retrospective

scoring spreadsheets
more pictures from Spackler 2001

In September 2001, eleven intrepid golfers set off on an epic journey. The mission was clear: play as much golf as possible in five days at some very nice southern Colorado courses. We traveled in a caravan of Fords driven by Mike Bitner, Mike Codd and Rusty Bailey. Our first destination was Red Hawk Ridge in Castle Rock.

It was eerily calm, as this was soon after September 11 and there was no air traffic to be seen. Actually, the airport closures prevented one of the non-Colorado Spacklerites from participating. Thus, we had two foursomes and a threesome teeing off and having a great time in a pretty surreal atmosphere. After round one, Brian Brown took command of the yellow-jerseyed-gopher-headcover. Everyone was wondering, could Brian handle the mountain courses as Lance Armstrong handles mountain passes, or would this be a one-night stand for Monsieur Gopher?

After Red Hawk, we road tripped to Durango with only a minor traffic violation (69 in a 50) for one of the vehicles. I was driving that rig, and in my defense we really were in a bit of a rush since Wolf Creek Pass was closing for the night at 7:00 and we roared out of South Fork (at the base of the pass) at about 6:45. I thank the kind South Fork officer for not giving me the ticket I deserved (75 in a 50, court appearance, jail, soap on shower floor, aaaaghhh...).

The next two days were spent in Durango where we played one round at Hillcrest (where Mike Rudd amazed us with his ability to hook a ball from one side of a lake to the other) and three rounds at Dalton Ranch. Each round featured a different game format (Pink Ball, Chicago, Vegas, Two-Man best ball, etc.) and we had a great time.

Todd "McGuyver" Miklos kept us all in line with distribution of winnings and with establishing pairings for each round. The scoring spreadsheets were Todd's work as well and it kept us all up to date as to our relative incompetence at the game of golf. Ken Mruska's ball retriever came in handy for all us at one time or another; Dalton Ranch follows the Las Animas river, so there aren't many holes without the wet stuff.

The weather was awesome and the scenery was beautiful as the foliage was changing and the foothills were covered with color. So, even when the golf was bad, you could look around, be one with nature, and go hit another bad golf shot in peace. The courses were still in great shape as well, so we're convinced this is an ideal time of year for this kind of trip.

We had some good mexican food and margaritas in downtown Durango one night and then some pizza and poker the next. After four rounds, Brian had faded from the yellow jersey pursuit, sprinter that he is, to be replaced by a trio of "contendahs": Steve Ivy, Bill "Rice Paddy" Werst, and Rusty Bailey.

Josh "Mr. Sandman" Rathke kept on raking in the skins money. It might have been due to stellar iron play, a wicked short game, and laser-like accuracy off of the tee, or maybe due to the 30 something handicap he sported all week. We're still not sure.

Doug Franz continued to amaze us all with his prosthetic golfing arm. When I saw how well his self-engineered arm worked I wanted to start him working on a prosthetic brain for me. But I think that problem will require something more akin to divine intervention.

That night we ate at a biker bar and stayed at a really cool old hotel. It had an open-air courtyard where we stoked up a big fire (in the fireplace, of course), drank a few beers, smoked some cigars, and played poker for a few hours - good clean fun.

Our final day started with a drive to Colorado Springs and some typical Pikes Peak region thunderstorms. We played Pine Creek Golf Club and finished with no casualties and only a little loss of self-esteem. We had one rain delay, but no bodies were charred by lightning.

Going into the final round, the race for the yellow jerseyed gopher was very close. Steve and Rusty were just a couple of shots apart; Rusty gained the final advantage by changing the lofts on all of Steve's clubs, and finished in possession of the prized rodent. It also helped that Pine Creek was his home course from many years ago. And, to top it all off, Brian sank a clutch putt on 18 to continue Brian and Rusty's streak of not buying steaks for Bill and Todd (our standard two-man best-ball bet).

So that was about it. We gave out awards, thanked Brian for thinking the whole affair up, and headed for home. It's hard to imagine how the whole trip could have gone any better. The addition of a tour bus would be fun - complete with card tables, a well stocked fridge,... Hmmm, maybe next year.