LABOR DAY HAS passed, the summer whites are put away, no more sunny season socializing for this wannabe-Hampton’s fat cat.
But before the fall windbreakers and winter raingear come out of their storage bins, there is an opportunity for a few more weeks of golf in warm weather and early morning and early evening sunlight.
Take advantage now, it’s already dark when I start the trek to Port Angeles in the morning and getting darker earlier every night.
I can’t hear any wolves howling . . . yet.
Just kidding, I hope.
Elks, Rotary tourneys
Port Townsend Golf Club will host the annual Elks Lodge Best Ball Tournament on Saturday.
This tournament raises funds for scholarships for graduating high school seniors.
Cost is $40 per player with a $5 charge for non-PTGC members.
Port Townsend will also host the annual Sunrise Rotary Night Golf event on Saturday, Sept. 24.
For more details on both these events, phone the club at 360-385-4547.
Final round set
The final round of the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce’s $500,000 Hole-in-One event will be held Saturday at Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course in Sequim.
In the first round of the finals, finalists will hit one shot from 135 yards on hole No. 9 at Cedars starting at 3:30 p.m.
They can win $5,000 and a new car from Ruddell Auto.
The top 24 move on to the finals and a chance at $500,000 from 150 yards.
Spectators are welcome. Make a day of it, play a round, have some lunch and watch some college football before the finale of the big event.
Proceeds from the event will go to the Olympic Medical Center Foundation and the chamber.
SkyRidge tourney set
SkyRidge Golf Course in Sequim will hold a three-person scramble tournament on Saturday, Sept. 17.
Tee-time is 9 a.m. for the tourney, which is $30 per player ($90 per team).
A honey pot will be up for grabs for an extra $20 a player.
Three drives from each player must be used during the round.
Lunch will follow play, and there will be two drawings for a Las Vegas vacation.
Two-for-Tuesday deal
Discovery Bay Golf Club of Port Townsend is offering its “Two-for-One Tuesday” specials until further notice.
Two greens fees for the price of one on Tuesdays — a steal of a deal while the late-summer sun holds strong.
Cedars crowns champs
Big winners from the 2011 Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course Men’s Club Championship were low-gross champ Sid Krumpe with a total of 215 and low-net winner Ed Busch with a 195.
Flight winners (gross and net) included Krumpe and Gary Kettel (208) in the First Flight; Bruce Durning (236) and Dean Kruse (205) in the Second Flight; Dave Johnson (247) and Busch in the Third Flight; and Ted Johnson (279) and Richard Hansen (212) in the Fourth Flight.
Media rights deal
With no huge dollar amount released, the PGA Tour’s recent re-up of its media rights to CBS and NBC merited little media coverage.
Scanning the highlights of the deal, it appears not much will change to the current system.
It extends the length of the deal through 2021 with CBS airing about 20 tournaments and NBC airing 10 per year.
What I’m excited about is the enhanced digital content discussed in the deals.
It looks like most tournaments will also be shown on www.pgatour.com or www.cbssports.com.
This is nice for us at work who wouldn’t mind checking in on the Players Championship, the Bay Hill Invitational or other similar events.
Currently the major tournaments provide this type of extra coverage but its’ good for the game to have this available for (nearly) every tournament.
If people want to take an interest, the opportunity to check in and watch will be there.
The PGA has had a pretty solid stance on social media. The organization doesn’t pull videos down from sites like YouTube like Major League Baseball does.
This tells me they appear to see the value in allowing both the golfing public and non-golfing public alike the ability to see the humorous side of the game and the vast talent of the players through uploaded videos.
Maybe this kind of policy and this new deal will bring some new growth to the game.
For more on the new deal, visit tinyurl.com/NewPGADeal.
Drive for show and win?
On the PGA Tour it appears there is a shift in the old axiom of drive for show and putt for dough.
More and more players are able to do both, or able to drive so well that it can take some of the importance away from the short game.
Eighteen of the 39 tour winners this year have driving distance averages of more than 300 yards.
But if one looks closer at the statistic and how its calculated, you’ll find a flaw.
The stats are cooked, albeit only slightly.
The PGA Tour only counts distance on two holes each tournament, not on every par-4 or longer drive.
I certainly think being a longer hitter is an advantage but these longball hitters also have to know how to dial it back on courses that will penalize their distance.
Keegan Bradley’s victory at the PGA Championship was an example of that.
Bradley averages 301 yards a drive but it was his ability to hit it straight and true on the dogleg heavy course (and knock in some knee-rattlers) that won him the major championship.
For an article describing the rise in driving distance, vist tinyurl.com/longballgolf.
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Golf columnist Michael Carman can be reached at 360-417-3527 or at pdngolf@gmail.com.