GolfClubAtlas.com > Golf Course Architecture
Group PHOTO |13 Sept 2020 Midwest Mashie - Lawsonia
V_Halyard:
13 Sept 2020 Midwest Mashie - Single Day 36 Hole Lawsonia Mashie COMPLETED
From a fantastic day of excellent golf played across a variety of Social Proximities
(Will post more on the Mashie Photo site)
Long as hell post warning: The fact that I am about to host a Zoom work call amplifies the elevated excellence of this past weekend.
SCOREBOARD: The committee has determined that the 2020 Mashie will be called a draw. The Teams played to a tie and in the spirit of the COVID twisted logistics and the resultant fantastic day, this Mashie will remain in quarantine until 2021. This in no way diminishes the performance of those in attendance. We celebrate the collective effort and camaraderie.
About this Year’s Midwest Mashie. To recap, we had an event scheduled for two days at The Loop… then "The COVID" happened. Quick thinking, George Freemanimmediately got on the phone and snatched 36 same day holes for us at Lawsonia Links. No official overnight, no raucous dinner, just a day of outdoor COVID safe camaraderie to ease the pain. One day we will share how close the thing came to implosion within 24 hours of tee off. A special thanks goes to the Lawsonia staff and Oliphant’s Craig Haltom for inventing tee times for this crew during this golden age of sold-out golf operations. Craig also joined us for 18 holes and camaraderie which was another treat during an outstanding day. The "Hero of the Mashie" award goes to Craig Haltom.
It was planned as a group outing for golf architecture geeks at a great classic restoration… yet it was much more than that. As soon as folks began arriving, it became evident that this was a reunion of liberation. The fact that we were actually pulling it off was not lost on anybody in attendance. Lawsonia went above and beyond fitting us into their sold out tee sheet, not once, but twice in one day, on a Sunny Sunday... after multiple days of rain out.
Of note, the 2020 Mashie tee'd off Ten minutes early and played BOTH sessions AHEAD OF THE PACE OF PLAY. Unprecedented. As Steve Salmen explains to his wife: “I’m going to spend the weekend with a bunch of men I met on the internet.” The validity of the seal on that statement was broken with the attendance of GCA silent lurker, Pam, “100 courses/year warrior queen” Allen. It was a fantastic day. “The GCA” swarmed America's Dairyland and bled buckets of economic development into Wisconsin tourism. We teed it up across Packerland’s finest public and private golf courses. From Blue Mound CC to an unsolicited invitation to visit Pine Hills from a non-GCA poster that got wind of the Mashie from a GCA afflicted friend.
Notable things: MVP goes to Frank Kim for cramming a bunch of golf into a 48hour furlough from his new home in California. We waived protest as he and a number left to after 18. Captain Thurman kept "Kim from California" on the "East" team, but we allowed it. GCA Stalwart Richard “Dick” Daley made the trek from Green Bay and graced us with his presence and friendship. He had the horror of walking with the ragged “9-ball” game bled out by the committee of Halyard, Freeman, Thurman. “For God’s sake, can one of you please make a putt?”
Daley shared that he grew up playing Lawsonia. He mentioned something about a brothel before the Baptists and proclaimed that “The multiyear master plan reclamation work of Ron Forse doesn’t get nearly enough credit for saving this place. It was a tree lined mess of a forest. Lawsonia was horrible. He fixed it” . Thanks Ron Forse for flying in.
A special thanks to Keith R., (Not on GCA) and the members of Pine Hills who pinged me with an unsolicited email offer to host some of the early arrivals at their course. Much appreciated and those who attended have rave reviews of the course that will have Forse/Nagle and now Drew Rogers pedigree. Get to this previously little known gem. Pine Hills is the inspiration for the courses that originally sparked the Wisconsin golf boom at Kohler. Sand Valley Golf Resort as well as members of the Sand Valley founders club, Dan Moore(GCA) and buddy John Buckley (Not on GCA but now a Mashie Alum) hosted multiple GCA rounds at Sand Valley/Mammoth Dunes/Sandbox. They also provided additional hospitality with beer, bourbon, brats accompanied by wet-as-hell smelly golf clothes and shoes. Golf bags weighed a ton yet the smiles were all ear to ear.
East Captain Criss Titschinger did a Wisconsin Super Tour of Golf that I believe took him to Spring Valley, Pine Hills, Eagle Springs, Lac Labelle and other places that I may have missed or mistakenly included. Criss, tell those stories! I could go on but will wrap it up and let others chime in. It was a special day as it celebrated an event that we thought might not happen but turned out even better than expected. The fact that we pulled it off is satisfying and gratifying. It was fantastic so see so many come from so far for one day of golf with friends. It should be noted that John McCarthy went so low, there is a handicap review in progress.
Reporting live on the ground in Wisconsin - Vaughn and your Mashie crew of George Freeman, Jason Thurman and Criss Titschinger
THANK YOU ATTENDEES!
1 Vaughn Halyard - West Captain - Mashie Holder
2 George Freeman
3 Craig Haltom - Hero of the GCA
4 Criss Titschinger - East Captain and Mashie Chief Technical Officer
5 Jason Topp - Previous Host
6 Jason Thurman - Competition Chair
7 Morgan Clawson
8 Steve Salmen
9 Jake Marvin
10 John McCarthy
11 Frank Kim
12 Steve Greif
13 Bill Seitz
14 Pam Allen
15 Peter Flory
16 Andrew Calcutt
17 Brad Hill
18 Chris Kellog
19 Joseph Melchiors
20 John Mayhugh
21 John Buckley
22 Buck Wolter
23 Karen Halperin (Innocent Bystander)
Doug Wright:
I'd like to join in 2020, thanks!
C. Sturges:
Wow,
Lots of people already signed up. If there is room I would like to join.
Thank you,
chris
Carl Rogers:
Please sign up Carl Rogers
PCCraig:
In...again?
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version