By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
Back in 2015, the Lake Monticello Travelers golf team was established to play matches against comparable teams from other area golf courses. In that year, teams from five courses were involved. After a year off in 2020 due to the pandemic, the Lake Monticello Travelers are back in action. On July 8, the team hosted golfers from Orchard Creek (formerly Waynesboro Country Club) The format was Nassau and the Lake squad swept to a devastating 24-9 victory.
In a Nassau competition, there are three points to be contested in each match. Two-man teams from each squad face off over 18 holes. There is a point to be won on each hole and the team that wins the front nine is awarded one point. The team that wins the back nine is awarded one point and the team that wins the entire eighteen is awarded one point. Therefore, each match has a three-point score. In this competition, there were 11 matchups for a total of 33 points. If the two teams tie on a hole, each team gets a half point for that hole. If the teams tie on one of the nine hole competition they both get a half point for that nine in the Nassau competition.
In this match, three of the Travelers teams swept their matches, scoring all three points. These teams were, John Roeder and Mike Hanson, Everitt Horton and Larry Cormier and Jim Williams and Ted Moser. In addition, two Travelers teams scored 2 ½ points. These were the teams of Bill Scanlon and George Csapo and Pete Ferensak and Cole Hunter. It is not surprising for home teams to win in these competitions as local knowledge is important when playing a difficult course like the Lake course.
The Travelers will be playing home and away matches this year with teams from Glenmore, Birdwood, Old Trail, Stoney Creek and Green Hills. In 2015, only Waynesboro, Stoney Creek, Green Hills and Glenmore were involved. Spring Creek was in the competition for one year, as was Keswick. The most recent addition is Old Trail from Crozet. For 2015-2017 the Travelers coordinator was Dan Atkinson. In 2018 and 2019, the coordinator was Paul Seehaver. In 2021, the co-coordinators are Everitt Horton and Karl Bergstresser.
At the beginning of the day, the hosts treat the visitors to a continental breakfast. At nine sharp, the players rollout to their assigned holes in a shotgun start. This allows the foursomes to finish at approximately the same time, so that all the players can gather for lunch and an announcement of the match results.
