By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
The Lake Monticello senior men’s golfers play every Thursday (18-hole group) and Friday (nine-hole group) mornings from April to November. On Nov. 15, the two groups got together for their annual year-end banquet at the Ashlawn facility. Awards were handed out to the golfers who excelled during the 2021 season.
Dan Foley, coordinator of the nine-hole players went first in the presentations. He announced that the best gross scores in the yearlong ringers competition were, for gross score, Larry Wolfe in first place, Ben Stoppe in second and a four way tie for third between Doug Caron, Ken Oukrop, Greg Kuhn and Fred York. In the ringers net score competition the best scores were posted by Larry Wolfe in first place, and there was a three way tie for second between Carl Heins, Jim Kinter and Ben Stoppe. In the match play competition for the nine-hole group, the first place finishers, in a tie, were Ben Stoppe and Walt O’Connell. Second place was also a tie, between Fred York and Carl Heins.
Both groups play ringers each season and it is a competition that draws a lot of interest. Players are often very disappointed when they have to miss one of the once-a-month competitions for travel or other personal reasons. The ringers competition tracks each player’s best score for the year on each of the 18 holes. Thus, if a player who has had two double bogies and one bogie on a hole suddenly makes birdie, he now gets credit for the rest of the season for birdie on that hole.
Dan Atkinson, coordinator for the 18-hole group, was up next to make presentations. The 18-hole group plays a more complicated set of games and Atkinson is a meticulous record keeper as is required by the competitions involved. In the ringers competition, there was a three way tie for the best gross. Not surprisingly, three of the best Gray Foxes golfers tied for first place. They were John Alluisi, Mike Hanson and Mike Holmes. John Roeder was a stroke off the pace. In the net score ringers competition, the lowest score was posted by Gary Woody, who won the competition by an impressive three strokes. Following Woody, there was a three-way tie between Ken Oukrop, John Platt and John Stenz. In the yearlong match play competition, the winners were, Dan Atkinson in first place, John Roeder in second, and Dave French, Ken Oukrop and Paul Seehaver in a tie for third.
The top money winners in pro shop credits for the season were John Platt, Dan Atkinson and Mike Holmes. In the skins competition, the top over-all money winners were Ken Oukrop, John Alluisi and John Stenz. The winners of the most skins for gross score were Mike Holmes, John Alluisi and John Roeder. The winners of the most net skins were Ken Oukrop, John Stenz and Duncan Nixon. To win money in the skins competition a golfer must have the lowest gross or net score on the hole of all the players competing on that day.
The yearend banquet at the Ashlawn Grill was generally judged to be a huge success. The dinner offerings were chicken or beef and the beer was free and flowing freely. The banquet is paid for out of the preseason Gray Foxes dues.
The Gray Foxes are always looking to add new players and some of the newest players are named quite often above. Not all the Gray Fox players live at Lake Monticello, so residents from outside the Lake may play, if they meet the necessary requirements.
