By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
The Lake Monticello golf course has fielded what is known as the Travelers golf team for a number of years. This team plays matches against similar teams from surrounding golf courses and clubs. The name Travelers comes from the fact that matches are normally played home and away against each opponent. So, the Lake team travels to each opponent once during the season.
On July 13, the Travelers hosted a team from the Orchard Creek golf club (formerly the Waynesboro Country Club.) The Travelers beat Orchard Creek by an overwhelming score of 23 ½ to 6 ½.
Normally matches of this type would start at 8 a.m, but due to the travel distance involved, this match went off at 9 a.m. The game was Nassau. This is a very common golf game that awards a total of three points in each match. The team that wins the front nine gets one point, the team that wins the back nine wins one point and the team that wins the overall score wins one point. If a team wins the front nine by five holes to four, but loses the back nine, three holes to six, that team scores one point to the other teams’ two points. Two-man teams are matched against each other, as is aways the case. Normally, the teams matched against each other consist of players with similar handicaps.
Out of the ten matches played, the Lake Monticello Travelers had four teams that scored a sweep of all three points. Jim Beach and Mike Hanson, Peter Rothchild and Ken Zadoyko, Ted Moser and Phil Scott and William Hanse and Mitchell Moon were those teams. Winning 2 ½ to ½ for the Travelers were Mike Holmes and Jim Darlington and Joe Bock and Alan Stewart. Steve Goodwin was the coordinator of this match for the Travelers.
Although the outcome in this match was quite one-sided, it was not entirely surprising. It is very difficult for a visiting team to prevail in these matches. The home team usually consists of top players who are very familiar with the ins and outs of their course. Reading greens, for instance, is a difficult task and if you have played a course literally hundreds of times, as many of the Travelers have, you will know every twist and turn of all 18 greens. So, if the visiting team is three putting due to unfamiliarity, the home team has a significant advantage. Also, the consistency of the rough may vary from course to course giving the home team another advantage.
The Travelers are halfway through its season. They have already completed both their matches with nearby Glenmore Country Club. On July 20, they host Richmond Country Club. On Aug. 17 they will host the team from Wintergreen and a week later they will travel to Wintergreen. On Sept. 6, the Travelers will be at Richmond Country Club. Sept. 14 will see them hosting Ironwood (formerly Staunton Country Club.) The Travelers end its season on Oct. 4 with a match at Birdwood.
