GOB enjoy conditions at Flying L

Charles Prokop

By Charles Prokop

Imagine keeping your grass neatly trimmed at three different heights.

If you let the grass grow even a little too long over here or keep it too short over there, your neighbors are sure to complain. You have to cut it nearly every day to keep them off your back. You must do most of your mowing when your neighbors aren't home, but they're at home whenever the weather is good and it's daylight. To add insult to injury, they love ripping holes in your lawn and blaming you for not repairing the damage.

Of course, your yard is not all grass. You have a sand box for the kids, and they keep messing it up while you try to keep it smooth and neat. The weeds keep growing at the edge of your pond and along the fence line, and you spend hour after hour trimming those weeds. And if that's not enough, you have to make sure the neighbors and your kids have cold water available while they're messing up your property.

This may seem like an impossible job, but it's what the Flying L golf course maintenance staff faces every day. We golfers expect the grass to be trimmed at all times. We expect the sand to be neatly raked. We hack up the course and expect it to be repaired the next time we play. It's amazing the staff doesn't shoot us on sight. Instead, they keep the course in shape in good and bad weather, through droughts and floods. We take them for granted far too often, but we owe them a big thank you.

The Good Old Boys tee off at 8:30, so the greenskeepers are out at dawn, mowing the fairways and greens and raking the traps. The carts must be clean, fully charged, and ready to go. When play begins, there are water coolers to fill, trees to trim, and equipment to maintain. After the golfers leave, it's time to start all over again.

Two players took advantage of the staff's handiwork at the last Good Old Boys tournament and topped the field with 8-point rounds. Bandera fire chief Max Konz turned in a fine round of 82 and retired San Antonio computer guru Tom McGuire shot 86 to match Konz's points. Four players earned 3 points. Ron Mercier of Vanderpool carded a 75, David Finger of Boerne shot 89, Jose Uribe of San Antonio shot 93, and H. C. "Doc" Day of Boerne shot 97.

Tournament director Charlie Thomas medaled with a neat 2 over par round of 74. Charlie Prokop of Pipe Creek shot 76, and Boerne's Walter Stroman had a 78.

Dale Felps of Boerne won closest to the hole honors on number 2 as a part of his round of 79. Banderan Chip Aragones hit it close on numbers 7 and 17, and San Antonio's Jack Finger took the honors on number 12. There were 31 players in the field and points were worth $3.