2009-11-26

Norther packing 35 mile per hour winds

Jack Finger

Hitting ‘em high and hitting ‘em low, Mother Nature dealt the Good Old Boys a double whammy last week in their weekly Stableford golf tournament at the Flying L Guest Ranch course in Bandera.

She came in high with a brutal window rattling Norther packing 35 mile per hour winds that roared unobstructed across the hills of the Flying L. On the low side it was temperature hovering down around the 30degree mark, making a teeth chattering wind chill situation that only the most dedicated golfers could deal with. It wasn’t a complete knock out, but it was close to a TKO. Only 28 Hardy (fool hardy?) Good Old Boys left their warm beds that morning to brave the elements. Chances are, most of them – not counting the Boerne boys who had a field day – wished they hadn’t.

Attesting to the severity of the scene was the retired cotton farmer from Lubbock, Ron Darby. He’s a fellow who fought the debilitating winds of wets Texas for most of his cotton-pickin’ life and for him, you’d figure that it should have been no more than a walk in the park. But, no, even that old weather beaten plow-boy was still in his pajamas at tee off time. Said he, “Man, I wasn’t about to try and play golf in that kind of weather.”

So you have to hand it to the 28 shivering should who stuck it out and finished the course. The guy who handled the condition most effectively was Hubert Lange of Leon Valley who had been having his golf troubles of late. The former L.V. city councilman was lodged around the 100 stroke mark but on this day he put the winds to his back and came in with a remarkable score in the mid-90’s. That feat earned him an additional 5 points, tops for the tournament.

An equally remarkable performance was recorded by that old Boerne bricklayer, Richard Leeder, who tamed the winds to the tune of a brilliant 83. Richard was in second place with four points above his handicap and also won the closest to the pin on hole No. 12.

Proving to be a red-letter day for the Boerne contingent, the names of four other luminaries form that city mad their way onto the results sheet. Jim Asher was in third place with three points from a 97; Gray Halgunseth tied for fourth place with two points from a 98; Dale Felps tied Leeder for the medalist honor with an 83 and Fritz Houston won proximity money on hole No. 2. Fred Luddeke of Bandera, an “outsider” was the other shooter in fourth place with two from 99.

Only five players in the field managed to top their respective handicaps. The 16 points tallied were worth $8 each.

NOTE: Starting next week, GOB tournaments will begin at 9:30 AM.