Frozen Opportunities in the Cape Region
December 3, 2010
Shawnee Country Club is playing sold-out host Dec. 3 to a bunch of golf addicts, and that’s a very good thing.
It’s the Milford golf club’s turn to host the newest segment of the Delaware State Golf Association’s increasingly popular Frozen Friday’s series.
Instituted a few years ago by the DSGA, this event gives golfers a chance to play a wide variety of Delaware golf courses, some of which might not otherwise be available to them. For the host clubs, the tournament is an opportunity to show their stuff to potential new members or repeat customers, in the relaxed atmosphere of wintertime golf.
The fee is a remarkably reasonable thirty dollars, entitling the golfers to an 18-hole round, with cart, playing in a specially scored tournament with a 10 a.m. shotgun start.
One of the best features of these Frozen Friday events is that they are open to any golfer, with or without an official USGA handicap. To determine the winners, the DSGA uses the Callaway scoring system. This format calls for subtracting a certain number of your worst holes’ scores from your total gross, using a pre-determined chart.
No scores can be worse than double par on any hole, to help keep things from becoming ridiculous. The winners earn gift certificates from the host course.
I played in one of these events at Bayside last February, on what was the coldest round of golf I’ve ever experienced, and somehow managed to win the tournament.
Thanks in large part to posting 10s on two par five holes, I have a deep appreciation for the potential benefits of the Callaway system.
The DSGA officials post the tournament results at the golf association’s website.
Two Cape Region courses, The Peninsula and Baywood,Greens Golf Club, hosted Frozen Friday tournaments November 19. A few upstate courses take their turns after Shawnee CC, and the series returns to the Cape Region January 14, at Cripple Creek Country Club in Ocean View. Rehoboth Beach Country Club hosts the next tournament January 21.
Kings Creek Country Club is scheduled for its Frozen Friday on February 18, and golfers can return to Baywood Greens GC for the next tournament on February 25. Other tournament locations have yet to be announced for the remainder of the series thereafter, but chances are pretty good for another local contest before the tournaments conclude March 25.
Registration for each Frozen Friday tournament is open until the Wednesday before, but this year’s series is so popular that no one should assume they can wait until the last minute to sign up. To register, just contact the DSGA at 302-234-3365.
Oakley fails to make the cut
Pete Oakley’s several-year run as a fully exempt member of the European Senior Golf Tour has been officially interrupted.
The Rookery’s Director of Golf finished in 56th spot in the recent Senior Qualifying School Tournament, held last month in Portugal, with an eleven-over par finish after three rounds.
To qualify for fully exempt status for 2011, he needed to end up among the top sixteen players in the tournament.Oakley has had a fairly good run on the European Tour, highlighted of course by his 2004 major tournament victory at the British Senior Open.
At this point, he sits in 47th place in career earnings on the Tour, with a total of 525,804 Euros to his credit.
Be careful out there
The recent frosts that greeted Cape Region mornings this past week may cause a delay or two for golfers at local courses, as winter approaches.
Waiting for the thaw is critical to maintaining the turf health, so please resist the temptation to step onto the frozen greens.