Virtual 19th Hole

From left to right: “Mystery Man” Mike Lutz, John Miller, Bob Peterson, Mike Kavanaugh, John Flynn, Bill Angel and Dave Draxler

Each year BMC members find many ways to spend Minnesota’s interminable off-season. Among others: heading to the Dome, traveling south, and, of course, moaning and complaining.

But few of us commit to an off-season golf tradition as adamantine as the Wild West Shootout, contested each March in San Diego.  These golfers have been taking this trip for over 25 years.

 Their goal: to win the coveted Wild West Shootout Trophy.  And while casual observers may assume that the rather ungainly appearance of the cup itself (check out the photo below) suggests a less-than-serious competition, they’d be well off the mark.  Because the outward appearance of the trophy belies the elevated status of each year’s winner– at least in the eyes of his fellow competitors.

Just ask this year’s champion, Bob Peterson. Known affectionately by some as “Doc,” Mr. Peterson, captain of the BMC’s 4-Man Traveling Team, bested such BMC stalwarts as Mike Kavanaugh, another key member of the 4-Man Team and a member of our 8-Man Traveling Team; Bill Angel, a past WWS champion, a BMC Age Shooter, and the only BMC member ever to shoot a hole-in-one right before an immediately succeeding ace made by John Miller; Mr. Miller himself; John Flynn; and Dave Draxler. Typically a regular, Tim Smith, a past WWS champion, a two-time BMC Senior Champion, and our reigning Ed Shootout Champion, was unavailable for this year’s Wild West Shootout.

By the way, observe in the photo below the high-quality surgical tape used to inscribe the identity of each year’s champion on the trophy — a less than auspicious nod to future generations, but a revered tradition nevertheless.  Also note Mr. Peterson’s determined facial expression. Could he be attempting to warn off any competitors who might be tempted to repeat last year’s mysterious (although temporary) disappearance of the coveted cup?

Finally, no matter how assiduously you study the BMC Member Roster on our website, you won’t find an entry for Mike Lutz, at the far left in the photo above— raising the perplexing question, who is this mystery man?  Perhaps the swing coach for John Miller, sitting immediately to his left? A prospective BMC member? Or, more concernedly, a clandestine spy for another club? A tantalizing mystery….

Bob Peterson, The 2025 Wild West Shootout Champion

Dick Helde
Editor, The Virtual 19^th Hole
helde.richard@gmail.com
612-306-3590

Can you feel it? That growing sense of anticipation? With Tuesday League’s finals coming up and the rest of the BMC golf season over, it’s that time again.  Time for The Virtual 19th Hole to announce its selection of the 2024 BMC Champion Golfer of the Year. Yes, for the third consecutive year, this tradition continues.

If you’re new to the BMC, or new to The Virtual 19^th Hole, bear in mind that this award, while inspired by the famous tradition originated at the Open Championship in Britain, takes its own approach. And that’s not only because golfing skills at the highest professional level are not required.  It’s also because only one path can lead to becoming Champion Golfer of the Year– winning the Open Championship. In contrast, becoming the BMC Champion Golfer of the Year requires multiple elements: having at least one notable golfing achievement, such as winning a BMC championship; having played consistently solid golf throughout the season; and having participated actively in BMC-sponsored leagues and competitions.

Each year many BMC members accomplish their own unique combinations of those benchmarks and so, once again, we have several nominees this year and some honorable mentions as well.  Here they are:

Honorable Mentions

Greg Baron is a 33-year BMC member who, based on his participation in BMC leagues and events, qualified yet again for the Ed White Shootout. He also came in first in Best Weekly’s D Flight and first in this year’s Individual Match Play League. Greg, with a current USGA handicap of 16.9, also serves as coordinator for our Metro Seniors Team and the BMC’s Individual Match Play League.

Steve Tanner is a 29-year member who came in first this year in Ed White Shootout points.  Steve, with a current USGA handicap of 16.1, came in second this year in Individual Match Play and came in third in Best Weekly’s D Flight. Steve is also coordinator for the Ed White Shootout.

2024 Nominees

Nick Neudigate:  Nick, a fourth-year BMC member, is the BMC’s 2024 Club Champion.  Over the two days of the Club Championship, playing from Braemar’s championship tees, Nick shot an even par total of 144, beating second-place finisher Drew Gumlia in a sudden-death playoff. Nick, with a current USGA handicap of 1.9, plays on our accomplished 16-Man Traveling Team and is a member of Wednesday League.

Rick Passolt:  Rick is a first-year BMC member who has made his presence felt quickly.  Among other highlights, he came in second in the Senior Club Championship, shooting a two-day total of 143, one-under. With a current USGA handicap of 1.4, Rick plays in Saturday Stroke Play and is a regular on our talented 8-Man Senior Team.  Rick also qualified this year for the MPGA’s Senior Amateur Championship and made the cut, finishing tied for forty-first place.

Mark Paetznick:  Mark is another first-year BMC member who made an immediate splash this year.  Among other highlights, Mark tied for third in the Senior Club Championship, shooting a one-over total of 145.  Carrying a current USGA handicap of 3.9, Mark plays in Best Weekly and is a member of our 8-Man Senior Team.  In an 8-Man match this summer Mark helped Braemar take down Baker National by shooting a 68 at Braemar.  Like Rick Passolt and only four other BMC members, Mark qualified this year for the MPGA’s Senior Am.

Drew Gumlia:  Drew is a second-year BMC member who shot even par in the Club Championship and took eventual champion Nick Neudigate into a sudden-death playoff, winding up in second place. Drew plays on our 16-Man Team and is a member of the Individual Match Play League, Four Ball League and Best Weekly. He sports a current USGA handicap of plus 0.9.

Mike Kavanaugh:  Mike is a 27-year BMC member. He plays in Wednesday League, Saturday Stroke Play and Best Weekly. Mike competes regularly on our 8-Man Senior Team and led the way all season on our 4-Man Over-70 Super Senior Squad.  Mike also came in third this year in Best Weekly’s A Flight.  With his 2.7 USGA handicap, Mike is living proof that experience and patience can vanquish youth and vigor.

Tim Smith:  This yearTim became a repeat Ed White Shootout Champion, narrowly beating long-time member Dennis Russell by draining a challenging 6-footer on the final hole. A 12-year BMC member, Tim is also a two-time Senior Champion.  With a current USGA handicap of 4.2, he plays on our 8-Man Senior Team and in Wednesday League.  For many years Tim served on the BMC board, including a stint as Secretary, and has served for years as the League Coordinator for Best Weekly.

            Jeff Roseland:  Jeff is our 2024 Senior Club Champion, having mowed down a slew of skilled opponents with a blistering 7-under total of 137 in the Senior Club Championship (second place finisher Rick Passolt, with a one-under score of 143, might well have had the winning score any other year, but unbelievably wound up six strokes back).  A second-year BMC member, Jeff, like Drew Gumlia, holds a sporting plus USGA handicap, in Jeff’s case a +0.5.  He plays regularly on our outstanding 8-Man Team and is a member of our Metro Seniors and 16-Man Teams as well. He came in second in Best Weekly’s A Flight behind first place winner Steve Bloomquist.  Like Rick Passolt, Jeff qualified for the MPGA’s Senior Am and wound up having the best finish of the six BMC members who qualified, making the cut and tying for 38^th.  Finally, Jeff, who normally plays the E tees, has the distinction of holding Braemar’s course record from the I Tees, a 5-under 67.

BMC Champion Golfer of the Year

Taking into account all of the foregoing, The Virtual 19^th Hole is pleased to announce its selection of the 2024 BMC Golfer of the Year: Jeff Roseland.  Jeff’s 7-under score in the Senior Club Championship, together with his consistently solid play all year, including his success in high caliber non-BMC competitions, and combined with his active participation in BMC golf activities, make him a worthy champion.

Congrats, Jeff— well deserved! And congrats to all the 2024 nominees and honorable mentions for the impressive seasons they had!

Dick Helde
Editor, The Virtual 19^th Hole
helde.richard@gmail.com
612-306-3590

As last reported by The Virtual 19^th Hole, BMC members had been lighting it up in September.  And now two more examples have come to light, courtesy of third-year member Doug Pernula and second-year member Brian Walker.

Doug’s back-to-back eagles

On September 5, during regular Thursday League play, Doug Pernula, who holds a current USGA handicap of 6.2, arrived at the eighth tee, his seventeenth hole of the day after starting on the back nine. He had a solid round going at six over but had no clue he was about to complete his round in record fashion.

Playing his usual D tees, Doug hit a good drive down the fairway, leaving only a 5-iron to the green. But, by his standards, Doug’s approach shot left a little to be desired. It sailed right and settled in the thick rough on the far side of the cart path. Short-sided from 30 yards, with the pin on the right, he was still in good shape but would need an excellent up-and-down to make birdie.  Somehow the ball came out of that lie perfectly and rolled right into the cup.  Suddenly, with just one hole to play, Doug was only 4 over—but who would have imagined that a 74 was in the cards?

On nine, after another blistered drive in the fairway (what fairway bunker?), Doug was left with only 80 yards to the hole. Selecting his lob wedge, he expected to get close.  But when the ball landed just right of the flagstick and spun left, it got a little closer than Doug anticipated— right into the bottom of the cup. Back-to-back eagles!

If any other BMC member has equaled that feat, it has yet to come to the attention of The Virtual 19^th Hole. Congrats, Doug, on a truly remarkable two-hole feat and a great round!

And another eagle on 8 from Brian

As if we needed any more evidence that number 8 is the BMC’s favorite eagle hole, Brian Walker proved it yet again on September 26— the last day of regular Thursday League play.  And what a way to end the regular season.  From the D tees, Bryan, whose current USGA handicap is 14.3, hit a good drive, with the ball coming to rest in the fairway 220 yards from the green.  From there his well-struck 3-wood rolled right onto the putting surface and settled 15 feet from the cup.  He rolled in the putt and went on to shoot an 83, a net score of one-under.  Congrats, Brian, on a well-played hole and a solid round!

Finishing the season in style

The BMC’s September highlights have capped off an outstanding year of golf—but with the weather looking to hold, is there any reason not to expect a few more exploits?

Dick Helde
Editor, The Virtual 19^th Hole
helde.richard@gmail.com
612-306-3590

If you follow BMC highlights, you’ll know that no hole at Braemar is as favored among BMC members for holes-in-one as the seventh, Lucky Number 7.

But that by no means suggests that Lucky Number 7 can’t sometimes be a heartbreaker.  Take the case of long-time BMC member Tim Smith playing the seventh in the 2023 Ed White Shootout.

Recall that, in the Ed White format, only four of the BMC’s most active members remain in the hunt by the time they reach the seventh tee.  And in 2023 it was no surprise that Tim Smith (with a current USGA handicap of 4.1) was one of the golfers left standing.  But Lucky Number 7 presented a formidable challenge in that unique format, notwithstanding the hole’s popularity among BMC ace shooters, guys like Chris Reeves, Kevin Lawless, Doug Pernula and Rick Windham.

The problem was that Tim, playing from the Championship tees, faced a 170-yeard shot to the two-level green, while more than one of his playing competitors were getting a stroke from just over 100 yards. And in 2023, sure enough, gross score pars–net birdies—combined with a natural birdie forced Tim to make a natural birdie too in order to remain in the competition.  When his putt rimmed out, Tim was out too.

Heartbreak may be too strong a term for the reaction of an established competitor like Tim, but let’s just say he was fully justified in feeling a bit disappointed.

So, could thoughts of the prior year have been in his head on September 22 when Tim strode back to the seventh hole’s Championship tees in the 2024 Ed White Shootout?  Maybe an extra dose of determination? Once again Tim faced playing opponents teeing up at the shorter tees and once again getting a stroke.

And, once again, facing a shot of nearly 170 yards, Tim played first.  Of course, the sun, beginning to set at that time of day, was shining directly into his eyes as Tim lined up his shot. But that didn’t prevent him from seeing his ball land right next to the cup, leaving him with an 8-footer for birdie.  And while that putt also failed to drop, Tim’s par was good enough to send him to the eighth tee, and eventually to claim the 2024 Ed White Championship.

Sweet revenge?  Maybe the arc of justice’s legitimate trajectory? Hard to say, but in any event congrats are due to Tim for displaying some exemplary championship form in becoming the 2024 Ed White Champion.

Dick Helde
Editor, The Virtual 19^th Hole
helde.richard@gmail.com
612-306-3590

Senior 8 Man Team

This season, for the second year in a row, our Senior 8 Man Team made the finals. And capping off a heady summer, the season-long competition all came down to a sudden-death playoff in September.  You know, some say it’s not the destination but the journey.  But in this case, the journey and the destination were equally thrilling– a summer-long romp of commanding victories leading to that concluding trip to the finals.

So, before recounting the season’s dramatic finish, here’s a brief recap of how the team got there.

Recall that the 8 Man Team plays each opponent twice, in home and away matches.  And, as reported earlier here, the 8 Man Team split their first two matches in May against Theodore Wirth. But the 1-1 start belied the one-sided 17-6 aggregate home and away score.

And then the real fun began.

In June the team took on Baker National, winning both their initial match at home and the rematch away. The aggregate total score for the series was a decisive 14–10.  The regular season then concluded in July against Dwan. And in their most decisive wins to date, the 8 Man Team won both matches handily, with a final combined score of 21.5 to 2.5!

So, the regular season ended with a record of 5-1, and that record sent the 8 Man Team into the playoffs.

The initial playoff matches were against the Les Bolstad University team and once again Braemar’s 8 Man Team dominated. The first match, an away game, was a 10.5 – 1.5 walk in the park. And in the August 20 rematch, the team kept the pedal to the metal with an 11.5 – .5 shellacking at home.

So, with a record of 7-1, the 8 Man Team headed into the finals. Facing a formidable Pebble Creek team, the home and away format was replaced by a winner take-all match at a neutral site. Held at Oak Marsh on September 3, the finals featured close fought matches up and down the line-up.  And when the dust settled, the score was 6 – 6, all square. The championship could only be settled by a sudden-death playoff.

It fell to team captain Mike Longman to choose two players to send into the playoff match and Jeff Roseland and Tim Smith got the nod.  Shot after shot both teams went after it, and after four holes they were still all square.  Finally, on the strength of a birdie on the fifth hole, Pebble Creek took the championship.

Although the Pebble Creek loss was a disappointment, the 2024 season was a great success, not only with all the wins but also with so many impressively decisive outcomes.  This team is loaded with talent, so look for more excitement to come next year.

16 Man Team

Our 16 Man Team, led by captain Bryan Francis, also had an excellent season, making the playoffs for the first time since they moved to the “A” division.  As last reported by The Virtual 19^th Hole, the 16 Man Team, like the 8 Man Team, had gotten off to a solid start this year. In a format like the 8 Man Team’s, with home and away matches against each opponent, Braemar’s first opponent was Keller.  And after a loss on the road, Braemar won at home on the strength of a sudden death playoff birdie by Michael Kraft, giving Braemar a series victory on points.  Next up was Hiawatha, with matches on July 14 and July 28.  The initial contest ended in a narrow victory on the road, 12.5-11.5. The follow-up home game provided a more conclusive win, 15.5-8.5.  And that victory catapulted the team into the playoffs.

The initial playoff contest, against Northfork, was played on September 8 at a neutral site.  That match spelled the end of the season for Braemar in a tough 17.5-6.5 loss.  But the final tally failed to reflect the quality of the competition, since many of the matches were close.  Even with that loss, however, it was a very successful season, one where, in several of their matches, each of Braemar’s team members had a USGA handicap less than 3.  Many reasons to embrace lofty aspirations for next year.

4 Man Over-70 Team

The inaugural season for Braemar’s 4 Man Team was also a big success.  Led by captain Bob Peterson, the super-seniors finished the year with a record of 4-1-1, amounting to a second-place tie with the University team.  Unfortunately, the tie breaker, based on head-to-head play during the regular season, was won by University. Still, a very solid first season.

While important contributions were made by several players during the season, Mike Kavanaugh, with a current USGA handicap of 2.7, led the way throughout.

Metro Seniors

Led by captain Greg Baron, Braemar’s Metro Seniors completed their season with a record of 4-7 and a tenth-place finish.  While the year was a bit of a disappointment, the team got significant contributions from a number of players, including Jeff Roseland, David Matlock, Joe O’Neill, Chris Reeves, Scott Eckes, Randy Krivo, John Miller and Larry Fyten, among others.  Too much talent there not to have a successful season next year.

Dick Helde
Editor, The Virtual 19^th Hole
helde.richard@gmail.com
612-306-3590

With all those earlier rainouts and blustery fronts in the rear-view mirror, the golf gods awarded Tuesday League with a beautiful afternoon for golf on August 13.  But as beautiful as it was for the rest of the field, it was a lot more than that for long-time BMC member Brian Klass.

And that’s with all credit due to opponent Drew Cripps, a 16-handicapper who, as a substitute on Team 3, shot a personal best 37 on the front nine that afternoon. But Drew’s effort was relegated to no more than a commendable footnote by Brian’s sizzling 31, a 5-under masterpiece— made even more impressive by how Brian capped off his round.  After all, the nip-and-tuck match between Teams 3 and 15 was all square after 8 holes. Then Brian drained an eight-footer for birdie on the last hole and gave Team 15 a 4-2 victory over an understandably stunned Team 3.

A bogey-free gem, Brian’s round, played from the E tees, included birdies on 2 and 4 in addition to the game-winner on 9 and featured a chip-in eagle on 8.  And while neither Braemar nor BMC’s Tuesday League maintains nine-hole course records, BMC members in the know can’t recall a better front nine than that one.  It’s true that several Wednesday League players (who also play the E tees) have matched that score over the years, but Tuesday League Coordinators Scott Nelson and Phil Jirsa believe Brian’s round may well be a Tuesday League record.  Following the round Brian’s USGA handicap took an impressive dip to 4.7.

Word has it that a raucous celebration ensued on the 19^th hole (or do we need to say the 10th hole?), featuring some standing ovations honoring Brian’s round.  And although it came close, the tumult was not quite forceful enough to blow the windows out.  Without question the merriment was enhanced by an appropriately copious quantity of celebratory beverages, but there’s been no word on whether the guest of honor was stuck with his own drinks bill or his fellow revelers picked up the tab.

Congrats on a great round, Brian!

Dick Helde
Editor, The Virtual 19^th Hole
helde.richard@gmail.com
612-306-3590

Over the past several years The Virtual 19^th Hole has made it a point to track– and congratulate– the BMC members who shoot their age.  After all, it’s a rare thing in athletics to be able to do something as you get older that you couldn’t do before. Numerous members have achieved that milestone– and so have been inducted into the Age Shooters of the BMC.

Nevertheless, it’s a persistent challenge to identify those among us who have done it. So, even recognizing that this update may be incomplete, here are three BMC age shooters as of this point in the season:

Rollie Schlichting.  On July 11, playing from the I tees, Rollie did it yet again– shooting 77, just after turning 77 in June. Recall that last year Rollie shot his age twice, posting a pair of 76s during the season, and so joins a select group of BMC members who have been able to shoot their age multiple times.  Oddsmakers are already predicting a 78 next year– to make it three years in a row.

Congrats, Rollie!

Larry Fyten and Bob Devereaux.  Perennial age shooters, Larry and Bob have each done it so many times year after year that tracking each instance hardly seems worth it. How do they do it? A rare thing, aging like fine wine.

Congrats, Larry and Bob!

Dick Helde
Editor, The Virtual 19^th Hole
helde.richard@gmail.com
612-306-3590