July, 2020. Mariana Butte Golf Course. Loveland, CO

July 24, 2020.

What a view!  We're solving the mysteries of the universe, no doubt

Mr. Hanson contemplating taking up a different game.  Golf isn't really happening for the guy.

Mick Rennich writes from Louisville, CO:

Despite the continued threat of COVID-19, July 24, 2020 was a very pleasant summer day at Mariana Butte Golf Course in Loveland, Colorado. The fearsome Colorado foursome of Tom DeVine, Mark Hanson, Mick Rennich and Harley Rinerson, decked out in purple and gold Watertown Arrow “71” shirts gifted by Mr. DeVine a year ago, met once again to test their mettle, wits and golf games. The day did not disappoint. Great fun. Great laughs. Mediocre golf. The quality of the golf played is evidenced by the following: in the combined 72 holes played by the four, they recorded only 12 pars and 3 birdies.  The golf tournament may, before long, give way to shuffleboard or gin rummy competition.  Time hurries on.

There was some good play, make no mistake about it. Rennich started things off with a bang, getting a birdie on the first hole and a par on the second. His lead quickly disappeared with a double bogey on No. 3 and a triple bogey on No. 4. Harley, playing his first round of the year, shot a 43 on the front side and took early command of the match. He mentioned to Mick on No. 15 that he had not yet lost a ball. He proceeded to lose three on the last three holes.

DeVine played steady golf, but three sevens on the front nine hurt him dearly. He did come back with a nice 46 on the back side. Hanson, in a manner reminiscent of Harley’s “sixes are wild” game a few years back, recorded eight 6s on the front side and staggered to a 53 through nine.

In the end, all of us broke 100, with scores ranging from a 90 (Rennich) to a 99 (Hanson).

Deciding on awards at the end of the outing, as always, proved to be a challenge to the group. The final tally was as follows:

Miss Congeniality - Mick Rennich … he took it upon himself to book the outing, paid the early tee time reservation fee for all, presented a sleeve of Callaways to each of the other three, and brought cold waters and Gatorades for the crew.  

Most Valuable Golfer - Harley Rinerson … this was a close vote as Rennich received consideration, but Harley walked away with the honor based on his solid performance in his first golf outing of the year, his second place finish, the third most chits, the second most pars and the second most birdies.

Purple Putter - Harley Rinerson … Harley walked away with the prize which is awarded for the longest putt. His seventeen footer, on No. 8 for a birdie, was a beautiful thing to witness and was by far the best putt of the day.

Rino Cup - Tom DeVine … the Cup is awarded to the golfer with the best short game. Based on a solid performance which included chips close to the hole and clutch putts that found the bottom of the cup, Tom was the unanimous short game winner.

Shot of the Day - Mick Rennich … Harley, for a moment, owned the shot of the day with a lovely tee ball on the 158 yard par 3 No. 8 to within 17 feet. As mentioned above, he did ultimately sink the putt. Rennich followed Harley’s shot with a 7-iron to within 5 feet and he then also made the putt for his second birdie of the day. The shot earned him the SOD prize.

There was no Miss Mariana Butte this year as COVID -19 protocols limiting contact between servers and patrons. Discussions as to another outing in the fall have already begun.

The starter took a selfie while setting up the first tee photo, below.

TD and The Mickster.

Presentation of the Rino Cup--best short game of the day to Tom "Crenshaw" Devine.

Flatirons Golf Course, Friday, October 17, 2019.  WHS Class of 1971.

October, 2019.   Boulder, CO

The WHS Crew from the Class of 1971 managed to find a date, late in the season, when all were available, and Flatirons Golf Course in Boulder, CO was beautiful and uncrowded.  We set off at 10:00 am, all dressed in purple and gold.

Mick is in charge of the games for the round.    Rubiks cube is easier to understand with chits and skins  and scores and carry-forwards and teams changing every 6 holes.  It’s a good thing that Mick got a perfect ACT score in Math back in high school.  Using an arcane algorithm that would make Fibonacci blush, Mick manages to win every match.  Time was  when Mick couldn’t play with the group, and he still clipped us each for ten bucks.  I think he should go to work for the OMB in Washington.  

Devine got himself a new driver, courtesy of WHS ’70 pal Jim Dugan— replacing the Studebaker that we’d all grown fond of.  But times change, persimmon loses its tensil, the square lines of the old Studebaker created wind vortices on the tee box which interfered with nearby air traffic, so it went the way of Disco and the Edsel and Benito Mussolini.  Watch for it coming soon to Ebay or Second Swing.

Harley’s “set” of club comes from garage sales in Castle Pines for, oh, twenty or so years.    Estimates range from $10 to $50 for the set, not counting the wedge he broke over his knee at Marianna Butte a few years ago.  But he must know how to pick used clubs, because this was his third time out for the year and he wound up with the Shot of the Day and the Rino Cup for short-game mastery.  I think we should carbon date his seven iron.  And copy his swing.

Hanson’s driver was the top of the line from a company that, for some reason, decided never to make golf clubs ever again.  Now they make shirts and shoes and do asphalt repair.    There’s a big cavity on the plate of the club, which design, long ago was considered avant garde, but which is now considered foolhardy.  Maybe Dugan has another driver in his garage?    Nevertheless, owing to body mass and not much else, Hanson consistently drives over one hundred yards.  One.  Hundred. Yards.  Hanson used to play another discredited club line—the Browning 440.  Yes, a firearms company used to make golf clubs.  If Snapchat ever goes into sporting goods, Hanson will be first in line.

Mickster had a stroke a while back. Not a golf stroke, a stroke stroke.  it was scary and sad and lots of bad things.  But Mick thinks it was worth it, because he started eating right and exercising and, voila,  he can drive the ball 300 yards, even more with a fifty mile per hour tailwind at 5280 feet, to a rock hard fairway.  Rennich never had to worry much about over-thinking, at least according to his WHS teachers and law school professors.  It is even less likely now, post-stroke.   So he doesn’t think.  He’s Conan-like.  A beast off the tee.  After that?  Well, not so much.

Rennich won MVG for being the medalist (and modesty prevents me from disclosing the scores), and hitting those monster stroke-assisted drives, over and over.  

Harley with his trophies.

Hanson won the purple putter with a 22 foot birdie putt somewhere along the way, back nine, I think.  It may have been somebody else and it may have been only 4 feet.  Can't recall exactly.  Welcome to my world.

Harley had Shot of the Day and Rino cup.   He chipped in from 11 yards off the green for a birdie for SOD and his masterful short game won him the cup which bears his name.  I think he always wins the Rino cup.  Mick will double-check.

Devine walked away with the most coveted award, Miss Congeniality.  He bought purple shirts for the crew last year, and while there was brief discussion over whether Miss C should only contemplate Game Day congeniality, Devine’e gesture was just so huge, that to DQ him on a technicality would results in “manifest injustice” which has always been the hallmark of Miss C consideration.  Besides, we want to encourage people to buy shirts for us, right Mick?

Miss Congeniality, 2019.

Deliberations.  There is some very high order thinking going on here, thought it's tough to tell by looking.  We look like circus clowns--purple shirts and red faces.  Harley took the shots.

Coal Creek,  August, 2018.

Coal Creek, August, 2018.

(Mick Rennich wrote the copy and Mark Hanson took the photos for the latest golf outing.   –Ed.) 

            It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. The four of us – Tom “Deac” Devine, Mark “Betsy” Hanson, Mick “the Mickster” Rennich, and Harley “Rino” Rinerson – got together for a second round of golf this year.  Getting together with old friends (we have known each other for sixty years) was a wise decision … we had the best of times; however, playing golf was a foolish decision as the play was unspectacular.  We would have had more fun playing pinochle for five hours.

            We ventured out early – an 8:34 tee time at Louisville’s Coal Creek Golf Course.  The weather was pleasant, in the low 90s by the time we finished; and we were all glad when we finally finished!  Coal Creek is Mick’s home course, but you could not tell by the quality of his play.

            The hardware was evenly divided this time around. Harley, by virtue of the lowest score and the most chits, was easily the best golfer and walked away with the Most Valuable Golfer trophy.  To give readers an idea of the quality of play, take note that Harley shot a 96. There was only one birdie recorded- that by Mr. Hanson on the second hole. Combined, the group accounted for only 9 pars.  

            Tom, by unanimous vote, was awarded the Rino Cup which is given for the best short game.  Deac was superb from green side bunkers and was accused of intentionally hitting into them.  His chipping was the envy of his peers.

            Shot Of The Day was briefly contested, but not for long. Nominations included Mark’s approach shot on the second hole, after which he made the above-referenced birdie; Mick’s approach shot on the eighth hole, after which he missed his fifteen footer; and, Deac’s shot from the bunker to within ten feet on the fourteenth hole.  Other than that, there was not much to pick from; as Harley said, it was difficult to remember many good shots.  Mark was ultimately rewarded with the SOD trophy.

            Mick walked away from the course with two awards.  He won the Purple Putter for the longest putt. His twenty-four footer on the fourteenth hole edged out Mark’s twenty-two foot birdie putt on number two. He also was unanimously awarded Miss Congeniality, albeit after a minor protest from Mr. Hanson.  Mick picked up the cost of carts for the group, bought range balls for all and gifted Deac and Rino with a sleeve of expensive Callaway balls and Mark with five colored golf balls (his favorite kind).  Mick was also on his best behavior, despite playing very bad golf.  Mark’s minor protest centered around Mick paying only for carts, liking it to having a party with a cash bar.  Mark did make a belated run at Miss C when he bought lunch, but the voting was over and the polls had closed by the time he announced his intentions.

            Miss Coal Creek, Holly, a CU student and cross-country runner, supervised the group during lunch and presented Mick with the Miss C trophy.  She also took pictures of the group, using Mark’s very complicated and heavy professional camera.

            In the end – and thankfully it did come to an end – it was the best of times seeing one another.  We have come a long way from Mellette kindergarten and grade school!

                        

The Presentation Ceremony:

May, 2018. Murphy Creek.

Saturday, May 12, 2018
Murphy Creek Golf Course
Aurora, Colorado

The usual gang showed up bright and early Saturday morning, with cloudy skies and the threat of rain.  Mick monitored the weather forecast all week, promised blue skies, and sure enough, just as the group teed off, the sun broke through.  Surely a sign.

Note to file:  Murphy Creek Golf Course is not for the timid, the weak of will, or, it turned out, over the hill sixty-somethings.  This course is a beast.   Harley picked it; he knew of it from his time working at nearby DIA.  There are four par threes on the course--from the tips, the shortest is 205, the longest is 248.  Looked more like 350.  Ouch.

Hanson attended as scribe and photographer--he had suffered a sprained knee in a fall the week before.  (He's working on a story of how it happened, because the truth is pitiful, and ironically, lame.)  And Rennich is more or less fully recovered from a "neurological event" of one kind or another suffered over the winter.  Devine is coming off a knee sprain and other health adventures over the winter.  Only Harley is still fully intact, but he has lots of secrets, including, I'll bet, details of his health.

The golf was pretty sketchy.  To get the idea, the Most Valuable Golfer went to Hanson, who didn't even bring his clubs.  Sometimes you just gotta show up to win.  The scores were a mile high.

Miss Congeniality went to Hanson as well, for coming the longest distance, getting up early, "playing hurt," and who knows what all else.  I think the Competition Committee should meet this coming year to discuss whether to reduce the tournament to six holes, or to change the game to cribbage, instead of golf.

Harley made a 42 foot putt early in round-- he also parred three of the first five holes and we thought it was dejavu all over again, but he returned to earth with a thud later in the round.  On the back nine, Rennich made a 72 foot birdie putt, which earned him Shot of the Day, the Purple Putter and the Rino Cup for his short game.  Other than that, the four of us could likely sit and drink beer, think and think and think and not remember much about the round.  Which may be accounted for by other factors than mediocre golf, right?   These days, we don't remember much, except the lyrics to the theme song from "Green Acres" and of course, "Purple and Gold."

But it was another merry time, and more memories were made, but to what end, since nobody can remember anything anymore?  Here are some photos: