Hi Claire. EWGA and Mountain Manor

[Pa Jayhawk]

Hi Claire,
You had asked before about the golf courses up here at Mountain Manor earlier. I had indicated at the time that we hadn't played there in several years because the conditions of the course deteriorated yet at one point before had thought about joining shortly after moving here. My wife played there yesterday for the first part of the EWGA Championship and said that it was again in fantastic shape and she would go back in a heartbeat. So apparently they made some good decisions in closing the one nine and the executive course to concentrate their effort on the other 27. They played the Blue and the Yellow, and she said that both were in real good shape.

She also did manage to win Low Gross in her flight and will play in the Regional Qualifier in August. Am hoping she will do well. She kinda has a little "Home Course Advantage", in that the regional is played at the course that we joined this year for our home course in Shawnee. Not sure if you were playing in it this year, but if you are, Good Luck!!!

Will keep you posted in how she does in August.

[RickinMA]

I grew up playing Mountain Manor each summer - my grandparents were members there for years. I haven't been there in years but I'm not surprised to hear that the course is in good shape this year. I'm pretty sure the Blue and Yellow courses don't have irrigated fairways.

For whatever reason, the yellow course has always been one of my favorites. (I like the par 5 first hole with the creek in front of the green and the short par 3's) The blue course was a decent 9 to warm up on. The Orange course was tough to walk - (I swear that first hole is straight uphill - and with some of the elevation drops there was a par 3 that I'd hit wedge into even though the yardage marked on the card was 7iron range for me). The now closed silver course used to have a par 6 2nd hole which I either birdied or got a 9 on every time I played it. Walking silver/orange nearly killed me, even at 15 years old...

I hope the red course (executive) is still around - my grandfather made sure my grandmother could par the red course before she was "allowed" to play the blue/yellow course. She didn't hit it very far, but she usually beat me

I'm glad to hear it was in better shape again - at some point I'm going to have to get down there for a round. Is weekend traffic still crappy on 209 because of that stupid flea market?

[Pa Jayhawk]

My understanding is that they do not have irrigated fairways as well and probably played a big role in why it was so bad a few years ago. Last I played it the fairways were clover, and the rough was burned out so you were better off in the rough than the fairway. The greens also had serious issues with disease. We had decided we would not go back until we heard otherwise, and because it is on the other side of the flea market, we didn't know many people from our side that would contend with the traffic to play there.

The par 3 you mention on the Orange is I believe #2, and coming off the cardiac hill on one. It has been 3 years since I played there, but if memory serves me there is a house well past the green, and the first time I played it I ended up in their yard. I also had similar experiences with the Par 6 on the Silver, where it seemed like it was "all or nothing"

My wife said that it appeared they closed the Red executive course as well, and it is not listed on their site either. This could have at least been in part that they built a executive course at Shawnee that is open at night under lights? During the day they use it as the short game facility.

The traffic is still terrible, although I have heard rumors that the Flea Market Bizarre could close eventually. They started the bypass that was in the works for 20 years. Took over alot of the properties they needed to do so, cleared out all the trees and started doing the work, only to scrap the project. PA tax dollars at work for you. Now they are doing a "Cheaper, revised portion" Which seems like it will consist of widening parts of 209 by the flea market and building a Park and ride towards the back of the Flea market. They are also trying to get Slots up at Fernwood, but if they manage to do that without a bypass I will hate to see what the people here will do to the state. I think a big part of the reason they scrapped the project was that they tried to toll I-80 to send the money down to Philly, and ended drawing a federal investigation as a result, I believe. PA pretty much abandons this area as they do not have a high impact in the polls.

We actually live just a few miles on the other side of the Flea Market from Mountain Manor, and although we usually get around O.K. on the back roads, we usually do not stray to far from our development or the Golf course at Shawnee on the weekend, which is almost a straight shot, and in doing so we do not see much of the traffic. In all honesty, I am not sure the traffic is so much from the flea market as it is maybe the resorts and comunities from up the road. It just manages to back up there from the retarded double lights. It will actually at times back up about 3 miles up from the flea market. I am actually convinced that they could maybe fix at least part of the issue simply by putting "No turn on Red" signs up at the lights coming from 80 and coming from Mountain Manor and 402, as coming from both sides the merging traffic seems to cause the problem.

[ClairefromClare]

Thanks, Pa. My trip isn't until September, but I'm really looking forward to it.

[Pa Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by ClairefromClare

Thanks, Pa. My trip isn't until September, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Good to hear.

Also thought it was worth mentioning, while I competed for our Club Championship last year, this year at our current course they have much better golfers. So they flight them accordingly and I will likely be in a higher flight. My wife is playing in the EWGA Semi's during that time and actually asked me if I would caddie for her as she knows I am very good at reading greens and will basically offer no advice elsewhere unless she were to ask, as they are allowed a caddie.

Kinda funny, and made me realize what I like in golf, as I thought about it and realized I would rather caddie for that event than play in my own and told her so.

Always next year for myself, as I am having a semi off year and hope by next year to compete for the A flight for the Club Championship but am not at that level nos, as it will be my goal.

I just love the concept of being able to caddie for someone, let alone my wife for an important event for her, and I recommended we do a few practice rounds prior just so she knows when to tell me to step off.

[ClairefromClare]

Originally Posted by Pa Jayhawk

Good to hear.

Also thought it was worth mentioning, while I competed for our Club Championship last year, this year at our current course they have much better golfers. So they flight them accordingly and I will likely be in a higher flight. My wife is playing in the EWGA Semi's during that time and actually asked me if I would caddie for her as she knows I am very good at reading greens and will basically offer no advice elsewhere unless she were to ask, as they are allowed a caddie.

Kinda funny, and made me realize what I like in golf, as I thought about it and realized I would rather caddie for that event than play in my own and told her so.

Always next year for myself, as I am having a semi off year and hope by next year to compete for the A flight for the Club Championship but am not at that level nos, as it will be my goal.

I just love the concept of being able to caddie for someone, let alone my wife for an important event for her, and I recommended we do a few practice rounds prior just so she knows when to tell me to step off.

Very cool--I saw that that's coming up at Shawee. Can Big Break be next?

[Pa Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by ClairefromClare

Very cool--I saw that that's coming up at Shawee. Can Big Break be next?

That would be interesting.

Shawnee is actually working on extending a couple of the holes to attract a PGA event in the future. Because they have 27 holes to work with and 9 par 5's , they have a lot of options to lengthen the rest of the course without much work. Back in the day when Sam Snead was the resident pro up until they went to monster courses, they did get events, including a PGA Championship.

[Pa Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by Pa Jayhawk

She also did manage to win Low Gross in her flight and will play in the Regional Qualifier in August.

Originally Posted by ClairefromClare

Can Big Break be next?

Originally Posted by Pa Jayhawk

That would be interesting.

BTW, I may have given a wrong impression. While she won low gross in her flight, it was not the top flight. Probably just shows what a different calibur golfer that is and actually had thought the Big Break comment was cute. Thinking about it later, I realized that would likely be a very real option in the top flight. I had the opportunity to play in a tournament with one of the ladies that competed for the one up here in an ABCD Tournament, where she was the A, me the B, and my wife the C, and she is on a whole different level than us at this time. I believe she did used to play for the Futures Tour. After thinking about that, I didn't want to give the wrong impression or take away from their accomplishments.

I think that was part of the reason my wife wanted to compete in the EWGA championship. She loves to play on a competitive level and while she had won the prior two championships at our old club and even the last at our club prior, I think she realized that currently it may be a tall order to compete against the couple ladies that compete at that level at our current club. Where as she said after seeing this lady hit mid to short iron's into almost all par 5 greens "That is why we keep our day job". While she loves to compete, that top level is just another level right now, as while even I competed for ours last year making it to the final four, there are probably 4 at our new club that play to about a 3 or less, and I seriously doubt I would even be in the top flight, or even the second one right now. Also not to take away from hers, as she is still likely in the top 3-4 at our club, and am hoping she can move on after her EWGA match in August.

[ClairefromClare]

One of the neat thing about the EWGA championships is that it IS flighted,so you can compete without having to play head-to-head with former tour players.

[super-golf]

i like golf

[ClairefromClare]

Not in my thread you don't!

[ClairefromClare]

Pa--

Just got back from the trip. Played Fernwood twice (Glenbrook was closed yesterday) and Mount Manor today. Good time. I really liked Fernwood, even though it was quirky. Two or three very straightforward hills then, wham! huge blind tee shots into elevation changes. My swing was on, and it was fun.

Mount Manor was neat too (blue and yellow), but one I got off the tee box, I couldn't do anything right until I picked up a wedge. Grrr. Next time.