By Bruce Meadows
A lot of good young athletes compete in golf in our community — at the prep level and at the junior golf level.
A number of these young athletes move on to play at the community college or four-year-college level, some receiving scholarships. Some are talented enough to advance to playing professionally.
Dave Cox of ysn365.com keeps tabs on athlete’s in all sports, but we want to start compiling our own list of young golfers who move on to college and beyond and would like to let you know how they are doing and where they are doing it.
So if you know of a local youngster who has played or is currently playing at the college level, or a young golfer who has gone on to play or teach professionally, let us know.
We would like to acknowledge these athletes and, when appropriate, possibly write feature articles on some of them.
If you have a name to pass along, send information to bmeadows4sports@aol.com or bmeadows4golf@aol.com
(Real) old golf photos . . .
Vern Ayers at Northwood GC in Monte Rio recently asked for “old golf photos” and definitely got an old one from Bridget Albert.
It showed a trophy awarded to her great-grandfather P.L. (Philip Lawrence) Bannan for a hole-in-one. . . in 1935. Noted Vern: “I can’t believe they gave out trophies like this in 1935.”
Bridget’s family has a long history in both San Francisco and the Russian River area, adding “golf is a really big part of that history.” In fact, her 8-year-old son golfed at Northwood for the first time last week, making him the fifth-generation Bannan to tee it up at there.
P.L. Bannan was a prominent businessman in San Francisco and the father of 10 children, including Bridget’s grandmother. He started a company called Western Gear, which among other things built the equipment that turns the Space Needle in Seattle.
She calls Northwood “an amazing place where we spend as much time as possible when we’re there and golf is always a big part of every trip.”
Bridget said although five generations of Bannans have golfed at Northwood, as far as she knows, old P.L. is the only one to get an ace.
If you have any old photos, or old stories, let me know.
Senior golfers moving on . . .
A number of senior athletes competing in sports hosted by the Sonoma County Council on Aging in the recent Encore Games placed high enough to qualify for the 2015 Summer National Senior Games in Minneapolis in July.
The Encore Games is a series of sports competitions for athletes age 50 and over and was held in the Bay Area Nov. 7-16. Sports included golf as well as cycling, volleyball, bowling and pickle ball.
Local winners in the golf competition — 18 holes at scratch play — held at Windsor GC, included Ken Rhodes (gold medal) and Steve Spanier (silver) in the 55-59 age group; Dennis Wilkinson and Terry Gardner (tie for gold) and Rick Voorhees (bronze) in the 60-64 group, and Jim Zahradka (gold) and Howard Russell (silver) in the 70-74 age group.
Honors for Chardonnay’s McEntee
Chardonnay’s Shawn McEntee is the NorCal PGA’s Senior (age 50-64) Player of the Year, the award presented Sunday at Silver Creek CC in San Jose.
Pat Jones of the Bayonet and Black Horse courses on the Monterey Peninsula was named NCPGA Golf Pro of the Year.
Happy Holidays . . .
A lot of local golf pros are offering special holiday lesson packages. Call your favorite teaching pro and see what he or she has going on. Have them contact us and we will let our readers know about it.
Dan Stewart, lead golf instructor at Fairgrounds GC, is offering special holiday packages. A 9-hole playing lesson is $90; three-lesson package is $125 and a package with three lessons and a 3-hole playing lesson is $175.
All packages include a free swing video analysis if purchased before Christmas. Call Stewart at 292-3917 for more details, or contact him atdstewart@fairgroundsgolfcourse.com
John Russell at Windsor Golf Club is offering gift certificates for golf lessons costing $50 per lesson.
Purchase them by calling the golf course (838-7888) or John (480-2800) or by visiting the pro shop. No restrictions on how many you can buy.
OK, so it’s raining . . .
With the weather turning wet and cold, it’s a signal to a lot of golfers to put the clubs away for the winter, but there are options.
You can continue to hit balls at covered ranges, work on your putting in various ways and still find pros who will give lessons. You can also stay in shape by working out with golf-related exercises.
It’s also a good time to clean your clubs and store them properly so they are ready to go when the weather improves.
I would like to hear from area pros as to what they think are good things to do this time of year to maintain your game and your equipment. So if pros or anybody has some suggestions, send them to me.
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If you have items to contribute to the notebook, story ideas for future golf features, or questions or comments about golf in our community, email me at bmeadows4sports@aol.com or bmeadows4golf@aol.com