Kingston and Cataraqui

From Lakefield I headed to Kingston and the Rideau Acres Campground, which not surprisingly is located right on the Rideau River, north of the 401, at the west end of Kingston. It was about a 20 minute drive to Cataraqui Golf Club, where I was to play in their Field Day and then the Eastern Provinces Match Play.  The campground is quite large but is divided into sections that make it feel smaller.  My site was a pull through that was very close to the clubhouse, where the WiFi hotspot was.  If I return to the park I might opt for a site with a view of the river, even though it might have to be a back in site (by next year I should be an expert at backing up).  I found this to be the easiest site to get set up in so far.  Being pull through and very level in all directions, with the post for services in the middle of the left side, and my first site with a sewer drain right there.  I was a really "happy camper" after I was set up, though a couple of days later, someone mentioned that it looked like my road side slide out room was pretty snugly up against the post.  I checked and though it was slightly touching an attachment to the post it wasn't likely to cause any damage and it wasn't worth relocating the trailer further from the post at that point.  Some people are too nosy.  Oh, that was the same guy that sent his wife over to ask me if the "appliance" I had put out on my picnic table was for television reception, because although they had a satellite dish, they weren't picking up anything.  It was my George Foreman grill and I was warming it up to cook hamburgers on!

I had arrived on Tuesday afternoon and was told that there would be a Euchre game held in the clubhouse that evening.  It had been a while since I had played Euchre but I was eager to meet some people so I went.  I didn't win anything at Euchre but I did find a fellow to go play golf with the following morning.  We played Greene Acres, a 9 hole course we played twice.  It is owned by the Greene's, hence the spelling.  Their daughter, Danielle Greene, is a teaching pro at The Toronto Golf Club.  I may have competed against her when we were both younger.  

The official practice round day for the Cataraqui tournament was Friday, but I called and asked if I could play Thursday afternoon, instead.  They said yes, so I went.  This gave me Friday to rest up because there was a chance I would be playing a lot of golf on the weekend.  

I played well on Saturday in the Field Day, I believe I had more birdies in the round than I ever have had in competition, 5.  I shot 76 placing 4th overall.  Par for the course is 74.

I won Low Net of the field, which was $120 for the pro shop, which I put towards a new battery for my Lectronic Caddy. 

At the dinner they revealed the match play draw for Sunday.  I was paired against Andrea Blackwell, a former Olympic Basketball player and Club Champion of Cataraqui.  

I managed to win a tight match in 19 holes.  I went on to play Julie Jarvis, who had Andrea as her caddy, helping her read the greens.  Lynn Morrison who lost on Sunday morning caddied for me, but her aim point express system was not helping me.  I lost on the 17th green, so pretty close.  Monday morning, Julie lost to Diana McDonald who was then defeated by Mary Ann Hayward in the afternoon.  I watched and live tweeted the final match. 

We need to try and increase the size of the field for next year's tournament.  Wendy Shelly and her committee run a good event, but the number of participants hardly justifies all the work that goes into it.  Now that the format for the Toronto Star Amateur has changed, this is the only tournament of its kind that I know of.