Mid June to Mid July

June 16th I traveled to Columbus, Ohio, in order to try and qualify for the Inaugural USGA Senior Women's Open. It was a relatively easy one day drive to Columbus from Dunnville. I stayed at the fairgrounds, which when I arrived was very full, due to a country music concert that night. It was like a pop-up city in full swing, but there were still some spaces available for RV's. Unfortunately for the concert goers, it was interrupted and then cut short due to thunderstorms in the area. Sunday I played my practice round and Monday the qualifier, both at Scioto Country Club, 

Grand Entrance Gate

A typical hole on the old style parkland course.

where Jack Nicklaus started playing the game. The clubhouse is like a Nicklaus museum. 

A young Nicklaus with is trophy collection.

I failed to qualify as did other gals who were there that I knew from Ontario. It was still a good experience as the entry fee was only $250, which covered both rounds. The normal price for a round, for the guest of a member (if you happen to know one), is $300. I had lined up a female caddie for the tournament through their caddie program. She was quite helpful, having worked there for three years, though she does not golf herself. Unfortunately, that evening she came down with appendicitis and wasn't there for me on Monday. A male caddie was substituted, sadly, he didn't seem to be as helpful. I stayed over Monday night and left Tuesday morning. By then the fairgrounds was nearly deserted. I've never experienced anything like that before.  

On the way back I stopped in Fort Erie to have another sushi dinner with my friend Linda Burroughsford. 

One plate of all you can eat.

June 22nd I headed to Burlington to drop the trailer off in order to get the front cap repainted. When I bought the trailer I paid extra for a coating to be applied all over it in order to protect the finish. The front cap began to fade prematurely, but the company that manufactured the coating stood by their warranty and agreed to pay for it to be restored. 

Cap faded above the word Crusader.

The work was going to take one week to complete, so I scheduled it well in advance to coincide with the Ontario Senior Women's Golf Championship being held in Etobicoke. 

I spent Friday and Saturday nights with my brother in Dundas. Sunday I met up with my friend Enid Aaron for a round of golf and dinner. After dinner I went to stay with my brother and his wife in Oakville, pretty close to Markland Wood Golf course, the site of the golf tournament. The practice round was on Monday and the tournament was Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 

I played quite well at the Provincial. I was fairly confident going into it because I was quite familiar with the golf course having played other tournaments there over the years and I like it. I ended up placing 5th, which I was really pleased with. My goal had been top 10, because I was thinking that they were still using the "old" method of selecting the Ada Mackenzie team from the top 10 at the Provincial and I had fallen short of that last year. I was disappointed to learn that over the previous winter they had decided to change the method of selecting the team, and had not really properly informed all those golfers who would be interested. Now it is based on the Provincial Order of Merit, a season long calculation based on your finish at a number of high ranking tournaments held literally all over the world. I was not happy with this change because I felt it would favor the very wealthy and retired golfers, who could almost spend their way onto the team. I would have to wait for the winter to find out if I made the team. Had I know this in advance, I would not have stayed around for the awards presentation as only the top 3 are recognized, with medals, golf bags and being named to Team Ontario for the Canadians. In the past the top 10, who were going to be on the Ada Mackenzie team had their pictures taken as part of the awards ceremony. 

Friday morning I had a wonderful massage with my regular therapist in Scarborough, then went to pick up the trailer and head to Silver Dove Estates, where I stayed last summer.  The trailer looked like it did when it was new, so I was very happy with the work that was done. 

I was not at all happy with the camp site I was assigned to at Silver Dove. It was in the new section, which wasn't really ready for camping on yet. They had temporary power set up and the site was not leveled at all. I had to use all my boards to level the trailer from left to right and the full extension of my landing legs to level it from front to back. It was so high up I had to use the step stool I usually use to reach to disconnect the trailer from the hitch as the bottom step to get into the trailer. This was the worst set up I have had to do in over two years of camping. 

Precarious set up with newly painted cap.

Thankfully, I was going to be there for less than a week. I was there to enjoy Canada Day weekend, where the park has a garage sale, decorated golf cart parade, a live band and events for the kids, including an appearance by some super hero's and these cupcake/cookie/candy treats:

I met up with my friend and steady golf partner from last summer, Dawn Harvey at Thames Valley, a city public course in London on July 1st for an unofficial practice round in advance of their Four Ball tournament on July 26th. She was surprised that I was going to be playing it with Maria Reeves, who I met, but didn't play with the previous summer, while trying out for the London District team. Dawn had met Maria when she joined their Ladies League this summer after deciding Wardsville was too far to keep driving to. It was good to play the course. Time will tell how the pairing will work out on the 26th. 

While planning this trip, I came across a 4-Ball tournament for Breast Cancer at Sarnia Golf & Country Club, which is about 1 hour away. 

They painted the inside of the holes pink, instead of white
 (the first time I have seen that done) and had Pink flags.

I went through my list of female golfing friends from the area and was able to get Suzanne Schiemann to go play with me. I had played the course quite some time ago, but not in this particular tournament. We arranged to meet at a mutually convenient location and car pooled the rest of the way to the club. When we arrived, I saw quite a few people I knew from the area. It was Suzanne's first out of club tournament, as it was for the two ladies we were paired with who were members of the host club. We did get to start on the 1st hole, which is always nice in a shot gun tournament. I played quite well and Suzanne had a few really good holes. Because her handicap is higher than mine, we were in the B-flight. We ended up winning Low Net of the flight and only missed 1st overall by 1 stroke. My friends Kathy Pilkey and Debbie McDonald, who are members of the club won the A flight. I was very pleased with our result:

We each got one of these.
I spent mine on a light weight long sleeved white golf shirt.

Overall, the tournament was very well organized and the meal afterwards was nicely prepared and served.  The entree was smoked pork chops.

The final event of this trip was to play the Wardsville 27 hole Women's scramble, which my team and I won last year. Due to our success, it wasn't hard to convince the same players (Enid Aaron, Linda Burroughsford and Cathy Koszman) to try and repeat our feat. It was a great day, and although we didn't score as well as the previous year, we still won! We each got $100 for the win and some skins money. I'm thinking that the local ladies aren't too happy about we outsiders swooping in and taking first place, but the owners of the club, who I know quite well are fine with it.  

The following day I headed directly back to Dunnville because the Freedom Oaks Member Guest was on Friday and Saturday. I chose to play this event with my usual mixed partner Phil Perry. He came up on Friday afternoon in time to play a practice round and enjoy the fried Lake Erie Perch dinner, stay over and play the tournament Saturday. 

Phil in Action

Monday July 9th I played in the Seniors league. 

Tuesday I took the truck to the Ford dealer in Welland (highest rated in the area) for an oil change, which turned out to be a much longer appointment than I had expected. First the service guy tried to use the pick up line, haven't I seen you around here before....Then more than an hour after my scheduled appointment time the truck was still where I left it. Then all the mechanics had to take their 1 hour lunch break....I ended up getting the work done for free, but I felt like it was hush money, not to give them bad reviews online. I received follow-up survey calls from the dealership, the service manager, the dealership owner and Ford Canada. I supposedly have a credit for $50 (about half the cost of my oil changes) on my account there, but I don't think I will go back to collect it. This was the first bad experience I have had with Ford. I used to jokingly say I should be a secret shopper for them, with all the different places I've had service done. 

Wednesday I met my friend and former Head Golf Professional from Ladies' Golf Club of Toronto at her new place, Lookout Point, which is the club hosting the Canadian Senior Women's Championship in August for an unofficial practice round. It was a great opportunity to catch up and for me to get some inside knowledge about the course. It was a great day. My former coach and Associate Pro from Ladies' Laurie, who is also working there now popped over for a little chat part way through out round as well. 

Thursday and Saturday I played at Freedom Oaks.