Send the runner to second: Kevin Larizza balked the pitch for the start of the first official night of the Chippewa Monday Scratch League yesterday. Instead of starting the 2-M format, yesterday’s play featured an individual $10 warm-up skins game that was originally scheduled for the previous week but was rained out. So Kevin has a justifiable reason for his balk, but the runners still move ahead.
Now the league is scheduled to officially begin this coming Monday, May 9th. (And the $50 Big Skins game will continue play every Monday at 11:30 a.m. as well.)
But the big news coming out of this off-week is that Larizza has decided to implement a fairly major rules change.
In Larizza’s own words from his “Chipp Shots” blog:
A big Rule Change will start the season, we will see how it goes but this has been discussed with several players from both the seniors and the regular players and it’s being met with some optimism. Instead of a watered down Senior Division, all players 50 and older will be playing from the WHITE tees for 2011, while the youngsters will be teeing it up from the Blues — with some restrictions of course. First of all, par 3’s will be no or very little difference. Par 4’s and Par 5’s will be anywhere from a few yards to roughly 30 yards or so different at most. (Hole 18, when played from the back back back tee, will have both white and blue tees back, as that difference is too much to give an advantage.) But this will allow ALL players to play and pay into the same pool, and eliminate the watered down senior division that has only been paying out minimally over the last several years. First few weeks we will be monitoring the play, see how it goes and evaluations will be made, and if we need to change it back, we will. The other thing this will allow is teams that have a 50+ player and an under 50 player to compete under the new rules: the 50+ player plays the whites and the 49- player plays the blues. That’s it. No more combined age, no more double division, we’ll just see how it goes. Simple. I think it will works great; let’s give it a shot.
The Chippewa Monday Scratch League is 2-player league play runs from 4 – 6:30 p.m. on alternating nines each week. The format alternates each week, too: scramble, better ball, shamble or aggregate score (with some jumble weeks as well). New 2-player teams — and any individual amateur player who may be looking for a partner for the season — should contact the Chippewa pro shop at 330-658-6126 to register.
The $50 Big Skins Game will continue to play every Monday at 11:30 a.m. (play began yesterday). All amateur players are welcome in this weekly straight-up individual $50 Big Skins Game that runs year-long; simply check in and pay at the pro shop prior to the 11:30 a.m. starting time. Groupings are made on the tee; no pre-registration is required. Green/cart fees are just $25 if you play in both, making Mondays at Chippewa one of the best golf deals in the region!
