To the 50 players who competed in our Northeast Ohio Golf Stroke Play Event #2 at Chippewa Golf Club yesterday, we offer a sincere apology.
Even though the issue was out of our control, the half-hour delay from our Noon starting time was inexcusable. (We didn’t know the golf course moved our first time back to 12:30p until five-til-noon that day.)
Also unacceptable to us was the five hours it took to play the round, with every group waiting to hit nearly every shot. That was even more frustrating.
But an apology by itself is just words.
So here is our fix.
For the next two events, the Northeast Ohio Golf Stroke Play Series will feature a SHOTGUN START.
That means our tournament players will have a wide-open golf course, with no public play in front of us.
As such, we guarantee an on-time start and we fully expect a sub-four hour round at both courses, even with a full field.
The Sunday, June 5th event at Valleaire Golf Club in Hinckley will shotgun start at 8:30 a.m.
The Sunday, July 10th event at Tam O’Shanter Golf Course in Canton will shotgun start at 2:00 p.m.
These two events should be “tournament player heaven”: both courses are in phenomenal condition; both events will be free of hit-n-gigglers holding us up; and both dates’ prize and skins pots should be filled to the brim.
But to keep “heaven” flowing smoothly, both events will be limited to the first 80 players who enter so that we don’t create our own over-crowding issue.
Check-in for both events will begin 45 minutes prior to the shotgun start and will close 15 minutes before that start to go over rules and get out to the holes. We will start the tournament on time guaranteed, so do not be late — we will not wait for you.
If these two events go as we expect, we will work to make all future events a shotgun start.
Because it’s just no fun to play slow, no matter what the reason (excuse). And we want these events to be done right.
We hope you will join us as we test out this theory June 5th at Valleaire and July 10th at Tam O’Shanter…
— Allen Freeman and Ty Kovach
Northeast Ohio Golf Stroke Play Series
