—Special to AWITP, NASJA, NSCF, and Golf News Net —
FAYETTEVILLE, NY – In a brilliant coup, the small but historically important G.E. Ski Club of Utica, New York has challenged all ski clubs in New York and New Jersey to a golf tournament June 8 at Green Lakes Golf Club, outside Syracuse, New York. Competing clubs can bring as few or as many golfers as they wish, and the top eight medal play scores from each ski club will count towards the team total. The entry fee for the 2:00 pm shotgun start is $52. Golfers of all skill levels are encouraged to attend. Handicaps will not be used in the competition.
“We wanted to hold a summertime event that would bring as many winter sports enthusiasts as possible together from all across the region,” stated G.E. Ski Club president-elect Jerry Gortner. “A golf tournament has wide appeal, and we were especially lucky and grateful to hold it at Green Lakes, which is enjoying a remarkable renaissance currently. It’s gorgeous, it’s easy to get to for everybody, and it’s a fun, laid back course everyone will enjoy.”
Green Lakes has always been a regional favorite and historically important as one of quintessential American golf architect Robert Trent Jones, Sr.’s earliest and most favorite courses.
“My father always loved Green Lakes, and it holds a special place in all of our hearts, it being so close to Cornell. We were there many times as a family,” noted Robert Trent Jones, Jr., son of the original architect and a world-class designer himself, with over 400 world-wide designs to his credit. He’s built a golf course on every continent on Earth except Antarctica.
But now Green Lakes is an especially hot ticket as they have hired as their head golf grounds superintendent Kevin Carroll, a rising young star in the industry who worked at Long Island’s Bethpage Black for two U.S. Opens.
“I’m told the conditioning of the golf course is absolutely fantastic and, better still, the layout is such that everyone who plays stands a great chance of finishing the round with the same golf ball they started with and not take a single penalty stroke all day,” added Gortner, and he’s correct – there are zero water hazards, no internal out-of bounds, and rough is kept at a playable length. Lost balls are a rarity. “If what I hear is correct, golfers playing in the event might very well post their best score of the entire season that day,” Gortner concluded energetically.
Signing up for the event is an easy two-step process. First, golfers can pay at the G.E. Ski club website here. Next, golfers ,must fill out a registration form – a link to that form is here – and email it to the tournament director so that pairings may be arranged.
The winning ski club will hoist, mug for pictures with, and imbibe their favorite libation from the “Mrs. Jean C. Flemma Award,” a.k.a. “Aunt Jean’s Tea Kettle,” a beautiful baroque sterling silver trophy named after one of the club’s founding members in the middle 1960s, and donated by Your Author, Aunt Jean’s son. There will also be prizes for men’s and women’s longest drive and closest to the pin. Food is available a la carte from the excellent clubhouse which specializes in fine dining choices like steaks and swordfish as well as typical golf fare like burgers and wraps.
Tournament participation is not limited to just members of ski clubs – the general public is welcome to participate. Moreover, while the clubs in New Jersey and New York were specifically named, any club may sign up and compete, no matter where they may be from.
[Editor’s Note: As it happens, Your Author, Jay Flemma, is also the Tournament Director for the event and the Publicity Chair for the G.E. Ski Club]
