Reply To: Skins Games in various flights – strange stories

[Dale Craig]

Let me start by saying that I did not go looking to run the skins this year, but fell into it because no one else stepped forward to run them in flight 17 & 18. I was happy to provide the service so that those who wanted to play skins had the opportunity. It is a time consuming and often times a pain in the butt. It is no fun standing around for nearly 2 hours on Monday morning trying to get as many people entered as possible. This obviously showed in my Monday score as I wound up shooting a 107 which placed me dead last in my flight. Grrr! I will not place all the blame on having to take care of the skins before playing instead of dedicating my time to practicing, but it probably did not help.

As for actually running the skins, I have only a couple gripes. I wish the people who want to play would pay it all up front, as collecting daily skins is more work and time for me and again takes time away from my own preparation. Secondly, was impressing on everyone that it is important to show me a legitimate eg:official scorecard, after the round. I actually had 1 instance where a player handed me a course scorecard with only 1 score on it for the hole he claimed he birdied. While I am by nature a very trusting person, Cmon, show me something I and everyone else can trust. All I wanted was to see was a scorecard that did not look like it was just filled out after looking over my shoulder and seeing where there were open holes and then giving me a card with you getting a birdie on one of those holes still open.

Now for the positives and other comments. I did not take any cut off the top and paid all skins down to the $1.00. I was actually surprised that some of the guys made me make change, but I guess they needed the $. I had one day where there appeared to be 3 skins to payout and I had paid out 2 of them and the 3rd guy was no longer around. At this point a guy approached me and asked if a certain hole had won a skin and I told him it had and it was the guy that was no longer there. He then said he birdied that hole and I said you never gave me your card. He got the card back from the pro and lo and behold he had birdied it, therefore cutting that hole and now there were only 2 skins to pay. Fortunately 1 of those guys was still there and I gave him half of what was the 3rd skin. That night I saw the other guy at the CC and told him I had more money for him in the morning. It was times like this that made it fun for me. Seeing the happiness every time I paid out the skins is really gratifying, plus having a drink or 2 bought while I was collecting scores helped. Having all the guys maybe not know me by name but always greeting me by “Skins Guy” is kind of fun. I go to the WA for the fun I have and the new guys I meet.

Finally, I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who won a skin and threw a few dollars my way. It was nice to be appreciated.

See you all next year.