This might get a little long, but hopefully most of you will find this interesting, ESPECIALLY BOB NEWMAN, I really look forward to your comments…

I played in my first World Am 25 years ago (1998). I was in the Senior Men’s division and playing courses that ranged around 6200-6400 yards. Four years ago, I graduated to the SEASONED Seniors division (80 years old and older) and last year we played courses between 5300-4700 yards. Let me assure you that when you reach your 80’s you will understand why we play such short courses…!! I never had to use my World Am index in any of those 25 tournaments because I never had a 4-round total that was under my handicap. I never placed in the money in those 25 years. The best I could do was a 6th, 7th twice and an 8th (this was all after we went to 50 players per flight and paying 5 places). The only thing I ever won was a few low net for the day prizes. BUT I kept coming back time after time because I KNEW that I could play to my handicap. I just needed to do it during World Am week.

Last year I did 2 things different, hoping I could somehow gain an advantage AND play a little better. First, I invested the extra dollars and came down one week early. I played all 4 of my tournament courses, playing one every other day and in reverse order so that I would play my first course (Myrtlewood) on Sunday and then again the very next day on Monday. I didn’t worry about my scores. I was just making notes about where NOT to hit the ball and recording club selections in my yardage books. The second thing I did was to closely check my travel time to each course so that I would arrive at least 1 hour early. That way, I could make sure I was driving the cart, relax, get everything organized, hit a few practice putts and be ready to tee off when I got to the first tee box. My low index for last year was 17.6. The previous 3 years, my low index for the year was 15.5, 18.0 and 15.7.

After the practice rounds and the early arrival, I felt I was ready for Myrtlewood on Monday. We played lift, clean and place because of all the rain over the previous few days. I started out bogey, par, par, par for the first 4 holes and I was feeling really comfortable with myself, THEN it started raining on the 5th hole and over the next 9 holes I had a quadruple bogey, a triple and 2 doubles, winding up with a gross score of 92, net 82. (Bob Newman – slope 110.0, rating 64.9, differential -27.8) My reaction…here we go again!! I just blew myself out of the World Am on the very first day!!

BUT the Seasoned Senior division is very different from the other divisions. There are not many of us trying to play tournament golf when we’re 80+ years old, so we only had 65 total entries in the division, too many for one flight, and so we only had 32 players in my flight (53) and 33 players in flight 54. When I looked up the flight results on my phone (in case you weren’t there, the WA staff decided to NOT print flight standing sheets last year), I was in 16th place and only 7 shots out of 3rd place. I went to bed with a good attitude, got a good night’s sleep and arrived at Thistle early, put my bag on the driver’s side, relaxed and went out and shot a nifty little gross 84, net 72. (Bob – slope 112.0, rating 66.7, differential -17.5). Suddenly I had moved into 3rd place, just one shot out of the lead. Got another good night’s sleep and arrived at Tigers Eye the next day to hear the pro announce that once again we were playing lift, clean and place because of conditions on the course. Today, I finally did what I KNEW I was capable of. I shot a nice gross 78, net 68. (Bob – slope 109.0, rating 65.2, differential -12.2) My current GHIN index was 18.9 after the previous 2 rounds were posted and the 78 reduced me to a 17.8.

The strong differential resulted in a 1-stroke “exceptional score reduction” when I posted my score. I didn’t know what that would mean to the WA people, but felt that I might be looking at a 1 shot/per day reduction in my handicap. I was a little surprised late that afternoon when I saw that I had moved into 1st place and had an 8-shot lead, with no adjustment. I couldn’t help but let the thought of “maybe this is finally my year” enter into my mind. I didn’t sleep all that well, thinking about how I could blow this opportunity. When I arrived at MBN SouthCreek on Thursday I was thrilled to find us playing lift, clean and place again, but was really disappointed that the WA staff had decided to abandon placing the top 8 players together on the first tee box. I was fortunate to have one of the second-place guys in my group so I could have something to gauge my play on. Well, I held it together, went out and shot a gross 80, net 71. (Bob – slope 110.0, rating 63.2, differential -18.3). I finished the 4 days NET 5 OVER PAR.

I went in the clubhouse for some lunch and sat with several of the guys that I had played with during the week. They all felt that I had won my flight. I shot a gross 80 to the 2nd place player’s 82, so I knew I had beaten him. After finishing lunch, I went to my car, got in and turned the A/C on. My cell phone rang. I didn’t answer it because there was no name with the number, so I let it go to voice mail. The caller left a message and said he was with the World Am. He asked me to call him back. I felt it was probably about informing me of my tee time tomorrow in the flight winners playoff. We finally connected and he told me that “there were some questions about my handicap and my scores and that I had become ineligible for any prizes or to play in the flight winners playoff tomorrow”. He said something about my scores being “suspicious” (or something to that effect). He also said that my scores and my handicap “just don’t match.” I asked him who could I appeal this to and he told me there was no appeal route. He said that I could come to room 101 that night and discuss it but the decision would not change. Essentially, he told me that he could not overrule the decision. Before I hung up, I told him that I would visit him in room 101 that evening. However, when I returned to my condo, I went to the World Am web site to access some details on the handicap process. After quite a bit of searching, I found a section titled “The Committee”. It was there that I read a statement that there was no route for appeal. And then, one of my friends called to tell me they had looked at the flight standings for the previous day and my name had disappeared and was nowhere to be found…I had been officially VAPORIZED. No one would ever know that I had played in this event, the World Am would be keeping my $599 entry fee and my $600 gift card and my spot in the flight winners play-off would be given to the second place guy that shot 17 over par for the 4 days. So, I decided to just make me a strong drink and sit in my beach chair beside the ocean and let the proceedings of the past couple of hours sink in.

Several days later I wrote a long 8-page letter to WA to vent and explain my issues. One of the issues I raised was that I felt that I have been branded a “cheater” to the world. Their response was “Nobody has branded you a cheater. Far from it. When we make these difficult decisions, it can be perceived as wrongdoing. However, it more often than not is a ‘lightning in a bottle’ scenario. Unfortunately, in an event where you are paired with a group of your peers there should not be major outliers (IE: leading by 17 strokes).” At the very end of the letter, they closed by saying “You simply caught lightning in a bottle which you should be very proud of”. What….!!! Since when is “lightning in a bottle” not rewarded…??

In the days that followed, I have come to grips with this whole situation. The World Am has every right to disqualify players for practically any reason. I believe that in the registration materials there is a disclaimer of some kind that we have to sign and then we have no recourse.

I’m at peace knowing that I played fair and square and finally came up with 3 days of the kind of golf that I knew I was capable of. I didn’t win a trophy, but 2 of my golfing buddies that have played in the World Am for many years actually bought me a “World Am” trophy and had it engraved as the winner of flight 53. I also have the scorecards that attest to my play. The one thing that I still regret is not having the chance to play in the flight winners playoff. Considering the zone that I was in, I think I would have had a decent chance to win the whole thing at 83 years old. What kind of story would that have been……???