Gross Men’s Club Duties: Membership/Publicity Co-Chairman
Ken is the happy guy on the far right.
Current Handicap Index: 19.9 (and rising fast!)
Got Started in Golf: Carrying ½ set (odd numbers) of my father’s forged irons and persimmon woods (my little brother had the even numbered other half) at various public courses in Madison, Wisconsin in the early 1970’s.
Golf Highlights/Lowlights:
No aces, EVER, in over 1500 rounds of golf!
Played six of the Golf Digest World’s Greatest 100 courses
#3 Muirfield – Scotland
#39 North Berwick G.C. – Scotland
#40 Portmarnock G.C. (Championship) – Ireland
#70 Mid Ocean Club – Bermuda
#95 The European Club – Ireland
Played 11 of the Golf Digest 100 Greatest Courses in America
#7 Pebble Beach G. Links
#21 Whistling Straits (Straits)
#24 The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island
#37 Bethpage State Park (Black)
#41 Baltrusol G.C. (Lower)
#42 Erin Hills G. Cse.
#49 TPC Sawgrass (Stadium)
#61 Baltusrol G.C. (Upper)
#81 Hudson National G.C.
#85 Aronomink G.C.
#97 Blackwolf Run (River)
Played 23 of the Golf Digest 100 Greatest Public Courses
The aforementioned Pebble Beach (#1), Whistling Straits-Straits (#3), The Ocean Course (#4), Bethpage-Black (#8), Erin Hills (#9), TPC Sawgrass-Stadium (#11), Blackwolf Run-River (#15)
#23 Harbor Town G. Links
#36 Torrey Pines G. Cse. (South)
#39 The Broadmoor G.C. (East)
#43 Whistling Straits (Irish)
#44 SentryWorld G. Cse
#51 Cog Hill G. & C.C. (#4)
#53 Wolf Creek G. C.
#56 The Dunes G. & Beach C.
#57 Blackwolf Run (Meadow Valleys)
#58 The G. Courses of Lawsonia Links (Links)
#69 Troy Burne G.C.
#75 Trump National Doral (Blue Monster)
#77 Caledonia G. & Fish C.
#82 World of Woods G.C. (Pine Barrens)
#93 Torrey Pines G. Cse. (North)
#100 Innisbrook Golf Resort (Copperhead)
Over 250 rounds played overseas, primarily Ireland, Scotland and Germany
Golf Hero: My Irish best friend, Kevin Nugent
Most Memorable Golf Vacation(s): There were many trips to Ireland to the hometown of my buddy (~2/year for 15 years), for the 4-G’s (Golf, Gambling, Guinness and God), playing many famous courses in the Kildare & Dublin area (including Portmarnock, The European Club and The K Club. But the best was in 2010 when we tried to go in late April in conjunction with the major horse race event in Kildare (The Irish National Hunt). As you might recall, this was during the eruption of the Iceland volcano Eyjafjallajökull, and flights were disrupted around the world! There was a small window that opened on our departure date and we were allowed to take off for Ireland. I was sitting a few rows ahead of my buddy. After dinner, he came up to me and said “I think we’re going to make it”. I told him to sit down and shut up…that we needed to be over half way before we were committed. About an hour later as I was dozing off listening to the cockpit, I groggily heard the Dublin ATC radio to the cockpit “Continental 22 Heavy, Turn Right Heading 270”. As I slowly awoke, I realized this was not right and the plane starting turning back to Newark. 2.5 hours later we landed back in Newark to complete our 5+ hour trip to nowhere after being volcano-ed. The next day the air routes to Europe were shut down again for an undetermined length of time and we decided to have Continental rebook us to Miami, where we proceeded to play all the courses at Doral as well as Jacaranda and Diplomat. As a backup plan, it was the best possible trip!
Why do I belong to the Gross Men’s Club: I was looking for a convenient, affordable place where I could be involved in Events and Competitions. When I moved to the Twin Cities in 2012, I joined Dellwood CC and really enjoyed the weekly and season-long events. Having to resign due to finances, I was looking for an affordable public place where I could continue the organized events.