Jim Crandall, Palms to Pines Golf Association handicap chair, provided this report about the Friday, June 21, golf tournament at Golden Era Golf Course in San Jacinto to benefit the Grandfathers for Golf youth program.
The Grandfathers program, a free program dedicated to teaching at-risk kids how to play golf, is based at Golden Era. Tony Viola, former Idyllwilder and now president of Grandfathers for Golf, arranged the benefit tourney, and supplied a continental breakfast and a steak-and-baked-potato lunch for the club.
Some members lightheartedly complained that Crandall (course handicap 11) had an unfair advantage in the tourney, since he is a Grandfathers volunteer and plays the course regularly. But Crandall didn’t seem to mind the grumbling as he fired a gross 78, net 67 to win the tourney by 3 strokes.
Pete Capparelli (22) and Ken Garelick (22) shot net 70s to tie for second place; Dan Slattery (26) shot a net 71 to take fourth; and Jerry Gabel (20) rounded out the top five with a net 72.
The three closest-to-the-pin contests were won by three different golfers. Mike Feyder was the closest to the pin on hole 3. Garelick had the closest-to-the-pin on hole 7 and Les Widerynski won on hole 16.
This was the second-to-last regular tourney before the playoffs in August, when the top eight finishers go into single-elimination, match-play playoffs for the title of Club Champion. Club champ then goes on to play in the Southern California Golf Association Tournament of Club Champions in December. So the next tourney will be very competitive, as players vie for the top eight spots.
Here are current point standings for the 2012-2013 season.
| Place | Golfer | Points |
| 1 | Bill Sanborn | 29.08 |
| 2 | Les Widerynski | 25 |
| 3 | John LoGiudice | 19.5 |
| 4 | Pete Capparelli | 18.33 |
| 5 | Mike Feyder | 17.08 |
| 6 | Gary Brown | 17 |
| 7 | Dan Slattery | 16 |
| 8 | Jim Crandall | 14.75 |
| 9 | John Brower | 14 |
| 10 | Robert Priefer | 12.5 |
| 11 | Bruce Marley | 9.5 |
| 12 | Bob Stearns | 8.5 |
| 13 | Gary Leong | 5.75 |
| 14 | Lee Lanfried | 5.5 |
| 15 | Chris Kramer | 5 |
| 16 | Ken Garelick | 4.5 |
| 17 | George Kretsinger | 4.5 |
| 18 | Bill Ragland | 4.5 |
| 19 | Scott Schroeder | 4.5 |
| 20 | John McAndrews | 4 |
| 21 | Chuck Alkire | 3.5 |
| 22 | Dale Calderon | 3 |
| 23 | Jerry Gabel | 2.5 |
| 24 | Ron Krull | 1 |
| 25 | Bill Mitchell | 0.5 |
Points are awarded at each tournament as follows: first place, 6 points; second place, 4 points; third place, 3 points; fourth place, 2 points; fifth place, 1 point. In addition, one-half point is awarded to everyone who participates.
The top eight-point finishers of the year go into match-play playoffs for the club championship in August, September and October. A member has to compete in at least five regular-season tournaments and have a handicap no greater than 24.4 in order to qualify for the playoffs.
The club is a member of the Southern California Golf Association and is sanctioned to establish SCGA handicaps for members.
If interested in joining the club or playing as a guest, contact Crandall at jim.crandall@verizon.net or (951) 265-5732, or Pete Capparelli at pete@capparelli.com or (951) 452-5552.
