1970's Playing Golf with John Mirjanich

THE CHALLENGE by John Mirjanich

When I read Sandy, Debbie, and Billy’s memories about MGCC, I couldn’t be out done. 

Let’s tee off and play a quick nine holes.

Number 1:  I recall walking through the driving range area and seeing all of the STOLEN FROM JOHNIE STAPP golf balls with a red ring around them and the metal  yardage signs every twenty-five yards in bold print 100, 125, 150.

When I finally reached the green there were the two flags, one white flag for the front nine and one red flag for the back nine.

Number 2:  The real power hitters like Dick Lillard and Tom Forbes could cut the dog leg by hitting over the trees.

Number 3:  The pretty par three creek hole took a strong drive to miss the trees on the Calcutta (Fall Festival) I remember being a ball spotter. We wadded in the creek all day long locating golf balls hiding under rocks. The real money bags, John Robinson Sr. would give us a dollar tip for spotting the ball and retrieving it. That was big money back then.  

Number 4: To the north of the fairway and rough stood an old white house and storage shed where the mowing equipment was stored and that old blue tractor with mower attached to the back stood off to the side when it wasn’t in use. I recall this because my ball often landed near the shed. I had to walk over there and then hit over the trees to get back to the fairway. Least us not forget the old gravel dirt zig zagging road that cut through the golf course on holes one and four leading to the greens-keeper’s house and the barn. 

 

picture courtesy of the granddaughter of Bud May, Stacie..

 

Number 5: A really long  tee shot could land the ball right in front of the creek where the opening between the trees gave us a shot to the green, and I could then hit a five or six iron to the green for my second shot. (If, however, the drive strayed right or left then the next shot was over or between the trees.)

Number 6: That was one long par five that seemed to be uphill all the way when I carried my golf bag. It took three straight strong shots to the green. Very few, but those who could, hit the tee shot over the fairway bunker that had the low dip in front of it.  It was a big deal to see the long hitters swing hard trying to go over that bunker.

Number 7: In golf, I learned that I should never think about where my shot might land. Sure enough, when I thought about my tee shot flying over the fence into Fullerton’s pasture, the ball invariably flew left over the fence line and out-of-bounds. How many times did I crawl through that barbed wired fence to find my ball in the cow pasture? It cost an extra stroke and often a lost ball to recover from that errant tee shot.

Number 8: The was a long hard par three with two dangerous traps, one on each side of the green, that seemed to catch my tee shots often. It was a small opening to the green making it even harder to roll on. I thought it offered great potential for a hole-in-one, but it never happened to me.

Number 9: It was a slight dog leg to the right with two very difficult “sand taps” on the right and one smaller trap. What I remember the most were the benches sitting alongside the clubhouse, under the bar room windows. People often gathered there in the shade to cool off, or people could sit upstairs in the bar with cold drinks and a cigarette and knock on the windows to get your attention or clap and cheer if you made a good shot. Occasionally, a bar room window would be knocked out by a long shot over the green. 

 *Sorry John, this is the only Yearbook picture I have of you.