Neshobe Member-Guest 2017

I think this was the fifth year in a row that I played at the Neshobe Member-Guest Tournament in Brandon Vermont. My brother works at the course and we make up a two man team. This year there were nine flights and Tom and I were in the seventh flight. A lot of our competitors I knew but what I like about the format is that I usually meet some new people every year.

Tom and I did a practice round on Thursday with Tyson Zecher. Tyson is only 16 but he hits a great ball. Here is Tom hitting a tee shot on #13, the Paquette hole. Roger Paquette has an ad on the hole sign. He has been a friend of our family since I was a little kid.

 Here are some of the friends of the Neshobe Golf Club including Paquette Inc....

Rodney Bicknell, the PGA professional at Neshobe, creates a colorful display of results and tee times for the tournament. All this is placed on a large board outside the club house.

The format is simple, there are six teams on a flight and you play every team once for nine holes. The sixth round is positional, based on the standings after the first 5 rounds, where 1 plays 2, 3 plays 4, and 5 plays 6. Tom and I were Team #3 in our Flight #7. We played Team #4 for nine holes and then played team #5. Eighteen holes and Friday was complete. Here are the standings after day one!

The first team we played was Lance Monger and Dan Grey...

Lance is a member and I have played against him many times. The great thing about Lance he likes to bring snacks to share during the round. Cheese, salami, stuffed olives.... You name it and he probably has it in his bag. Tom brought a few things this year to share back. Lance's regular partner (guest) could not be here this year so he brought along Dan. Dan was a great guy and I enjoyed playing against both of them, even though they beat the crap out of us 7 to 2.

After, the first round, every team returns to the club house and then we are sent out for a second shotgun start on the back nine which happened to be the front nine for our second nine. That is Dale Woody Woods on the first tee, playing against Lance and Dan.

I told Dan he hits backward (he is left-handed); sorry the picture is out of focus but he swings so fast...

Lance was next to hit, with Noodles watching from the cart out back...

Woody's partner was John Rouse, hitting his tee shot on #1 in the second round. Tom and I would not play Woody & John until Sunday morning in the fifth round.

Our second round on Friday was against Tim Manfredi and Jeff Lanzillo. I did not get any photos of that round. They beat us 5 to 4. So after the first 18 holes on Friday, we were in fifth place out of six teams.

Saturday was a new day. The scheduled start time was 1 PM but because of potential rainy weather, we started at 10 AM. Tom and I played Terry Mitchell and Jeff Fey first. We had played against them last year too. We tied them 4.5 to 4.5.

Our second nine was against Rich Alberti and Rob Carpenter. That is Rich (neon shirt) on the tee at #10. Rob and Tom look on with the maintenance shack behind them. They beat us 5 to 4.

Tom and I were still in fifth place after two rounds of eighteen holes (four matches). The only team we had left to play was the team of Woody Woods and John Rouse, the leading team of our flight. After the rounds on Saturday, there was a hole-in-one contest and a dinner. I plan to do a separate post on all that fun.

I guess Dan had to pay Lance for something. Here they are in the clubhouse counting money.

 The only picture I got of Jeff and Terry (on left) was in the clubhouse. That is Ed Lanpher Talking to Terry Mitchell. Mike Gauthier is on the far right with his brothers. Ed and Mike are members of Neshobe too.

Sunday morning we were starting at 8 AM. Everyone was recovering from partying Saturday night. I caught this photo of my brother Tom with Norm Bicknell, sitting on the bench above the 18th green., meditating on the day ahead.

This is a wide angle of Tom and Norm near the tree and flag. A few people hit balls for practice but most of us are just trying to get our bones and muscles working this early on a Sunday.

The putting green is a popular place for people to gather...

Here is hole #1. The green is just in front of that black truck in the distance. The meanest green in the world.

Although the greens and fairways were mown, the groundskeeper was doing a final roll on all the greens. His dog follows him around the whole course. The dog knows not to sit on the greens. This is #18.

Our fifth round was against Woody & John. We were starting on hole #12 which is a par 3. We were the second foursome, two other teams from our flight were in front of us. This is Rich Alberti.

Rob Carpenter was next on the tee.

This is Jeff Lanzillo...

Tom waits by the tee box as the two teams leave. John and Woody are still in the third cart.

Although we won 6 to 3, we were still in fifth place. Our score knocked Woody & John down to second. Lance, who moved into first, was quick to buy me a beer at the clubhouse as we switched teams. We had help moved them into the lead.

For our last nine holes, we would be playing Rich and Rob again. We were starting on hole #6, the only par 3 on the front nine. Two teams from Flight 8 were in front of us. One team was Albie Cousineau (red hat) and Bruce Costello. We had played them last year in our flight.

Waiting at the carts is my brother Tom, Mike Bordeleau, Jeff McDonough, and Bruce.

This is Mike Bordeleau, bending that shaft as he hits to the sixth green.

Finally, our flight was up and I got one last picture of Rob and Rich hitting on hole #6.


It was close but we won the match 5.5 to 3.5 which moved us into fourth place. Here are the final standings for our flight...

Again, I had lots of fun and enjoyed the company of everyone in our flight. Tom tells me he got a hole-in-one on #12 after I had left and returned to Florida. Now he goes low...ha ha!

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