Good from the Girls 2014 Oakland County Golf Championships

The good from the 2013 Girls Tournament

Something must be in the magic scoreboard pen for those that lead the Oakland County Tournaments. Last May, Coach Monty Gallaher of Lake Orion was marking down the scores for the players and his team ended up winning the boys crown. On Wednesday, the same thing happened as Birmingham Seaholm Coach Leon Braisted's team won the team championship at Pontiac Country Club.
A congratulations is in order for Birmingham Seaholm Coach Leon Braisted who won Coach of the Year Honors for the girls in 2013.

+The weather- Wow! 75 and sunny was the operative word and I spent all day glad to be watching the girls play but wishing I could be out playing a round myself.

+ Seaholm overcoming being overlooked. They were missing their best player due to a shoulder injury and there were several teams licking their chops to be the County Champion. Seaholm is ranked first in Division Two (according to the coaches) Seaholm pulled off a victory against a field of 15 teams and three others were within 3 shots of them.

The Top 50 Junior Tour used their scoring system to power the tournament. They did a great job of putting the information out there. Jackie and founder Dan Thomas were on top of it. This is a great way to promote junior golf. I truly hope some parents and coaches (players as well) are paying attention. I spoke to a couple of parents whose children play on the Tour and said they have played them all and like Dan and how his tournaments are run. The stats they put out help writers with their stories and videos and give in depth recaps such as the hole-by-hole summary which is at the bottom of this entry.

A few things could be better.

A lot of bald spots at PCC and many are due to the mature trees on the course. One was not marked and a player took relief playing a provisional and declaring it and playing a second ball. This created several discussions between rules officials, the player and the parent who called the MHSAA.

Number one seeds listed in the fourth and fifth spots. When players are not listed on the paring sheet, I rely on this information to shoot the top seeds for all the teams and get the lower seeds or interesting story lines when time permits.

Scoring- A log jam came up on several areas of the course. For instance, (see the total score stats for each hole). The girls played a par five of 397 yards with an average score of almost seven. Some players said it was backed up to as many as six groups playing this hole or waiting to play this hole. The problem is that many players go for the green in two and either end up in the two front and very deep sand bunkers or behind the green behind trees or the cart path. I love Pontiac Country Club but this was a problem on this day anyway. 

Scores on some holes played to nearly 1.5 strokes higher than par. This included holes 1,5,7,9,10 and 14. Many more were a bogey higher.

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Top 50 Junior Tour - High School Events

Oakland County Girls Championships

9/18/2013 - 9/18/2013 | High School Girls Division

Pontiac Country Club | Red Tees

Par: 72 / Yardage: 5334 | Slope: 123 / Rating: 69.3

        

Pontiac Country Club Red Slope: 123, Rating: 69.3 Round Date: 9/18/2013

Hole Statistics
Hole	Par	Yards	Rank	Avg	Avg To Par	Eagles	Birdies	Pars	Bogeys	Doubles	Others
1	5	397	3	6.43	+1.43	0	2	23	27	20	17
2	3	130	11	4.01	+1.01	0	3	26	35	20	5
3	5	396	14	5.88	+0.88	0	6	32	31	14	6
4	4	261	10	5.02	+1.02	0	3	32	30	15	9
5	4	317	5	5.35	+1.35	0	1	18	38	21	11
6	4	275	16	4.73	+0.73	0	6	37	29	12	5
7	4	300	4	5.36	+1.36	0	0	15	40	28	6
8	3	145	12	3.92	+0.92	0	0	29	42	14	4
9	4	353	1	5.49	+1.49	0	0	13	42	20	14
10	5	473	6	6.33	+1.33	0	5	19	29	21	15
11	4	345	17	4.67	+0.67	0	7	34	34	10	4
12	4	296	8	5.18	+1.18	0	2	28	31	20	8
13	4	296	15	4.85	+0.85	0	1	35	33	16	4
14	4	344	2	5.47	+1.47	0	1	17	27	32	12
15	4	320	9	5.17	+1.17	0	3	26	31	21	8
16	3	159	13	3.92	+0.92	0	2	25	43	16	3
17	3	130	18	3.56	+0.56	0	1	52	26	6	4
18	5	397	7	6.22	+1.22	0	3	21	39	12	14
Totals:	72	5334		91.57	19.57	0	46	482	607	318	149