Corporate Golf Services

I am so privileged to be with three of the best amateur women golfers from the state of Minnesota as their captain at the USGA State Team Championship. We’re in Fort Wayne, Indiana at a Jack Nicklaus signature course called Sycamore Hills. It is beyond beautiful and very challenging.

This championship began in 1995 and is held every other year, so this is only the eighth event. Each state sends its three best players to compete against all the other states in three days of stroke play. When this competition was held in Minnesota (at Woodhill CC) in 2001, the Minnesota team won it! Two of the players from that team are here again this year – Claudia Pilot (Austin) and Leigh Klasse (Minneapolis). Our third player is Alison Meyer (Duluth) who just graduated from Ferris State in Michigan after playiong four years of collegiate golf. We have a strong team!

We played our first practice round today, and it was a very scenic challenge. Nicklaus designed an interesting, beautiful and challenging course at Sycamore Hills, and we’re all grateful to have the opportunity to be here.

Today I learned how to analyze a green from Leigh’s caddy, Lynn Anderson. Lynn has been a State Team player herself several times, but right now she’s ineligible because she’s classified as a golf professional. Lynn is here because she loves the game. This morning, Lynn said, “I feel like I’m in heaven. I’m having a Sausage McMuffin and Coke for breakfast, it’s a beautiful day, and we’re on our way to the golf course!”

Tonight we attended the Players’ Dinner put on by the USGA where we met many women from around the country. We laughed and talked and shared stories of today’s round knowing that after tomorrow we will be competing against each other. The really cool thing is  that after we compete we’ll still be friends.

I have been corrected on the details of the Annika story by my good friend and colleague, Debbie Waitkus. Here’s what she said:

“Barb – great newsletter!   Need to correct you on your Annika story as it’s a huge bone of contention with a close friend of mine that was the Solheim Co-Captain for the “other” team (Europeans) when that happened.

“Here’s what went down.  Play was called due to inclement weather. The women all marked their balls and came back the next day.  Upon their return, they replaced their balls and stood around looking at each other for who should go first. Finally, Annika decided to go first. No one stopped her and said that someone else was away. They’d had all night to make that determination.  (This is the source of the bad feelings.)  Yep, Annika holed her chip shot. It was then that the Americans asked her to re-hit.  She did not hit it in the next time.  The Europeans ladies were upset since the Americans could have stepped up and just hit after having had the entire night to figure out who was away or they could have just let her have the shot. In the Europeans’ eyes, it was poor sportsmanship.  According to my friend, it was the turning point which fueled the Europeans to win.  There are such things as golf gods…”