Oct. 4-5 (Hayden, ID) - by Chris Jarrett

This week we traveled to Hayden Lake, Idaho to play in the NIC invitational.  It was a short travel distance for us compared to the usual 9 to 10 hour bus rides.  During our practice round we all saw for ourselves just how tight this golf was, and battled a stiff 20 to thirty mile an hour wind.  As a team we new that it was going to take good course management and patience in knowing that scores were probably not going to be low like last week.  With that being said the scores were nothing special come tournament day.  The weather was about the same with a pretty constant 20 mile an hour wind.  There was a challenge during this tournament that was extremely tough for everybody to deal with and that was slow play.  Wait, extremely slow play, the worst that I have ever had to deal with throughout my four years of college golf.  There were multiple holes each day were there was 30 to forty minuet wait on the tee box.  In fact I clearly remember coming up to my green and seeing that there was a big back up, which usually consists of about two groups or so.  Nonetheless the closer I got to the green I could see there were way more than two groups.  Just to remind all of you readers out there, in these tournaments we do shotgun starts, so it is rare to see any of your teammates except for maybe the guy just in front or behind of you.  I took a double take however when I looked over and saw Ben House who was four groups ahead of me sitting Indian style on his towel, with his hat on backwards as if he was lounging on a beach with no where to go.  It was then that I knew I had a long wait ahead of me which turned out to be just under forty-five minuets.  Besides these challenges we just did perform again.  Scores were high for the tournament, but this was a tourney that we all knew we should have won.  The team scores were as follows, Spokane CC shot 596, Skagit Valley fired a 622, Lethbridge College shot 623, and then us LCSC in fourth with a 624.  Our individual scores were as follows.  Connor 75-76-151, Tony 76-80-156, Scott 78-81-159, Ben 81-80-161, Brad 78-85-163, Kyler 78-87-165, Chris 88-81-169.  This has been another tough loss for us, and we are still looking for that team score and the individual play that we know we are all capable of.  We have one more tourney next week against NIC at Quail Ridge in Asotin, Clarkston, and we plan on finishing our fall season with a positive victory.  

Sept. 27-28 (Billings, MT) - by Chris Jarrett

This week we traveled to Billings Montana for the Rocky Mountain Invite, held at Peter Yegan Golf Course.  Peter Yegan is a fairly easy layout, in that it is flat and you can see all of the trouble, no surprises.  I have played this course all four years and can easily say that it has been my favorite.  The greens at Peter Yegan were once again in good condition as always and good greens accompanied by some short holes allowed the opportunity for lots of birdies to be made.  As I said in my last weeks journal entry we came into this tourney looking to get some strokes back and beat our rival Rocky Mountain on there home track.  Things however didn’t go as planned.  We as a team ended up taking a disappointing second place behind Rocky Mountain, and further fell behind in total strokes for the season.  Rocky Mountain fired a three round total of 26 under 826, and we followed with three round total of 7 under 845.  Connor McCracken started day one off good with a 68, 69, and followed on day two with a even par 71 for a three round total of 208.  Scott Mooney shot 70, 69, one day one, and had a disappointing third round of 75 for a three round total of 214.  I, myself shot 74, 70, on the first day of play and finished day two with a 71 for a total of 215.  Ben House fired a 71, 71, for the thirty-six hole day and ended with a 75 for a three round total of 217.  Brad Tracy shot 74, 75, 75 for a total of 224.   Tony Azzara shot 69, 73, on day one and finished with a 68 for a total of 210.  And last but not least our Freshman Kyler Nilsson fired a 75, 73 on day one and ended with a 71 for a total of 219.  The Weather for this tournament was decent, obviously pretty cold in the mornings, however mid day wasn’t to bad.  We really wanted to make up some lost strokes from the first conference tournament, however as stated earlier things just didn’t go as planned.  We feel that our playing potential as a team hasn’t showed up yet this semester, in fact we haven’t even been close.  However we are going to keep working hard and show some teams next week what our real play is like.  I think I speak for the whole team when I say that when we find our scores and start playing well as a team, there shouldn’t be any question in what place we will get.  The trip was fun as always, for us seniors this was our last trip to Montana on a Charter bus, which, we may have all acted like we were happy however; I know we will all miss them.  Over the past four years there have been so many priceless memories on those charter buses from breakdowns, (usually one per trip), to bus drivers getting lost, and so many more that there isn’t even time to write about them.  The buses were an experience to say the least, and will always have a place in my life for telling stories.  The awful dirty shoe and sock smell was somewhat taken care of, due to the fact that they could be stored under the bus again, and while no prank calls were made to our freshman, he still had to sleep on his ten dollar a night slightly less comfortable cot, a place that we all have been before.  Or next tournament is in Hayden Lake, Idaho and will be an 36 hole tournament held at Avondale Golf Club, we are going into with a positive attitude and ready to snatch that victory that we all know we are capable of. 

Sept. 21-22 (Helena, MT) - by Chris Jarrett

The men’s golf team traveled to Helena Montana this week, to compete in the Carol College invitational held at Green Meadow Country Club, which is a par 71.  We as a team went into the tournament with high expectations and the mentality to win our first conference tournament of the year.  As is every year, the greens at this country club were recently punched prior to our tournament, and were a major mental challenge for everybody to deal with.  Along with ruff greens, the first day was delayed by over an hour due to a heavy frost, resulting in everybody having to stop at dark and finish their last several holes of the thirty-six on Tuesday, along with the last eighteen.  However every team had to deal with the same conditions and our play as a team was less than desired.  Connor McCracken started the tournament off strong during the thirty-six hole day with a four under 70-68.  He followed on the second day with a 79 for a total of 217.  Scott Moony started with a 78-70, and followed on day two with a 72 for a three round total of 220.  I shot 79-86, and followed on the second day with a 76 for a total of 241.  Kyler Nilsson started off with a 77-73, and finished with a 78 for a three round total of 228.  Brad Tracy fired a 76, 82, and ended with a 76 for a total of 234. Tony Azzara shot 71-74 on day one and finished the second day with a 79 for a total 224. And to round up the squad Ben house shot 77-77, and ended with a 72 for a three round total of 231.  All in all the LCSC men’s team ended up taking a disappointing third place behind Rocky Mountain and MSU Billings.  However, we kept our heads up and like always on our golf trips everybody had a good time.  The usual pranks were pulled on the freshman via an anonymous caller making a less than desired statement to his hotel room phone at 6:15 am, and it was left unknown until the way home as to who made the call. However his imagination ran free for two days and we had him thinking that it was a golfer from one of the opposing teams!  This trip was unusual in that instead of taking a charter bus, we took two seven passenger vans, which made for tight fits and a new team rule of stale smelling golf shoes being put into zip lock freezer bags.  Our next tournament is in Billings Montana, and is the Rocky Mountain invite.  It will be important for us to play well and beat Rocky Mountain on their home course so that we gain some of our lost strokes back from this week’s play. From the swerving Van, Chris Jarrett

Sept. 27-28 (Billings, MT) - by Jordan Knapp

Our second tournament of the fall was held in Billings, Montana, home of Rocky Mountain College, our conference rivals. This is a 12 hour drive and we took the option of the good ol’ Wheatland Express charter bus. We left Saturday morning at around 4 o’clock. For the most part the majority of us players slept most of the way there, only stirring when it was time to stop for food. We rolled into the Peter Yegan Golf Club around 4 in the afternoon. We had time to play the front nine and take a tour of the back nine for a preview for the new players and a refresher for the veterans. The weather was again a factor during the tournament, for the majority of the time on the golf course we had to battle 10-20 mph winds. Our first day got underway in a timely fashion and we finished with a team two round total of 628, only two strokes behind the host team, Rocky. Cortney was the team low with 77-73. Freshman Heather Bruce shot 77-78. Sue James shot 81-82, Alana Norris shot 77-87 and I rounded out the top five with 91-83. Our individuals; Kelsey Haycock, Brittney Wheeler, and Shanna Herman showed their strength this week with great first and second round scores. Monday morning we returned to the course with the hopes of shutting down Rocky. The third round was delayed about 45 minutes because of frost. After getting underway we sailed through the final round. As a team we were unable to overcome the home course advantage and finished in second behind Rocky, our tournament total was 953. Cortney shot a three round score of 229 to earn the medalist title for the tournament for the second week in a row. The team loaded on the bus and got comfortable for the long journey home.

Sept. 21-22 (Helena, MT) - by Jordan Knapp

To kick the 2009-2010 season off the men’s and women’s golf teams headed to Helena, Montana. We left from the Activity Center at 5 A.M. to make it to the Green Meadows Country Club in time for our 2 o’clock tee time. The drive over was less than eventful, most of us ladies just hunkered down and slept most of the way, which must have been peaceful for Steve. We got to the course and warmed up for our practice round. This was slightly pointless, because unlike the Lewis-Clark Valley, it was very windy and very cold. We finished most of the practice round but, by about 5:30 the weather was so bad we just called it a day and hiked back to the vans.  After dinner we settled into the hotel to rest before our long 36-hole day. Monday morning was again, very cold, there was about an hour and a half long frost delay. Finally at 9:30 we got our first round underway. For the first round our team scoring was lead by Cortney Shrout, with a 77. As a team we fired 328, just eight strokes behind Rocky Mountain College. With the second round on track play was called because of darkness at 7:45. Most of us girls only had 2-4 holes left to play. This meant that our second day would begin with the completion of the second round. During the second round we made a little headway by getting four strokes back from Rocky, as a team we shot 324. Cortney again lead our team with a 77. The third round always seems to go a little quicker, and before you knew it the tournament had finally been completed. The freshman Heather Bruce tied with Cortney for the third round team low with another 77. As a team we finished with a third round score of 330 and a tournament total of 982, this landed us in second behind Rocky’s 968. Cortney’s three round total of 231 was tournament individual medalist. So, with the tournament wrapped up and the clubs loaded, us, eight girls, and Steve hopped in the van and headed home to warmer weather!