This article first appeared on BuffaloGolfer.Com in September of 2001, year one of our website (we think…we’re all getting fuzzy.)  There was a debate locally about which champions from which clubs (real estate versus non-real estate) should qualify into the local Champion of Champions event.

“As a wonderful golfing season approaches twilight, and as Americans and peace-loving citizens the world across await decisions that will markedly change the present and future, Western New York finds itself asking questions about a recent, noteworthy golfing championship.

The BDGA-sponsored Champion of Champions is an event for which any golfer wishes to qualify.  There is only one way to get in:  win your club championship.  Until this year, the concept of exactly what constitutes a club was incomplete for many area golfers.  Many assumed, as logic seems to dictate, that a club was an organization of golfers at a specific golf course or country club.  The purpose of that club would be to work in conjunction with the USGA to determine handicaps, and to conduct tournaments in order to keep the club members entertained.  

Some ten or fifteen years ago, I read an article in GOLF magazine, about a non-real estate club that the writers and staffers had formed.  Knowing that they could not all belong to the same golf or country club, they consulted the USGA about the possibility of forming their own, non-real estate club.  The USGA indicated that this was a practice, particularly common in metropolitan areas and within large companies, that had been in place for some time.  The only requirements were a minimum number of members and dues from each one to support the handicapping program.  The GOLF magazine group scrambled the letters of the magazine title and came up with “FLAMINGO GAZE” for a name.  This club continues in existence today.

Recently, the Champion of Champions event was conducted at East Aurora Country Club.  In a remarkable display of golfing prowess, Tim Hume reduced the course to some sixty-five pure strokes to win by six shots.  Unfortunately, a cloud continues to hang over the event, as dissected by Bob DiCesare in the September 16 edition of the Buffalo News.  The facts are as follow:

1.  At some juncture, the East Aurora Country Club decided to not invite the champions of non-real estate clubs;

2.  BDGA Executive Director Richard “Whitey” Nichols announced that the event would no longer carry a BDGA sanction, and ranking points to have been allotted to the top finishers would not be so meted out;

3.  Golfers across Western New York reacted in a variety of ways.

Writing lucidly, DiCesare found himself able to avoid a compromising situation.  As a member of East Aurora, he would be expected to support the club; as a professional, he did not blindly do so.  He took the club to task for the timing of the announcement.  In the same section of the article, he recognized the debt all golfers owe to this fine club for the hosting (more than fifty years now) of the International Junior Masters.

The sticking point of the whole matter seems to be the issue of golfing competency.  One would suppose that a club champion would demonstrate a high level of proficiency with the irons.  The potential exists for a bunch of beginning golfers to satisfy the membership requirements, pay the dues to both the USGA and BDGA, and form a non-real estate club, all with the premise of presenting for the Champion of Champions tournament, a champion who has never made a par in his life.  To avoid this scenario DiCesare proposes that all club champions must have a handicap of 10 or fewer strokes per round, the requirement to attempt to qualify for the BDGA Individual Championship.  On this point I, Milfred “Mo” Golf, agree with Mr. DiCesare.

DiCesare continues that the champions of all non-real estate clubs should be invited if their handicap qualifies in this manner.  I also support him on this point of excluding no one.  The point of exclusion is a natural segue into the tangential point associated with the entire issue:  exclusion.  

The BDGA conducts a season-long points race in order to identify the top area golfers in as unbiased a fashion as currently possible.  As DiCesare points out, however, tournament entry fees for the various points-laden championships approach $1000, which would be in addition to club membership fees (real estate or non-real estate) and the usual cost of green fees.

In summary, there are justifiable interpretations of prohibition and exclusion, and there are asinine ones.  Consider the following list, compiled by the one and only Milfred “Mo” Golf, 7th place finisher in this year’s WNY PubLinks Class A Championship (and holder of 30 points and the Number 69 position in the BDGA rankings):

1.  He has a Taylor Made 360 and Titleis ProV1 balls (and I do not) because he has a better job and makes more money—Asinine.  Ben Hogan dug the secret out of the ground with clubs and balls that would look positively neanderthal, in comparison with today’s most rudimentary implements.  Take some lessons and practice instead of buying more expensive equipment.

2.  He belongs to a public course, and should not be allowed to compete—Justifiable.  Believe it or not, that is how the ladies run things in Western New York.

3.  He cannot compete in the Ahem Cup sponsored by Whatchamacallit Country Club because he does not know a member (but I do, can, and will get more points than he)—Justifiable.  If you can’t compete, but some other guy can, how is that fair?

4.  There are only three members at Northwood Country Club that can break 80, so that means the club champ only has to defeat two other guys—Asinine.  Too bad, I empathize, but if the top guy shoots even par, no one else will beat him unless they go lower.

5.  Their club doesn’t have a course of its own, so they can’t possible be real golfers.—asinine.  Most top public golfers play around (and I don’t mean cheat on their wives).  If you play the same course every day, you will develop only the shots required of that particular track.  Non-real estate golfers play courses with USGA ratings and slopes, turn scores, ratings and slopes in, and get a legitimate handicap.

6.  Whitey Nichols says it, so it must be so.—Justifiable.  Like him or not, he is the most unbiased, experienced, acerbic, and thorough judge of golf in Western New York.  He has made a second career out of officiating golf, running tournaments, and keeping up a damn good game of his own.  If anyone knows golf in WNY, it’s Whitey.”