2013

2013 was hosted by Don and Kathi Hassin at Lake Geneva Wisconsin.  It was truly one of our most memorable Shootouts.  The “Old Playboy Club” was a splendid facility– enticing scenery and exceptional golf courses.  The town of Lake Geneva also provided a charming diversion for the non-golfers.  The weather was Wisconsin pleasant.  Many classmates arrived a couple days early to visit either Madison or Milwaukee.  On the last day there was a forecast of 100% chance of rain.  Somehow it held off until we were finished golfing.  In 76 rounds of golf over the years we have only experienced the single rainout at WP in 2007.  Big Bob Worthington was awarded the Woody for continually dropping his trousers in the presence of classmates and their wives while maintaining a “good dress off” on and off the course.

2012

2012 was held for a second time at the Keystone CO resort.  The Class again stayed in the Keystone plaza condominiums below the ski gondolas.  It was hosted by Joe and Val Yakovak and myself.  We played the River and Ranch Courses at Keystone, The Raven at 3 Peaks in Frisco CO and the Breckenridge Golf Course.  Our meals were at the Keystone Conference Center and a special night when we rented the entire Keystone Mountain House Restaurant.  It was 2 gondola rides to the top of the mountains and spectacular views of the Rockies.

That was also the year when drought conditions in the Rockies were kicking up major forest fires along the front range.  The Keystone area was not in jeopardy, but the return trip to Denver and the airports was eventful for some with necessary delays and detours.

Note that throughout all of these years, including our 19th event at Branson, we consistently have approximately 100 classmates and a total of about 160 people in attendance.  We have never had an off year.

2011

2011 was held in Pinehurst and hosted by Kevin James. Kevin did a fantastic job of setting up the meals, golf and lodging, but Pinehurst was the only resort/venue who let us down by switching and downgrading the accommodations at the last minute. They also added unexpected charges to the golf despite their agreements with the Class. I will not go into further detail. All of the courses we played were among the Pinehurst 8 courses. On the day before the event many Hackers arrived early to play the famous Pinehurst No.2 Course where Payne Stewart won the US Open several years before. It had just been remodeled to host the US Open the following year. On our knickers day, not only did the guys show up properly attired, but the ladies were all decked out in 1920’s style dresses to play golf. The photograph of the golfers on that day before the Payne Stewart statute was a classic for the Class and the Pinehurst Resort.

2010

2010 was hosted by Tom and Ann Mannle at Santa Ynez.They did a masterful job of holding down the California prices and providing great meals, golf and accommodations. We stayed at the convenient Marriott in Buellton. Played a challenging, but beautiful La Purisima Course, Vandenburg AFB Course and each of the local resort courses. Prez will remember the name of those course. A memorable last night supper was held at the historic and scenic dude ranch where Tom and Ann visit every year. I don’t recall the Woody winner, but I recall a nomination to Joe Albano and Dave Curry (cart mates) getting totally lost on La Purisima Course and playing the holes out of order mixing up everyone behind them. Their playing order was something like 1-4, 8-15, 5-7 and finishing up on 16, 17 and 18.I also remember Scott Hutchison’s 4-some having a mountain lion cross the cart path 50 yards in front of them. Most classmates and wives had the chance to take a day long wine tour among the dozens of vineyards in the area and no one got a DUI or reported Gordo spilling his wine.

2009

2009 was hosted by Sperry Kaler and Bruce Nead at Hilton Head. Again, they contracted for our group to stay in very nice 2BR condos on the island. The 4 courses we played were all over the island. I forgot the names. As usual all went smooth. Unlike the 2 previous cool weather Shootouts, this event was Hot and Humid!!Our clothing was sticking too us, so Lou Kardonsky revealed his bikini underwear, some said it was more of a thong, while he replaced his knickers with Bermuda shorts between holes during one of the steamy rounds. He earned the Woody, but some say Mike Ritchie’s behavior was more worthy. On one of the greens Mike squatted down to read a putt and ripped his shorts from the front belt line to the rear belt line– not just a small 4 inch rip. A playing partner commented that he thought the putt “was about 2-balls out,” thus the nickname. A good time was had by all.

2008

2008 was hosted at Keystone CO by myself, Jack McHenry and Scott Hutchison. We stayed in the 1 and 2 BR condos at the main Keystone Resort Plaza. We played The Raven at Three Peaks the first day followed by the Keystone Ranch Course twice and the River once. Classmates and wives from all over the country were pleasantly surprised to be wearing golf jackets and sweaters in the morning in late June. It should be noted that in the past 19 years we have had only 1 rainout. That was at the West Point Shootout in 2006.Despite some sketchy forecasts over the many rounds and the many years Odin has been AWOL. Dave Duke received the Woody for his drive on the River Course which downed a Raven flying in front of the tee box. His company mates also witnessed Dave peeing off the bridge into the Eagle River after they had assured their wives that the local water was cleaner than the expensive bottled water. Maybe Prez remembers the DAQ award winner. I do recall John Spears winning it one of these years for continue questioning my math on the amount he owed. His math was based upon only wanting to pay half, $10, of the $20 admin fee because he was not going to attend the entire event. After about 3 iterations of his dumb questions I finally relented and saved him $10.I also recall a funny post event communication with Gordo Schnabel. He emailed me with an complaint against the resort for charging him for a $100 carpet cleaning fee. I took his complaint serious and called the resort. They informed me that there was a big red wine stain on the carpet on his and Debbie’s condo carpet. I called Gordo who had no qualms about admitting to spilling his wine witnessed by the Ritchies. The following year at Hilton Head Jean Ritchie and I appropriately gave Gordo a sippy cup and portable place mat to mitigate future damages to condos.

2007

2007 we held the Shootout at the Robert Trent Jones Trail in Auburn/Opelika Alabama hosted by Tom and Gloe Dyne, who typically did it professionally. We stayed at the downtown Marriott hotel, which also hosted a couple of our suppers. We played both RTJ courses, Lake Course twice and Pine Course once. We also played Tommy D’s country club course. Our concern about unbearable heat and humidity in south Alabama we lucked into the coolest driest weather in years. The temperature did not exceed 85 degrees the entire 5 days. I forgot who deserved the Woody, but I do recall Dave Duke earning the DAQ for his numerous questions about how many wives, and which wives would attend. I suspect his inquiries were on behalf of Pam and Dave is a handsome gentleman, but we did question his motive. Maybe Prez can remember the Woody recipient and other details.

2006

2006 was held at West Point hosted by Tom Mannle. It was held in conjunction with our 35th Reunion and the Change of Command ceremony from Bill Lennox to Buster Hagenbeck. Buster has always been a “regular” attendee. I will never forget that despite their upcoming rigorous Superintendent duties, Buster and Judy attended every supper with the class and every round of golf rather than hob knobbing with the WP dignitaries. We played the WP course, a great Jack Nicklaus course in Monroe and 2 courses across the river. Tom Mannle can remember the name of the courses. Jack McHenry got the Woody for continually screwing up the scoring of the regimental competition– not just that year, but every year. We all stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Ft. Montgomery.

2005

2005 was hosted by Bob Weiss at Charlottesville VA. We stayed at a Raddison Hotel with a well-stocked bar on the first floor. Those were the days when we could play golf all day, clean up, go to dinner and then close down the bar drinking and telling stories. We played the UVA Birdwood course where Doug Clevenger got the first Shootout hole in one. Bad timing for Doug to do that with his classmates in the bar after the round. It was reported that Doug mooned the entire bar when he saw the tab. We played a course at the Wintergreen resort below the Blue Ridge Mountains. We played Bob Weiss’s Country Club course and a fourth excellent course, again at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I am pretty sure that was the year Kevin James got the Woody for playing the wrong ball multiple times.

2004

In 2004, Bill Ewing hosted the Shootout at Boyne Highlands Resort in Northern Michigan on the West shore of Lake Michigan. All 4 courses we played were top notch courses on the resort. We shared 2 BR condos on the resort and everything was very convenient and all went smooth. The restaurants were at scenic locations along Lake Michigan. I am pretty sure that was the outing Joe Yakovac got the Woody for unintentionally leaving his credit card in a bar loaded with classmates who ran up an imaginary tab. He was shocked to see the bill when he returned the next day to retrieve it. The next day he also left his wallet on the counter of the golf course snack bar when he got his morning coffee. Johnny Brooks picked it up and kept it until Joe tried to buy a beer on the course during the round. Maybe Bill Ewing can add more history.

2003

2003 was in Albuquerque/Santa Fe.  An unfortunate piece of Shootout history was that it was originally hosted by Alan Jones.  In December while working on preparations Alan was sadly diagnosed with an aggressive cancer.  By late winter he was in hospice and died quickly.  Alan was a golfer and initially chose the golf courses.  I followed up with that.  Jack Morrison and Dick Fate picked up the rest of the hosting duties of restaurants and a great hotel and rates in Albuquerque.  All went smooth.  Hugh Mac gave the very best presentation of the Woody succession performance on the last night.  The Woody was awarded to Joe Albano.  He was staying on the top floor of the hotel when his toilet overflowed early in the morning before he left for golf.  The hotel plumbers fixed it while he was on the course, but they had to open the windows to air out the room.  When Joe returned, his room was full of pigeons and their droppings.  As he tells the story…

In 2003 Alb/Santa Fe I recall we played the University of New Mexico course, also Cochiti course on the Cochiti Indian Reservation and the Paa Ko Ridge golf course (annually rated the top course in NM.)

2002

2002 was in Williamsburg hosted primarily by Jack Klevecz with big assists from Dale Abrahamson and Joe Yakovac.  That was the first year we drew really big Shootout numbers of classmates and wives.  We easily justified shotgun starts every day for the next 15 plus years.  Hugh McDonald was the consensus choice for the Woody for his exemplary display of earning a one of a kind penalty stroke while incompetently making his best effort to avoid the penalty.

2001

2001 was in Colorado Springs with the Class of 1970.  Jim Crawford ’70  and I hosted it together.  We played at USAFA, Ft. Carson, Kings Deer and Red Hawk Ridge (Castle Rock CO).  That was the first year of the Woody award won by 4-iron for his embarrassing conduct witnessed by our predecessor class.

2000

In 2000, I recall doing all of the pairings, scoring, money collecting etc. and knew I needed to delegate to others the many tasks.  Word of mouth within the class lead to get big increases in attendance.  Those that helped me over the next many years were the perfect fit for their jobs.  Sperry hosted not only Myrtle Beach, but Hilton Head a few years later.

1999

In 1999 I recall, myself, Dick Graf, Jack McHenry, Scott Hutchison, Bill Ewing, Tom Cafaro, John Scott and Sperry Kaler in attendance.  There were probably a couple others.  Bill Ewing can probably remember the others.