Last week, I sent an email to the golfers on my Sunday morning email list and asked them to fill out a short questionnaire for my article this month. My question was: What’s in your bag? (mimicking the Golf Digest article, if you’ve ever read Golf Digest).
It was a challenge brought on by Joe Wolfe, who reminded me that the February Sportscaster has been historically thin. There isn’t much going on “golf-wise” in the Sports Club, so I decided on some light reading.
Later this year, I hope to be ordering Omaha Sports Club “logo” golf balls. My thanks to Pat, Bob, Ron and Spencer. Each one will receive a free sleeve of golf balls. Read below:
1. What kind of driver do you carry? (Make, age, loft and shaft if possible)
a. Pat Runge: Taylor Made R5, draw weight, 10.5 degree loft.
b. Bob Swatek: MacGregor, 11 degree loft, regular flex graphite, 7 years old.
c. Ron Policky: Taylor Made R7 Quad, medium stiff shaft.
d. Spencer Jacobs: Prairie Golf driver. 3 years old, 9 degree loft, standard flex.
e. Gene Hug: Adams Speedline, 9.5 degree loft, Aldila VooDoo stiff shaft.
2. What kind of fairway woods do you carry?
a. Pat Runge: Taylor Made R5, draw weight 3 wood, Nike Ignite 5 wood.
b. Bob Swatek: Turnburry, 22-degree loft, Graphite, 12-Wood, 46 degree loft.
c. Ron Policky: Taylor Made “RAC” 3 and 5 fairway woods.
d. Spencer Jacobs: #3, #4 & #7 hybrids, 2-10 yrs old, long standard steel shaft.
e. Gene Hug: #3 & #5 Cobra Comp, Aldila NVS stiff shaft.
3. What kind of irons and wedges do you play?
a. Pat Runge: Taylor Made 22-degree rescue, Cobra s9 irons, 4-SW
b. Bob Swatek: Prestige, about 8 years old (but only use 7, 8, and 9).
c. Ron Policky: Taylor made “RAC” irons and a Wilson SW.
d. Spencer Jacobs: Prairie Golf, 5-SW, Sam Snead #2 & #3 iron, 30 yrs old.
e. Gene Hug: Cleveland TA5, stiff steel shafts, 52 degree and 58 degree wedges.
4. What kind of putter do you use?
a. Pat Runge: Odyssey Sabretooth.
b. Bob Swatek: Wilson Black Jack, about 8 years old.
c. Ron Policky: “Carbonite” putter, 15 years old, w/stiff shaft.
d. Spencer Jacobs: Various different putters.
e. Gene Hug: Ping Isopur blade.
5. What kind of ball do you prefer to use? And if you mark it, how?
a. Pat Runge: I play whatever ball I find, and use the mark that came with it.
b. Bob Swatek: Pinnacle or Slazenger balls, Orange felt tip over the brand name.
c. Ron Policky: Callaway or Nike balls.
d. Spencer Jacobs: I have never bought balls; I either win them or find them.
e. Gene Hug: I find more balls than I need, but I like Bridgestone and Titleist.
6. How long have you been playing golf?
a. Pat Runge: 30+ years
b. Bob Swatek: Maybe about 15 years.
c. Ron Policky: I have been playing golf poorly since 1982.
d. Spencer Jacobs: First played golf in high school. Tore a muscle running track and the doctor suggested golf to build up my legs. (25 years off and on).
e. Gene Hug: Started playing in high school, but started playing more than once a week in the late 80s.
7. Funniest moment (or story) for you as a golfer?
a. Pat Runge: (June 27, 2008). Teeing off on #10 at Elmwood on league night, with our foursome thinking the weather was a little sketchy. As we headed around the turn and up the hill and the sky started to turn orange, we became a little more concerned. By the time we reached the green, the wind had picked up and leaves on the green were swirling in place. We all realized it was a "gots-to-go" moment. We all got back in the carts and high-tailed it back to the clubhouse just before that major storm hit. The storm knocked down trees on the course and we all thought we were goners.
b. Bob Swatek: There have been so many, one at an outing at Red Oak with Lenny Wieck, Sue Spencer, and Carol Weidner. Someone brought some homemade Schnapps and our cart got stuck in the "Tundra".
c. Ron Policky: I was playing at Willow Lakes with some of my “Corps of Engineer” friends. On Hole #5; Dave Tier hit his drive and moonballed it towards the lake (he must of hit a rock just under the water’s surface). The ball ricocheted right back at him and rolled up to his feet. Strangest golf shot I ever saw. Dave played the ball and managed to par the hole.
d. Spencer Jacobs: Many years ago I was playing golf in East Meadow, Long Island. This happened on a Par 3. I waited for the foursome in front of me to get off the green and onto the next tee box before I teed off. Rare, but true, I hit my ball and it hooked directly towards that foursome. On the top of my breath I yelled "fore"!!! They turned towards me and they yelled "fore" back. The ball started to bear down on them and I yelled "fore" again. Like a guided missile my ball hit one guy in that foursome square in his chest. Before I could say sorry, they hit one back at me. I heard them yell "fore" and a small white projectile hit me right on the top of my head. There was a little pain and confusion but all parties concerned saw it all and we all had a good laugh. P.S. It hardly even hurt.
e. Gene Hug: I played in a golf scramble with three others and we were on a fairly short Par 4. All four of us tried to hit our drives “extra hard” thinking we could drive the green. All four of us hit our drives out-of-bounds (right) and we were forced to re-tee on the tee box, each of us hitting our third shot. We double-bogeyed the hole. The next hole was a long Par 5 with out-of-bounds on the right side again. Each one of us hit our drives in the fairway (that’s not the funny part).