Dave Sturick
FMMGA Propagandist

The 2022 FMMGA Championship is in the books and as usual, it was a memorable event. We had the privilege of playing two great courses and we have two worthy overall champions !!

A few thank you’s in order first.  We, as an association, are very fortunate to have the pros at each of these facilities who care so much about their membership.  Aaron Black at Springfield was kind enough to let our group go out, invade his golf course on a late Saturday morning and was very accommodating.  Thank You Aaron !! At Fort Mill, David Gies and his staff, along with incoming pro Dennis Rysz were so very helpful and a delight to be in partnership with.  As I said, our Association is very fortunate to have the kind of leadership we do to help make our events the first class events we have come to expect.  Thanks also to Cal Williams who oversees all the golf courses with Springs and helps us coordinate with the courses for this unique event that starts out at one of our sister courses and comes home on Sunday to Good Ole Fort Mill. 

We thank John Anderson and his awesome staff for great food and drink at both Springfield and Fort Mill.  All who got to partake truly enjoyed themselves and the food was awesome.  John continues to upgrade our food service and I think is so valuable to the pleasure of playing at our courses !!

I know Springfield had some issues with their greens that did disappoint the leadership there but beyond that, the course was excellent and VERY DIFFICULT as we all come to expect from that course.  It took a very strong overall field and diminished it to a bunch of very average players just trying to survive.  We did have some players who did excel there though worth mentioning.  First – we had a hole in one.  On the 187 yard par 3 forth hole, Gray McGinn hit a 7 iron into the hole for the perfect shot.  Congrats to Gray who won the total 300 dollar skat pool that day.  Good for him !!! In the 5th flight, Jon (Red) Wallace fired a 78 !! There were only 9 scores under 80 that day in a field of 60 and for Red to be one of them was outstanding.  More to come about Red later !! One of the 9 scores under 80 was a score under 70.  Mike Granger continues to amaze at 85 years old.   Well, he’s actually only 63 but who’s counting.  Mike shot a 69 that day.  When you put that in relation to the rest of the field, that may be one of the best scores ever shot in one of our events.  I know a bunch of us didn’t see a 69 as a possible score out there.  That is an amazing round of golf. 

On Sunday we came home to Fort Mill.  The overall conditions at Fort Mill were perfect !! The greens were great and the course was an absolute joy to play.  With that, some of the scores reflected the great conditions – although some of the pin placements were “challenging” !!  Ashley Patterson – along with John Anderson – have been the best additions to our courses in a long long time.  Ashley and his crew work tirelessly on the course and his commitment and care shows each and every week.  We are tickled to have him with us !!

Lets talk about Sunday golf where champions were crowned.  Congrats to all flights champions in both Gross and Net categories.  We will have money put into your accounts through the Fort Mill Proshop sometime this week.  Included are pics and full results. 

As said earlier, we would be talking about Red Wallace again today.  Our friend Red who shot the great 78 on Saturday had a little rougher time of it on Sunday with a 91.  All that did was make the Low Net Championship a little more competitive.  Red’s two day total for low net of 145 beat out Jody Stegall at 145.2, Jack Windell at 145.4 and Bryan Borsum at 145.6 by fractions.  That is amazingly close !!! We’re glad Red held on.  Red is a long time Fort Mill guy who went away for a while but back playing with us and we’re very glad to have him. 

In the scratch chase, Mike Granger did shoot the 69 Saturday but on Sunday pulled a muscle in his back on the 8th hole that hindered him the rest of the way and he came in with a 77 for the day.  Kudos to Mike for sticking it out and giving it a try.  Mike is a competitor and we all know he is going to give it his best.  We also know Mike won’t use that as an excuse for not winning.  By the way we did have a winner – and a worthy one at that.  Some guy named Jason Steiner shot a very sweet 67 at Fort Mill to take the title at 143 for a two day total.  Jason has had quite the summer and fall. We are proud to have Jason with us and play with us every week.  We have enjoyed his exploits at the US Mid-Am and we continue to root for him whenever he tees it up. 

Congrats to both Jason and Red for being our 2022 FMMGA Champs.