Thanks to Michelle Orne for this terrific team pic. You can look back at six years of these pictures in the right hand column, under "Articles".

Click on the center graphic (thumbnail) above to see the 8x10 size or click: http://admincentral.sportsoffice.com/files/orgdir_091507_41949/files/70091_WholeTeam%20pic%202012%208x10.jpg

http://admincentral.sportsoffice.com/files/orgdir_091507_41949/files/47464_State%20team.gif

Saturday, October 20.

It was pouring, but warm. At 5:30 am the radar looked horrible. At 7:30 it looked a little better over at Fox Ridge Golf Club, Auburn. At 9:20, host coach from St. Dominic's, Kevin Cullen, pronounced a go. The third annual Maine State Middle School Golf Invitational was on!

Fifteen teams, including three teams of young ladies, from Bar Harbor to Cape Elizabeth, got on the road, gps's humming down the highways. 60 young golfers rode through the diminishing storm, anticipating...

Kevin Cullen, St Dom's (host coach), Nancy Storey, Exec Director of Maine State Golf Association and Bob Darling, host Pro at Fox Ridge, put on a show. At check in, players received a "goodie bag" from MSGA of a cap, a rulebook, a couple of Pro V1's, some tees, an excellent greens repair tool and other stuff. Coach Cullen also organized some hosting moms to put together a pack of nutritious snacks for each player.

The format was a shotgun start for the 15 four-player scramble teams. All tee off, Captain of team chooses the best shot and determines the batting order, three hit from there (not the player whose shot is chosen), all players putt (once on the green), each player must contribute two drives. Fox Ridge is a top course in Maine and in New England. Undulating, up and down, blind shots, surprises around the corner, an island green - and all in great, groomed shape. Beautiful foliage on top. The CRMS team spouted, "Gosh, Coach, this is really professional."

The upstart Cape Elizabeth team (new this year), coached by Scott Collins, got off to a hot start, going 2-under after four holes. They ended at 5-under, 67, for a clear victory. Greeley #1 team, coached by Brian Bickford (Pro at Val Halla Golf Club), had a steady round, ending at 3-under par. Camden-Rockport started on the daunting #5, the island green par 3 and managed to save par. They got to 3-under, but slipped back to 1-under, to finish third. Other teams came from Winthrop, Bar Harbor, Oceanside, and Dirigo.

Next year's event is planned for Val Halla in Cumberland, hosted by Brian Bickford, Pro, and Coach of Greely School.

Tuesday, October 16, Rockland Golf Club.

The rain tapered off, the clouds parted a crack, the temperature broke 50, and the 14th Busline League Golf Championship was on. The format was a four-person scramble: everyone drives; if your shot is chosen, you don't hit the next shot; everyone putts; each player must have one drive chosen.

Defending last year's title was Wiscasset Middle School, coached by Bob Sommers. Oceanside (formerly Rockland), who won the Maine State Middle School Invitational last year, entered one team, coached by Kevin Martin. Camden-Rockport Middle School, coached by Kim Chatfield entered two teams.

In the shotgun start, CRMS #1, captained by James Orne, got off to a fast start with a par on the difficult 8th hole. However, the mood dampened as the team recorded a bogie, then a double bogie on #9 and #1. Fortunately, the boys settled down to run the table to card all pars to finish with a wining score of three over, 38. The other members of the team were Cole Anderson, Sam Conlan, and Austin Charkowick.

Nathan Hersom captained the Oceanside team, which included Tucker Grindle, Ryan Lawrence and Jackson Arnsdorf. After two bogies to start, the team bounced back with a tremendous second shot on #3 to card a birdie. However, "the wheels came off" said a disappointed Coach Martin, over the last six holes. The team made 4 bogies in the stretch to finish in second place with a score of 40.

Wiscasset came in third with a score of 46, definitely off their regular season level of performance. Grant Hefler captained the team which included Wade Reed, Alex Taylor, and Levi McAttee.

CRMS #2 consisted of players #5 - #8 on the team ladder. They were young and a bit green, but eager for the competition. Conor O'Dwyer headed up the team, which included Jimmy Lynch, Emmett Acosta, and Andrew Orne. The boys scored 1.33 over par on average for a total of 47.

All teams will get together next week at Rockland Golf Club for a celebration banquet.

Check out the new swing videos! I will be posting a video of each of you and you may even get a "redo". Click on the link at the bottom of the Articles column to the right.

With the Leaderboard well established for the season, and the League and State Championships coming up, the team will switch over to practicing scramble play, the format for the Champs. We do this every year. There is plenty of strategy to learn and review. Please click on "Champs Guidelines" and read carefully to get prepared.

As we make this transition, I am going to start by assigning "mixed" pairings. I'll group 3 - 4 players from different levels of the ladder. We are not going for low scores just yet, we are looking to learn. The better players can not only teach what they know about scrambling but demonstrate shots. Later we will group up our best players to go for low scores.

I have posted two videos of Mack Duke swinging a driver, one angle from the rear looking down the target line, one facing Mack. There are a hundred good things to point out here. I particularly like his pace and rhythm; you do not have to swing super-hard to hit a good ball a long way. Just soak it in, then go look at your own video.

rear angle http://youtu.be/0YZWL6toJh0
front angle http://youtu.be/6LvLSCzJ5Os

I am starting to video player swings and got a few of our players immortalized on Thursday. Click on "View Your Swing" at the bottom of the Articles. More to come soon!

Cole Anderson put on a 2 over for 7 holes show at practice on Thursday and topped the handicapped contest among the whole team. Cole's handicapped average was 2.81 for the 7 holes.

Calculation of net scores took into account the total strokes taken minus the number of holes played times the average over par from the Leaderboard. While a bit artificial, this is a fair way of leveling the playing field to compare performance.

Bryce Carlson was a close 2nd with a 2.86. Zach Dorr came in at 3.49, Jimmie Lynch at 3.64, Austin Charkowick at 3.93 and Andrew Orne at 4.65.

Middle school golf is a stepchild in our league and state and so, often, needs to turn on a dime. This causes constant changes. This is why I have adopted the website model to disperse news and information, rather than sending you lots emails per week. Emails can get lost or mis-filed; you may not be able to search them up if you do not have the time to work at an email filing system. Most of us don't. Instead, all intelligence is on our site, available at midnight in your PJ's. But, this system does not work if you don't look at it. If you set up your schedule and snack obligation in your calendar at the beginning of the season, things have changed. And may change again. Please take a look and call with any questions.

We have had some miscues in the snack area. Sometimes we have had no snack, sometimes two snacks. I really appreciate your efforts! And hope you will again and often look at the "Roster/Snacks" article on the site. If you have traded duty with another family, please let me know by email so I can double check. We have two "standby" families than can be called upon to fill in.

Thanks!

I hope you will all click on "Great Sports Story" at the bottom of Articles. Very Inspiring.

Despite missing some key players due to the 7th Grade field trip to Tanglewood, CRMS rallied to bounce back by the same score they lost by last match on 9/20, by a tight 3 - 2.

Cole Anderson, #1 for CRMS, stepped up to fill James Orne's shoes, and cruised to a smooth 5 up victory over Nathan Hersom, who had a couple of strokes of bad luck. Playing #2 for CRMS, Austin Charkowick also stepped up to eke it out; at one point he was 2 up, then fell back to all square by the last hole. Both players were nerved up on the finishing 9th hole, but Charkowick outlasted Tucker Grindle to come out on top, sinking a knee-knocking, 8 foot putt.

Ryan Lawrence, #3 for OSMS, again turned in a great performance. He shot one over par last week and beat Andrew Orne for CRMS by 3 up today. Sam Conlan stepped up to battle Jackson Arnsdorf in the #4 slot, Sam's first match. It was all-square for 4 hole stretch, until Conlan broke through at the last, 1 up.

Zach Dorr faced a daunting challenge at #5. Last week, Hunter Dinsmore, #5 for OSMS, played extremely well to swamp Andrew Orne. Today, Zach did his best and had a learning experience in competition. Hunter had never seen the course before, but kept his focus and won 4 up.

CRMS and OSMS will go at it twice more this season!

Thursday, 9/20. In a strong followup to their victory at the 2011 Maine State Middle School Championships, played at Samoset last year, Oceanside Middle School (formerly Rockland District Middle School) topped Camden-Rockport Middle School by a score of 3-2, in match play.

#1 for CRMS, James Orne, battled #1 for OSMS, Nathan Hersom, to come from behind for the win. Orne was down 2 after three holes, pulled even after 5, played three holes all square, then sealed the deal on the last hole. CRMS #2, Cole Anderson, got back on track against Tucker Grindle for a 5 up victory.

Numbers 3, 4, 5 all went OSMS' way. #3 for OSMS, Ryan Lawrence, was hot; shooting one over par to beat Austin Charkowick 2 up. Jackson Arnsdorf, #4 for OSMS, seesawed back and forth with Conor O'Dwyer to hold him off and win 1 up.

#5 for OSMS, Hunter Dinsmore, was simply on fire, birdieing #4 and parring #5, to beat Andrew Orne, #5 for CRMS, 2 up.

The teams will meet three more times this season.

Thanks to Bryce Carlson and his mom for this cool article. Here's what GOLFERS look like:

http://www.golf.com/photos/best-dressed-golfers/payne-stewart?hpt=hp_t3

Thursday, 9/13. On a balmy, Indian Summer afternoon, Camden-Rockport Middle School bested Wiscasset Middle School 8-2 at Megunticook Golf Club in match play. Coach Chatfield from CRMS and Coach Sommers from WMS were very pleased with the level of play and a number of the matches came down to the last hole.

Grant Hefler, playing #1 for WMS, took on Cole Anderson, #1, and James Orne, #2, for CRMS in two simultaneous matches. Anderson was off his feed and lost 3 down. Orne seesawed to all square, but an out of bounds drive on the final hole left him 1 down in the end. Hefler finished strong with two pars for the double win.

Austin Charkowick, CRMS #3, played a steady game to top Wade Reed 2 up. Conor O"Dwyer, CRMS #4, was nip and tuck with Alex Taylor, but finished 1 up.

Levi McAttee, WMS #4, took on Andrew Orne and Sam Conlan for CRMS at the same time. Orne, who just picked up the game this summer, won 3 up. Conlan wasn't quite as sharp, but triumphed 2 up. Geoff West and Emmett Acosta were matched against Glade Bloom of WMS, winning 3 up and 1 up, respectively. Finally, Kendra "Marilyn" Belefleur of WMS, in her first year on the Wiscasset team, tried hard against Zach Dorr and James Lynch, but lost 3 up to each.

It was a beautiful day for golf and a number of parents and club members followed the play. Wiscasset will host CRMS in a return match on October 2, at Sheepscot Links Golf Club.

Click on "Roster/Snacks" in the right hand column to view/print our roster. Please make a note of your date to provide snacks. For home matches, please contact me for information on visiting players. For away matches, snacks may be delivered to the school; contact me for how many on the team will travel.

If you have not already handed me your form to cover transportation instructions, please download the form, fill it out and hand it in. You will find it under "downloads", or you can click:

http://admincentral.sportsoffice.com/files/orgdir_091507_41949/files/47755_transportatiopn%20form.pdf

Rockport, Oct 22, 2011

On a cloudy but warm and windless afternoon, nine middle school golf teams met at the Samoset Golf Resort, Rockport, for the 2nd annual Maine Middle School Invitational. The inaugural edition was hosted last year by Kebo Valley, 1888, Bar Harbor. This year, teams came from Greely, Rockland, Camden-Rockport, St. Dominic's (L-A), Wiscasset, Bucksport, and Connors Emerson (Bar Harbor).

The format for the Championship is a four-person scramble. On each hole, all players hit the tee shot, the Captain chooses the best or most strategic result, the three players whose shots are not chosen drop a ball and hit from there. Once on the green, all players putt. The Captain determines the "batting order". Each player must have their drive chosen at least once. This format requires strategy, chemistry, and generates great excitement around the greens.

Nancy Storey, Executive Director of the Maine State Golf Association, kicked off the event by welcoming the teams and passing out gift bags which contained hats, ball markers, tentative schedules for next season, and other goodies. Nancy stated that the MSGA will be, "stepping up its support of middle school golf next year, including rules seminars for young players." Gary Soule, host Pro at Samoset, welcomed all and made the rules and format crystal clear to the players.

There was a tight competition in the nine-hole division with Connors Emerson #1 team carding an excellent five-over 39, Bucksport a 40, the Greely all-girls team a 41 and the Connors Emerson #2 a 48. Bucksport is a new team this year and is coached by Lori Frost, former Maine Women's Amateur Champion. Coach Frost is looking for more competition in the Bucksport area.

In the eighteen-hole division, the Rockland team, Coach Kevin Martin, and Captain Nick Mazurek were hungry. Four days earlier, they had placed second to Wiscasset in the Busline Championship. On the front side, one birdie countered three bogies; three birdies on the back side, including one on the most difficult #18, wiped out a bogie and the net two on the front. It was an excellent even par 71 performance for the win.

With a one-under 33 on the front nine, Greely #1, Coach Brian Bickford (Pro, Val Halla) and Captain Aidan Roberts had a hot start. However, the back nine brought them four bogies before another fantastic birdie 4 on the tough 18th. Capt Roberts stuck an approach wedge to four feet to set it up. This netted a two-over 73 for second place. Another superior performance.

Two teams tied with four over 75's for third place: St. Dominic's and Camden-Rockport. Time and again, C-R was saved by putters-on-fire. Captain James Orne sank a paced-off 75 footer from the fringe in front of #7 green for a birdie, and there were 25 footers and a bunch of 12 footers poured in to save par or make bird. The over-all tally was eight bogies and four birds. St. Dom's, a new team this year, Coached by Kevin Cullen and Captained by Nate Richard, reeled off five straight pars to start and only one bogie on the front nine. Stephanie Rodrigue, a 6th grader, hit to within 10 feet on the difficult uphill par three 5th hole to set up par for the team. They recovered from a double on the 10th to post two bogies and another spectacular birdie 4 on the #1 stroke hole, the 18th, at the finish.

Wiscasset, with Coach Bob Sommers and Captain Darren Wood, were coming off a big win in the Busline Champs, 10/18, at Rockland Golf Club, but were off their feed. They posted a fairly clean two-over on the front nine, but slipped to six-over on the back side. However, they also carded an extraordinary birdie on #18. The result was a seven-over 78.

Middle School Golf is growing in Maine and there is plenty of help available if you would like to start a team. A number of schools wanted to enter multiple teams; Greely had to cut down from 36 players to the 8 available spots. The cost for a school for a golf team is low and the benefits of the game for kids is enormous. You can play with your grandparents and your grandchildren. A high school golfer with a single digit handicap is going to a good college with a generous scholarship.You don't need to be a pro or even a good golfer to coach a team. Contact your local Pro, any of the Coaches mentioned or Kim Chatfield, 207-357-6017 for information and support.

Teams

Bucksport, Coach Lori Frost, lorifrost8@yahoo.com
Noah Lenor, Capt
Colin Bechtel
Jordan Wadleigh
Dylan Bucker
Sophie Mitchell

Camden-Rockport, Coach Kim Chatfield, fchatjr@sportsoffice.com
James Orne, Capt
Matt Prescott
Austin Charkowick
Cole Anderson

Rockland, Coach Kevin Martin, kmartin@rsu13. org
Nick Mazurek, Capt
Tucker Grindle
Nate Hersom
Jackson Arnsdorf

Wiscasset, Coach Bob Sommers, loonpoint@mac.com
Daren Wood, Capt
Grant Hefler
Chayse Reed
Wayde Reed

St Dominic's, Coach Kevin Cullen, PGA, kevin.cullen@portlanddiocese.org
Nate Richard, Capt
Justin Keaney
A.J. Parisi
Stephanie Rodrigue

Connors Emerson #1, Coach Jon Nicholson, jon.nicholson@thefirst.com
Kyle Nicholson, Capt
Kyle Lamson
Brenan Hubbard
Oliver Johnston

Connors Emerson #2, Coach Jon Nicholson, jon.nicholson@thefirst.com
Alden Burgess, Capt
Jacob Mitchell
Josh Bloom
Hannah Chamberlain

Greely #1, Coach Brian Bickford, PGA, bbickford@cumberlandmaine.com
Aidan Robert, Capt
Tate Porter
Joe Piwowski
Nathan Gervais

Greely #2, (all girls) Coach Brian Bickford, PGA, bbickford@cumberlandmaine.com
Jenna Pavis, Capt
Isabella Perry
Isabel Porter
Kelsey Currier