Local golfers still dealing with nasty weather factors on the course

The 2014 golf season has been particularly brutal when it comes to weather conditions. It’s been rain and snow shuffling and cancelling meets, and when the meets actually have been able to take place, the local golfers are greeted with a mix of showers, wind and cold temperatures. The girls got nine holes in at St. Francis, even though it was scheduled for 18. It was cold and windy to begin the day, but the course was playable. Quickly after the round started, though, a light mist start and eventually morphed into a steady rain. North Branch Head Coach Dave Ambers said that it was evident that the weather was only getting worse, so the meet was cut into nine holes. “None of the girls I talked to seemed disappointed that they weren’t going to be able to spend a few more hours getting colder and wetter,” he said.

The conditions made for some low scores all around, except for host St. Francis. The Saints won the abbreviated meet with a 189, and the closest team after that was Cambridge-Isanti, with 218. North Branch finished with 233 and Chisago Lakes scored a 247 to bring up the back of the pack. “Some of the bad scores wer due to the weather conditions and some due the difficulty of the course,” Ambers said. “Most of our increased stroke total was because Janice Elkerton had a real big number on one tough par four and because our number two golfer wasn’t at the event. On the plus side, junior Sandy Fernow showed significant improvement, despite hitting her first shot out of bounds.”

Boys
The boys teams each knocked out a home meet earlier this week in warm-ish weather, although the wind was blowing significantly when the guys had a Chisago Lakes Golf Course and Falcon Ridge doubleheader on Tuesday, May 6. Chisago Lakes’ Eric Chambers was the top scorer in the Falcon Ridge meet, and the Wildcats and Vikings battled right down to the last hole for the top spot, with the Vikings edging CL, shooting a 312 to the Wildcats’ 313. North Branch Head Coach Ryan Minke wasn’t thrilled with the team’s score in the first leg at Chisago Lakes Golf Course, as the Vikings shot a 342 “We just weren’t playing our best golf there,” he said between the two meets. His guys responded, however, with the big win in the second leg. For full results from the Mississippi 8 Conference meets at Chisago Lakes GC and Falcon Ridge, check out next week’s issue of The Press.