With my trip to The Loop, Tom Doak's reversible golf course at Forest Dunes Resort, less than ten weeks away, I can't help thinking about my only brush with Doak's Renaissance Golf Design in Traverse City, MI.

Although based in Ft. Wayne, IN, I am a long-time Michigan golfer. With over 950 different courses in 48 different states under my belt, I can say definitively the state of Michigan is my favorite. I've played all over the state and am always looking for ways to play its most iconic courses.

One of these courses is one of the most critically acclaimed in the world and also one of the more difficult courses at which to secure a tee time. I'm talking about Crystal Downs Country Club in Frankfort, MI, an Alister Mackenzie and Perry Maxwell design, rated number one in the state, 11th on Golf Magazine's Top 100, and 13th on Golf Digest's America's Greatest Courses. The course sits on a 100 foot sand ridge overlooking both Crystal Lake and Lake Michigan. Mackenzie drew up the routing shortly after completing his work at Cypress Point and a few years before his work with Bobby Jones on Augusta National.

Incredibly, I've now played Crystal Downs three times and indirectly, have Tom Doak to thank. Here's the story.

My good friend, Karl Mess has two daughters who played college golf. His oldest, Sara, a former Michigan State golfer, secured a job with Doak at Renaissance Golf and has participated in the development of several courses around the world. In 2005, Karl, knowing that I and another good friend, Steve (Seve) Ramp had salivated for years when thinking about playing Crystal Downs, communicated to us a unique way to play the course. Doak, a member at the course, told Sara to simply play the course the day after it closes for the season (usually November 1) or on the days before it opens for the season (usually before May 1).

We watched the weather closely as this is not a plan that works every year. Northern Michigan can be very cold, even snowy in late April and early November. In late October, 2005, the forecast was looking fabulous for early November. So we started planning. Karl would stay at Sara's apartment in Traverse City and Seve and I would stay in the intern's quarters above Doak's Renaissance Golf building.

For a warm-up, Steve and I played the back nine at nearby Champion Hill Golf Course before heading out to Crystal Downs. The course was virtually deserted. Shortly we were joined by Sara and Karl and soon, bags on our back, we headed to the first tee. What a treat! You would think the greens would be somewhat slow but the growing season was over. Just cut for a final time on October 31, the greens were fast and true...and difficult!

We spent a great deal of time at the famous horseshoe seventh green (where it is possible to hit a 90 degree putt from the front of the green to a back pin and vice-versa). We were stunned at the difficulty of the uphill par 3 ninth. And also the 11th green, a green horrifically sloped from back to front that looks flat from the tee. And we agonized over our tee shots on the 311 yard par 4, deemed by many the greatest par 4 in the world.

What a day!

And as luck would have it, a warm spring in 2007 afforded the opportunity to play the course on back to back days on 4/28 and 4/29.

I can't say for sure if this technique is still valid...but it never hurts to try. Just make sure you are prepared to carry your bag and navigate the elevation changes. And watch the weather.

Thank you Sara Mess! And thank you Tom Doak!

Footnote: Of course the clubhouse and Pro Shop were closed for the year. So I was unable to obtain a logo ball. But good friend Karl took care of that the next season on a trip to visit Sara. Thank you Karl!

I finished my Dad's obituary (http://www.dejohnfuneral.com/joseph-gutoskey/) Wednesday morning. I choked up when I read it back to my wife. The finality of it all hit me. He's not here anymore to provide advice. He was a treasure trove of knowledge and skill, most of it self-learned. He always had the right answer.

He passed away at 4:40 Wednesday morning at his home in Wickliffe, Ohio after a six month battle with colon cancer. Tuesday was his 70th Wedding Anniversary. He met the love of his life, my Mom Emma, at work in the mid-1940's (he always said he chased her until she caught him) and they were married on February 23, 1946.

An obituary is never enough to tell a complete story of a person. I need to share more about him.

I think there are two traits that tell the story of my Dad. The first is giving. He lived to help others from a very early age. The second trait is a thirst for knowledge. Whatever he attempted in life, he did with gusto. He did nothing with a lazy spirit, whether it was his profession or his hobbies.

Dad grew up during the Depression and learned the necessity of hard work early in life. At age 7, he searched along the railroad tracks for loose pieces of coal to help in heating the family home. At age 10, he stood with his wagon outside grocery stores hoping to make money transporting groceries without much success. By age 11, he was working part-time (he was in school) for Ben Fleisher, the owner of a local dry cleaning business. He washed the floor and performed miscellaneous chores. Later, he ran the shop while Ben worked in back or made deliveries. Each week, he gave his earnings to his mother and the two of them went to Cleveland's West Side Market where they bought food for the family of eleven. He lost this job at age 16 when Ben passed away. For two years after, his day consisted of a street car ride to Cleveland's West Tech High School, another street car ride after school to a local bowling alley where he set pins until after midnight for a nickel a game (nickels that were given to his mother), and then a third street car ride back home. After several hours of sleep, he'd be back on the street car to school. He often spoke about the bruises and knots on his legs from wayward bowling pins. And when did he get the time to study (as he received very good grades)? His younger brother attended the same school ten years later and was saddled with the standard Dad had set. His teachers still remembered Dad after ten years!

Upon graduation from high school in 1941, Dad began his career as an electrician for Thompson Products, one of the companies that eventually became TRW Corporation. He raved about the stellar education he received at West Tech. He knew more than many of the electricians who had been in place for years. As a result of this job, he saved enough money to buy a house for his family and then worked with his father to customize it for his family. He often stated that while the Depression ended in economic terms in the late 1930's, it wasn't over for his family until he began his job at Thompson Products in the early 1940's.

Dad met Mom at work and they married in 1946. By 1950, he had two daughters and a son. And his knowledge and work ethic weren't lost on his bosses. He became the foreman over his fellow electricians in 1950.

In 1954, with another son in tow, he moved Mom and his four children into a new house in Wickliffe, Ohio that he built during the previous two years with his father. It was a two story, four bedroom house with a basement. And he owed only $500 on it!

By 1959, he now had two daughters and three sons and was tapped to supervise the construction of an aircraft parts plant for TRW in California. He moved the family to Anaheim where they lived for a year. The family, now with three daughters and three sons, moved back to Wickliffe in 1960, and added two more sons by 1963 (for a total of eight).

Dad could build or repair ANYTHING! He was a carpenter, an electrician, a plumber, a sheet metal worker, a drywall installer, a welder; he could fix automobiles, any kind of engine, washers, dryers, small appliances--you name it.

He always had a project going and as his oldest son, he used me as his helper. While I freely admit I often assisted with a poor attitude, he knew what he was doing. I paid attention and received an education I didn't know I needed. Dad finished the basement, added a room at the back of the house and built a storage shed out back. In the mid-1960's, my grandfather rolled his 1962 Rambler on the east side of Cleveland. He was fine but the car was totaled. That didn't stop my Dad. We worked for weeks on that vehicle, I learned quite a bit about body work and Dad ended up with a second car.

During the late 1960's, he turned the 15x40 crawl space at the west end of our house into a finished basement--by hand! He broke up the concrete using only a sledgehammer and dug out the six feet of clay beneath it, wheel-barrel by wheel-barrel. He shored up the walls, poured footers, and laid block up to the old footers. And then poured a concrete floor one bag at a time.

The knowledge I gained as Dad's helper paid dividends over the years. But of more importance were the lessons I learned about a willingness to take risks by tackling jobs better suited for a professional and the work ethic he instilled in me. To this day, if there is something I can do myself, I will never pay somebody else to do it for me.

He remodeled substantial parts of the homes of three of his children and his brother, finished the basements of several of his sisters, and still found the time to keep things in working order at home.

I once gave him a call from Fort Wayne about an air conditioning unit I was installing in a wall of my first home. He walked me through the 220 wiring to the breaker box over the phone. And at that same home, I built a storage shed out back, just like Dad did. He was always my consultant, even from afar. That's the kind of advice and knowledge I am going to miss.

This is hard to believe but until a new oven malfunctioned while still under warranty as he neared the age of 90, neither Mom nor any of his eight children had ever seen a repairman in the house. He installed a new water heater in his basement in his late 80's!

Dad certainly wasn't opposed to nepotism. His position at TRW and the respect he engendered allowed him to find most of his children jobs during summers with TRW or its subcontractors so they could earn enough money to fund or knock a hole in the cost of their college educations.

Dad retired in 1988 as Superintendent of Maintenance at TRW's Home Office in Euclid, Ohio. But his retirement didn't last long. TRW eventually sold their home office facility in Euclid and Dad, knowing more than anybody about the sprawling facility, was asked to return as a consultant. Amazingly, he retired a second time in 2013 from Northrop Grumman at the age of 90!

Dad had a progression of hobbies during his life. And when he became interested in something, it was with great gusto. He was a lifelong Cleveland Indians fan and spent many evenings with his family members at games. The radio at home always had the games on. He passed onto me his love of baseball. As a wild left-handed pitcher growing up, he'd watch me walk or hit as many batters as I struck out. I can still see him behind the backstop watching me struggle and shouting, "follow through."

He and Mom participated in bowling leagues, both with great success. But he had three real passions: ham radio, golf, and the button box.

Dad became interested in ham radio as a boy. It became his lifetime hobby. I am not sure how he did it but he was able to get on the air (illegally) around the time he became a teenager in the mid-1930's. It wasn't until 1948 that he obtained his Class B license and his call letters of W8DOE. His ham friends called him "Joe Doe." As a child, I would hear him (and I can still hear him to this very day) looking for fellow hams with whom to converse: "CQ, CQ CQ, hello CQ. This is W8DOE, dog, ocean, edward calling CQ, CQ, CQ." He soon had his Class A license and in 2000, achieved his Extra class license. Despite talking to people all over the world over the years, he was a true "homebrewer" in the parlance of his fellow hams. That is, he built his own equipment and that is what gave him the most enjoyment in the hobby. His tower, still standing against the back of his house in Wickliffe had two motors, one to rotate the antenna and one to lower the upper structure out of the wind as necessary. He built it from scratch. Later in life he was President of the local Ham Radio Club.

In a roundabout way, Dad introduced me to the game of golf. In the corner of our garage was a white canvass bag with a set of mismatched golf clubs. They were his and he played the game at some point in time in the 1940's and 50's. In 1961 as a 10 year old, I began swinging these right-handed clubs even though I was a lefty. To this day, I play the game right-handed. I practiced the game at Wickliffe High School which was behind Dad's house. A couple of years later, I began caddying at Wickliffe's Pine Ridge Country Club. But I never actually played a round of golf on a "real" golf course until a nine-hole round at Wickliffe's Greenridge Golf Course at the age of 15. Dad had some connections at work who knew Eddie Garfield, the Pro at Greenridge, and he was able to get me a year's membership at Greenridge where my love of the game developed. We played our first round of golf together in 1969 after my freshman year at college. He was 46. It was a nine hole round at Greenridge. I think we both wished we had spent more time together on the golf course as I grew up.

By the time I was out of college, Dad had really caught the golf bug. TRW had commissioned Pete Dye to build a golf course for the employees in Chesterland, Ohio. The course, public today and known as Fowler's Mill, opened in 1972 as a private course for TRW employees. The course was rated as high as 31 on Golf Magazine's "Top 100 Courses You Can Play" list. Dad even began building golf clubs before it became popular--for himself, for Mom, for my youngest brother. He had regular games with neighbors, his brothers-in-law, and work buddies. He and Mom took trips to resorts with couples from the neighborhood. He watched golf on TV every weekend. He watched every golf video he could get his hands on and he read all the classic golf instruction books (Hogan's "Five Lessons - The Modern Fundamentals of Golf", Nicklaus' "Golf My Way", John Jacobs' "Practical Golf" and others). Every time I visited, he had a new swing thought and we would play a course in the Cleveland area I had yet to play. And he got to the point where he was a fairly decent golfer. Our last round together was with Mom at Greenridge Golf Course on July, 8, 2009. We all walked. He was 86.

Dad's other passion was the button box accordion. Mom had played the button box as a girl growing up in Kane, Pennsylvania. Mom casually mentioned to Dad in the early 80's that she played. He was quite surprised and by sheer luck, they were able to obtain the very button box she played as a girl, a very rare Mervar. Mom began playing seriously again, took lessons from a local button box legend, Joe Kusar, and became a playing member of Kusar's Gang. Dad committed himself to learning to play, obtained his own button box and joined Kusar's Gang with Mom in the early 80's. Mom and Dad frequented many of the Slovenian halls and festivals and not a weekend went by without Slovenian polkas playing in the house. 

Dad loved life and his family and we now have a huge void in our lives. I'll be attending my first Polka Funeral Mass on Monday as I say good-bye to an amazing man. I can't wait to reunite with him in paradise after I live out my remaining years. May you rest in peace, Dad.

It's that time of year again. The two teams are set for the Super Bowl. The Seattle Rabbit's Foot, I mean the Seattle Seahawks (who are luckier than the Irish in the way they won their game against Green Bay) and the New England Deflataballs (you know what I mean) are getting ready for the 49th Super Bowl in Arizona on Sunday, February 1. Most people are going to have a hard time picking one of these two teams to root for including me.

This is also the time of year when I think back to a Super Bowl party that I absolutely loved hosting. It was a time when people who touched my life, past and present, friends and family, from the workplace, the neighborhood, and the sports fields gathered together, many for just that single day each year.

This is also the time of year, each Friday before the Super Bowl, when the annual "Former Masters Luncheon" is held in Fort Wayne, IN.

What is the Former Masters Luncheon? First, a Former Master is one of the nine people who emerged victorious at one of the ten Champions Invitational Putting Tourneys held from 2000 to 2009 in a basement of a home in Fort Wayne, IN on Super Bowl Sunday. Rather than Augusta's "Champions of the Masters", these winners are auGUSta's "Masters of the Champions". A "Former Master" of the Champions is no different than a "Former Champion" of The Masters Tournament held annually in Augusta, Georgia. Well, maybe just a bit less notorious. But not much.

And just as the former winners of the little tournament in Georgia attend their Former Champions Dinner the Wednesday before their tournament, the former winners of the tournament held in that Fort Wayne, IN basement attend the Former Masters Luncheon the Friday before the Super Bowl to eat, imbibe, and do a bit of reminiscing by looking back on a Super Bowl Party that became so big and so popular, it came to an end after ten years because of the sheer work it took to pull it off.

As you might guess from the overall theme of the Logo Ball Traveler website, my Super Bowl Party had a golf theme. The party was actually a putting tournament that just happened to fall on Super Bowl Sunday. The first tournament took place on Super Bowl Sunday in 2000 and the final tournament on Super Bowl Sunday 2009. To provide a better feel for the scope of this event, read the following Press Release from 2006. You'll get the picture. See how many "plays" on that other tournament in Augusta, GA you can find below.

Competitors anxiously await the 7th Annual Champions Invitational Putting Tourney on Super Bowl Sunday.  As always, the event will he held at venerable auGUSta Putting Links in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  The event is a 32 person, single elimination tourney where competitors face off in nine hole tussles played under the match play format.  The semifinals and finals are always held during halftime of the Super Bowl game.

Competitors vie for the coveted Green Hat and a piece of putting history.  After being crowned by 2004 Master Gary Payne, Kim Dove was emotionally spent.  He had just survived a 22 hole quarterfinal match with Mike Jaurigue (the longest match in Champions history), dispatched 2002 Master Tom Putman in a semifinal match, and captured the crown with a stirring 12 hole victory over Champions rookie Mike Carpenter. 

Carpenter had defeated 2004 Master Gary Payne in the other semifinal match.  “It took me three years to figure out this green and finally all my hard work has paid off,” Dove said.  “Those four footers at Cedar Creek will seem like gimmies this year!”  Payne chimed in “Kim won’t really appreciate the magnitude of his accomplishment until he dons his Hat at next year’s tourney.  It is so special to be one of the few Former Masters.”  

2003 Master Jim Sprandel knows it is a moment Dove will always cherish.  “It felt great to get that first one under my belt” Sprandel said.  “Wearing the Green Hat with my name on the side as a Former Master is a big thrill every year.” Echoed Putman, “there’s nothing like being one of a very few putters who can wear the Green Hat during that day.”  2001 Master Josh Rhodes agrees. “It’s a piece of history.”  Former Masters are not allowed to take the hat away from auGUSta and can only wear the hat on Tourney Sunday.  The hats reside the other 364 days of the year on a mantle high above the par 18 auGUSta Putting Links.

Tourney founder and retired first Master of the Champions, Gus Gutoskey, is expecting the tourney’s strongest field this year.  “Every year, the caliber of the competition eclipses the field of the previous year” stated Gutoskey.  Gutoskey won the tourney the first year of the event and immediately retired.

The event caught on quickly.  Gutoskey spends all his time during the day running the tourney and making sure his patrons and competitors are comfortable.

In his human-interest story during the 2004 tourney, TV 15’s Anthony Ponce asked Gutoskey how the tournament came about.  “I had a vision as I gazed out at the snowy fields of Fort Wayne during Super Bowl Sunday many years ago and I determined that an indoor putting tourney would be a lot of fun.  It started out with a small group of friends and now it’s as big as I can handle in one day--32 putters” said Gutoskey.

When he and wife Linda designed their house over seven years ago, there was never a doubt the main feature of the lowest level would be a putting green worthy of one of the Midwest’s most prestigious winter putting competitions.  Gutoskey turned his vision into reality after he designed and purchased his putting green from Synthetic Turf International, a Florida outfit who has installed similar greens in the homes of many PGA and LPGA stars.  Gutoskey carefully planned and plotted the grade and after mixing and pouring nearly 50 bags of concrete to provide the undulations, his vision began to take form several weeks before he and his wife moved in.

The 18 x 30 foot kidney-shaped green is over 500 square feet and has five carefully placed permanent holes drilled into the floor.   The speed of the green can be increased by adding green silica sand and working it into the artificial surface with a broom.  “But we’ve never used bikini wax” joked Gutoskey who has spent many hours searching for the kinds of putts that separate a Master-putter from a Master-wannabe.  He used the same hole routing during the first three years but found, as did the proprietors of a venue in Georgia, the course became less and less a stern test as the quality of the field improved.  After much testing, Gutoskey found a routing worthy of the skill of today’s competitors.  He delights in the fact that not a single competitor has been able to ace the first hole at auGUSta in the 226 times it has been played since the re-routing three years ago.

The name itself carries a bit of history.  When the Gutoskeys first designed their house (which sits across the pond from the third hole at Cherry Hill Golf Club) the lowest level was christened “The Clubhouse”.  During the second year of the tourney, the patrons urged Gutoskey to give his creation a bit more character by giving it an official name.  One of the patrons suggested “Augusta” with the obvious play on Mr. Gutoskey’s first name.  Soon, auGUSta Putting Links had its own logo and not long after, a neon sign.

Gutoskey begins planning each year’s event in earnest the previous December.  Invitations are mailed Christmas Eve and soon, the responses start rolling in.  No entry fee is required but the Gutoskeys ask both competitors and patrons to bring cans of food and other non-perishables for donation to the local Food Bank.

The event quickly fills up.  A waiting list helps assure there’s always a full lineup the day of the event.  The blind tourney draw is held the Sunday before the event and mailed to each competitor.  The Gutoskeys spend the week prior to the event preparing the grounds for the competitors and their many patrons.  Patrons (“don’t call them a mob” cautions Gutoskey) line the putting surface throughout the day as the competitors try to putt their way into the record book (which by the way, can always be found at the starter’s table just below the tourney bracket). The putting range opens at 12:30 and quickly fills with putters trying to gain an edge on their fellow competitors.  At 12:55, Gutoskey clears the surface, the ceremonial first putt is struck, and at 1:00 sharp, he kicks off the event by announcing the first two competitors, their original birth city, and their prior Champions experience.  He follows this ritual every 10 minutes for each of the 28 matches it takes to identify the final four. After a stoppage for the first half of the Super Bowl, the final three matches are held during halftime and a new Master is crowned.

The Gutoskeys take special pride in the way they take care of their patrons.  They provide much food and many beverages but have never been known to turn down thoughtful patrons who carry in various munchies, desserts, and beverages.  The house specialty (and the official sandwich of auGUSta Putting Links) is hickory smoked beef brisket on a Kaiser roll with jalapeño jack cheese.  Gutoskey stated “pimento cheese is in short supply during the cold Midwest winters.  But it doesn’t matter; our patrons can’t get enough of this creation!”  Another favorite is auGUSta’s famous Pepperoni bread that is served piping hot throughout the day by Gutoskey’s wife Linda.

Gutoskey is looking forward to the day when it will take a reception hall to handle the Former Master’s Luncheon.  This special event is held the Friday before the Champions with the previous year’s Master coordinating the luncheon.  “The days of fitting into a booth are over for this exclusive club now that we have six Former Masters,” he stated.

Veteran competitors are already beginning to plot their strategies for this year’s event.  But as Steve Ramp stated two years ago, “There’s only so much you can do; you scratch and claw all day long and hope to get to that final nine because everyone knows the tourney doesn’t really start until the last nine on Super Bowl Sunday.”  Kim Dove could not agree more!

So that's the story. Looks like those people were having fun! I REALLY miss this party--but I don't miss all the work it took to plan and conduct it. And I'm sure my wife agrees. And I have to admit, with everything going on that day, I didn't really get to absorb the Super Bowl game for those 10 years (during which my team, the Cleveland Browns, barely smelled a playoff game--so it really didn't matter all that much).

As long as the Former Masters Luncheon lives on (and it will as long as I'm around), we will always look back fondly on those ten years where friends from all walks of life got together for good food and beverages, a little friendly competition, and most important, good fellowship.