By Phil Chew
Photos courtesy of PPC Golf Club members

Our second Parkview Presbyterian Church golf outing on July 20, 2023 was a huge success despite the 90-degree weather. Everyone enjoyed the golf at Bartley Cavanaugh Golf Course (Sacramento’s newest course), followed by lunch, libations, and fellowship at Freeport Inn. Everybody brought their “A” game and fun personalities. All the winners received a hat from my dad’s hat collection. Great way to clean out my garage clutter because everyone was a winner!

The grand prize went to Joe Wakefield, who shot an amazing gross of 80 or 9 over the course par. He won a sleeve a golf balls donated by East Lawn. Thank you, Victor Yee, for acquiring the Titleist Pro V1 balls. Joe also got to put on the sought-after green jacket. For you non-golfers, The Professional Golf Association (PGA) has a tournament in Augusta, Georgia called The Masters. The tournament is one of the four men’s major golf championships in the PGA. The winner gets big bucks, a nice shiny trophy, and the Green Jacket. Well, we at PPC have our own version. Joe wasn’t the only winner. Judy Fukuman won the women’s lowest gross with an amazing 103. The jacket was a little larger than anticipated, but Judy wore it well. Take a look at the slideshow above, and you’ll know what I mean! Our lowest net winner went to Joe Fletcher, who shot a 71. I used the Callaway system to determine the handicap of a golfer. It’s a complicated system especially since I didn’t bring my Dollar Tree reading glasses! Thank you Rick Close for helping decipher the scorecards. There were lots of smiles and plenty of other winners. And the drum roll please . . .

• Runner Up Men: Russ Hart
• Longest Drive Men/Women: Joe Wakefield and Betsy Eskridge won gift cards to Starbucks
• Closest to the Pin Men/Women: Matt Seeley and Sherri Yee won gift cards to Starbucks
• Most Puts: Betsy Eskridge putted a total of 41 times which averaged out to 2.27777 puts per hole; Matt putted a total of 42 times which averaged out to 2.33333 putts per hole. So, for those of you who don’t know, Matt, my neighbor, and I golf once a week, usually at Land Park on Wednesdays. I’m wondering how Matt could win the closest to the pin contest and miss a three-foot putt? Matt? I hope the putter alignment prize helps.
• Most Lost Golf Balls: Aki Kumagai

In my book, we were all winners for just showing up. Thank you, God, for the wonderful day and for blessing us with the opportunity to play golf and enjoy each other’s company, and for shining down on all of us.