Goodbye 2023 12/31/23

 Bud's Boys 2023 Review

On Wednesday 12/27, Roger and Randy squared off against Tom and Scott in the last BB's competition of 2023. Roger and Randy win the scoring match and Roger wins the last CTP of the season. Tom and Scott do win the card game to avoid being swept.

A quick December recap. Sixteen days of play by 24 players resulted in 169 rounds or just over 10 per day.

Glen, Scott, and Tom were the biggest winners. Butch played Santa Claus and gave back a good chunk of his yearly winnings in December, but don't feel too sorry for him as you will see later.

Raymond won 3 CTP's, Tom, Glen, Doc, and Leroy each won 2.

Glen finished a good month with 5 Medals, Scott added 3 more to his total.

This closes the book on 2023, another successful (in my opinion) year for the Bud's Boys. Although we lost way too many rounds to injuries and surgeries and such, we had many good memories along the way.

Following are some of the special events I can recall along with the yearend number crunching statistics. Please let me know your favorite happenings from this year that I didn't post today, and I will add them next week.

Happy New year to everyone and let me thank you all for your cooperation and participation in our unique band of golfers. It doesn't hurt to remind us all that the group comes first. We all have our own stresses, but we must not take it out on others during the round. Ask not, "What can the group do for me?", but "What can I do for the group"? Don't be the guy that can ruin somebody else's day with your crappy mood. Suck it up and be a good teammate.

Bud's Boys Highlights

A fairly mild January and February gave us many more opportunities to play than did 2022. It didn't take long for the fireworks to start.

Butch Comes Through

On Feb. 6,7,10 Butch does the unthinkable by winning 3 straight CTP's. (I pause here to ask the wisest of our readers to ponder this question, "How do you think the unthinkable?" Answer later in blog.)

Butch ties Floyd's thought to be untouchable record. Butch does it against fields of 15, 13, and 9 participants, making it a very worthy accomplishment. Interestingly, he doesn't win his next CTP until August.

Raymond wins 3 in 4 days in March, but not 3 in a row.

Birdie Bingo

This new game came in the spring and was a big hit. As much fun and team building atmosphere it created, it also built up frustration levels when teams got down to only 1 or 2 holes but went day after day without knocking them off. We did 2 versions this year and I am sure we will give it another go in 2024.

Scotty's Ace in the Hole

Well known for his card dealing for the group, Scott came up with an Ace of his own. On May 3rd, Scott added to his collection of Aces by holing his tee shot on #6 for our only hole-in-one this year. (Please forgive me if this is incorrect but I don't remember any others as I type this.)

Butchfest

In July, Butch and his lovely Bride Linda invited all the BB's and their better halves to a fish fry at his home. This very gracious and generous gesture allowed us to witness how many BB's married well above their pay-grade. A great night of food and fun.

Champion Golfer of the Year

September brought our 2nd annual tournament. Great weather and an awesome turnout of 24 players made for an outstanding 2 days. Raymond edges Rick by 2 points to earn the championship trophy. All agreed the tourney couldn't have run smoother.

Doc's Big Day

On November 16 Doc had a day to remember by shooting his all-time best score. His +10 40 points came on Medalist Day (Dean's 36 point +7 was a worthy 2nd place) and included an eagle on 17 with a hole out from around 100 yards.

I repeat that I would love to post any other special days you can remember.

How Do You Think the Unthinkable?

with an eyethburg (say it out loud) It's okay, not everyone gets it.

Final Numbers of 2023

Bud's Boys gathered 180 times in 2023, an average of 15 per month. That is 24 more times than 2022 and the exact same as 2021.

We had 42 individuals in all sizes and shapes join our ranks throughout the year for 2,386 rounds of BB's golf, an over 13 per day average.

Bud's Boys 2023 Honor Roll

Century Club- 100 rounds

 1  Scott   171

 2  Randy 148

 3  Glen    140

 4  Tom     139

 5  KZ       126

 6  Bob     117

 7  Raym  115

 8  Leroy   111

 9  Doc     109

10 Roger  100

CTP

1 Tom     18

2 Glen    17

3 Raym  16

4 Randy 12

4 Doc     12

4 Bob     12

Medalist

1 Scott   24

2 Glen    18

3 Tom     15

4 Bob      11

4 Randy  11

Money Leaders (or Players with the best teammates)

Based on our daily game, these players took out more than they put in.

1 Raymond

2 Tom

3 Jeff

4 Butch

5 Keith

Only 5 of 42 finished outside the 40-40 range as I mentioned in an earlier post, so the handicaps seem to work fairly well. Any suggestions for improvement are welcomed.

Two interesting examples. We now put in $5 per day. Based on those numbers Doc won $546 in 2023. His 109 rounds cost him $545 to play. Yes, Doc won 1 dollar in 2023.

 

Roger doubled that in his 100 rounds played. He won 2 dollars.

 

Shoot me a text if you want to know your final total.

Sparky Mullins Most Improved Award (even if it's only in your mind)

I decided to acknowledge the most improved player. I simply took your handicap on January 1st and compared it to your current and final number of 2023.

We had a 3-way tie with +4. Tom, Floyd, and Dean each moved up that many spots. In the end, however, I determined Dean the winner as he moved up 3 of those spots in December. Who knows how high he would have climbed with a few more days of play? So, congratulations Dean (Sparky) on your award. There wasn't enough room for all the letters in your name to fit the trophy, so a fruit cake is being sent instead.

Leftovers 

Some last-minute tidbits.

Raymond reached the 200 rounds played mark at KCC last week. He reached this milestone playing in his weekend LIV tour. We challenge him to hit at least 225 in 2024.

I came upon some interesting items while I was happily assisting my lovely wife cleaning up the basement this past week. Some I hadn't seen in 50 years. The one I would like to share, however, comes from June of 2013. This is what our newspaper used to publish weekly.

Congrats to Shelly and Marty. You notice even weekly league results were posted. Try finding anything like that today.

Final Thoughts

Weather not looking good, do I see a lunch committee meeting at  Kimbeland Thursday or Friday?

I have my new accounting sheets ready for the new year, ready to be filled in.

May everyone's New Year's resolution include being the best teammate possible.