The Inaugural Northeast Ohio Stinger

Saturday was about as good a first swing as we could have asked for our first Staple event in Northeast Ohio. Temperatures topped out around 80 degrees, a slight breeze kept things comfortable, and 32 members and guests came together for the first member-guest event inNewClub’s newest chapter.

And we could not have picked a much better place to start.

Glenmoor is one of those properties that makes the old adage sing: “Never judge a book by its cover." Built in the late 80s and early 90s, a time many GCA heads refer to as the ‘dark ages’ of golf course development, when the best land went to homes and not holes. Glenmoor’s historyis a bit more nuanced. Long before it became a country club, the land was home to Brunnerdale Seminary.

Its enormous Gothic building was constructed in 1930 and 1931, on one of the peaksof the nearly 400-acre property. The seminary closed in the mid-1980s, and the Wolstein family purchased the expansive farmland, beginning its transformation into Glenmoor CC. On July 1, 1992, Jack Nicklaus was there for the celebration that officially opened his signature golf course.

As we Ohioans are accustomed, our greatest golfing Buckeye loves a stern test, but even Mr.Nicklaus might have taken issue with some of the pins we saw at our Stinger on Saturday (ahem, Considine!). The fairways gave us enough room to swing freely, but the greenside slopes, runoffs, mounds, and bunkering, paired with those pins, had many wondering whetherany of the Seminary’s ministers were still on the property taking prayers for putts.

The Longest Drive

A few of the long-ball hitters were disappointed to learn that we had four cash prizes forclosest-to-the-pin contests but no long-drive competition.

Maybe the Competitions Committee forgot.

Maybe we believe the modern game has become overly consumed by speed, power, optimized launch conditions, and the increasingly desperate pursuit of another three yards.

Maybe we thought accuracy and finesse deserved a little time in the spotlight.

Or maybe we simply wanted to award the inaugural Stinger Longest Drive to Joe and Connie Hayton, who are moving to the Midwest from Boston next month, but made the drive all the way to Ohio ahead of schedule just to join us at Glenmoor for their first rounds as members.

That’s commitment. That’s NewClub. Let’s see your 460cc boom stick beat that!

A man who needs no introduction (but requested it anyway)

Austin Henggeler was in The Land for the inaugural Stinger.

Without new members, there is no NewClub.

Without you, these days on links links do not exist.

Without Austin, many of us may never have connected in the first place.

Austin is a special dude, and he takes a great deal of pride in this first class of Northeast Ohiomembers, not simply how quickly the Chapter has grown since our June 1st launch, but mainlythe quality and character of the people joining. He cares just as deeply about the memberexperience as he does about a successful chapter launch. For a club like ours, growth is a must,but keeping our values and the character bar high is everything.

Based on the group assembled for the Stinger, the bar is right where it should be.

The Podium

The Inaugural NEO Stinger was played as a team net competition, and the leaderboard stayedtight throughout the afternoon.

First Place: Michael Ferkovic & Mitch Gecht — 10 under

Second Place: Rena Galeti & Tony DiMassa — 8 under

Third Place: Andy Shook & Paul Capka — 8 under

Rena and Tony claimed second place through the USGA tiebreaker, narrowly edging Andy and Paul after both teams finished at eight under.

At the top, Michael Ferkovic and his guest, Mitch Gecht, caught fire on the back nine to finishat 10 under and secure the first Stinger title. “Shocked,” said Ferkovic, “We’re both mainlyweekday golfers, but no kids for 4-5 hours plus less or no work email by playing on a Saturdayhad to have helped us stay loose!”

When asked if there was a moment he would remember from his first NewClub NEO Staple victory, Ferkovic recapped, “I blew my tee shot on the par 3 17th into the beach. I suck from thesand, and somehow I knocked it to a foot. Don’t ever ask me to recreate that shot.”

After Ferkovic’s heroic bunker escape on the penultimate hole, Gecht described his most surreal moment of the day: “We checked the leaderboard on #7; we weren’t even on the firstpage, which made it much easier to relax and swing freely. We kinda zoned out on that back nine and hit some amazing shots for two hackers like us. Maybe the only mistake was checkingthe leaderboard after 17; it was surreal seeing our names on top of the leaderboard with a lead no less! Of course - we both proceeded to double bogey eighteen. Clearly not our comfort zone.”

More importantly, they took home the inaugural Stinger quaichs—pronounced “quakes,” not“quiches,” despite a spirited and surprisingly lengthy 5-year debate.

We are a cultured golf society. Just not always a well-pronounced one.

The Difference

The best moment of the day may have come after the golf was over.

The group enjoyed dinner and drinks on the patio as the sun began to set over the formerfarmland at Glenmoor. Prizes were given, piles of cash distributed for skins, and a toast wasmade to our hosts and our champions, but it was something our newest Stinger Champion, Michael Ferkovic, said that maybe sums it up best:

"My journey with NewClub is different; I heard about it through a friend, then Iread about the club in Tom Coyne’s Book, A Course Called America. I was honestly a pretty reluctant National Member at first. Then I played in the National Member Club Championship. I met members from all over; I met the other members here in Ohio; I met Matt and Mark; I met Austin, Nate, Scott, and everyone involved… When the Northeast Ohio Chapter was announced, I remember just being so happy for all those people; I could see how much everyone cared and how hard everyone was working their butt off on the launch.”

Ferkovic continued, “I have not played much yet this year, but when I have, the people havebeen great. Mitch kept noting, and I completely agree, just how great it was to play with people like Andy and Paul on Saturday. It’s different than anything else we’ve played in. We could havefinished dead last, and it still would have been the best day ever playing with those two guys. The people in NewClub are the difference.”

It would be difficult to write a better recap of what this first Stinger, and this new chapter of ourclub, is supposed to be.

The quaichs matter. The competition matters. The closest-to-the-pin cash certainly matters tothe people who were tossing darts on Saturday!

But the real point is creating more days like this, at places with stories worth knowing, alongside people you are glad you met and already look forward to playing with again.

The first Stinger set the tone.

Our next two Local Staples, The Matchplay Club Championship at Twin Lakes on Sept 26th…

And The Rumble at Canton Brookside on Oct 8th will be next to answer the call…

Until next time. 🐝🏆