The third Zone II Seniors tournament in the Okanagan Valley was held on May 17th, in Peachland at the Ponderosa Golf Club. This track, used by the seniors, was 5,821 yards long, and we played from the white tees as all senior games are. We might just as well have played from the championship blue tees, which measured 6,006 yards, a difference of 185 yards over the whole course.

Located on the top of Pincushion Mountain, high above Peachland, the course has hundreds of ponderosa pine tree's, many dog legs and lot's of tight fairways. The course was in excellent shape and the green's were smooth and consistent, although considerably slower than my home course at Predator Ridge.

The field of 116 golfers faced many challenges. While being a relatively short course, the out of bounds markers lining the fairways around steeply sloping cliffs, water hazards crossing holes #4, #6, #7, #8, and the devilish little par 3, third hole where one of those steep cliffs on the left side resided, plus a sharp incline on the right side, add a stiff breeze, and the results are some high scores. I can attest to that as I scored the dreaded "snow man" (8) on this hole myself.

A unique feature on this course is the occasional sign describing a historical site on some fairways. Such as: a brick or stone oven site used for baking bread etc., a ramshackle building site denoting an old miners cabin. There were others, but, the one that really captured my interest was on the 10th fairway which clearly said: " National Historic Site"...."On the 3rd of May, 1856, On this spot, nothing happened." It makes you wonder about the rest of the signs. If you don't believe the signs, and you are playing badly, take in the spectacular scenery, overlooking views of Okanagan Lake are awesome. If you are vacationing in the Okanagan this year, I recommend you play this course. You will have a happy time.

The overall low gross winner was Ron Thompson (71) from the Fairview Mountain Golf Club in Oliver and the overall low net winner was Rolly Bolton (66) from the Osoyoos Golf Club.

I was paired up with Mike Todd (84) from the Spallumcheen Golf Club in Vernon, Ivan LeGranduer (88) from the Royal York Golf Club in Armstrong and Brian Bjarnason (83) from the Kelowna Springs Golf Club in Kelowna. The highlite of our foursome was an eagle shot by Ivan on the 306 yard, 10th hole. It earned him $ 16.00 from the "deuce pot". I think he should have got more for that second stroke.

This was the first tournament for the Ponderosa seniors and the committee, Reg Minty, Roger Simoneau, and the stats man Cliff Follett, as well as others, particularly the ladies who did the registration are to be congratulated for a job well done. A special thanks to Chris Hinton, C.P.G.A. pro, for helping me.

The next seniors tournament is the ZONE II CHAMPIONSHIP at the Penticton Golf Club on May, 26th.

NOTE: To participate in these tournaments you must be a member of the Zone II Seniors Association, a member of a golf club in the Zone and a resident in the Zone.