The club, which held its first board meeting April 8, 1959, will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a series of social and golf events for members and former members July 17-20.
Sycamore Creek’s golf course was designed by the late Jack Ortman, who had been an assistant golf pro at Dayton Country Club. Ortman supervised construction of the course and even operated a bulldozer.
Nine holes opened in May 1960 and the second nine were ready for play July 4, 1960. Ortman became the club’s pro and remained in that capacity until he retired Dec. 31, 1994, at the age of 70.
In Sycamore’s early years, the club had an active riding stable and boarded horses.
Ben Sproat, a longtime member, recalls the time that a man named Al Dunn was thrown by his horse, which galloped around the golf course and damaged the No. 9 green.
“George Kling saw what the horse had done on the 9 green,” Sproat said. “He counted the hoof prints on the green and charged Dunn a dollar for each hoof print.”
Kling was the co-owner, but Ortman left no doubt as to who was running the golf course.
One day Kling brought three friends to play and took them to the No. 10 tee after seeing three groups waiting to tee off at No. 1. Observing Kling from the pro shop, Ortman hurried to No. 10 and told his boss that he was breaking a club rule. Kling did not argue. He took his friends back to No. 1 and they waited for their turn.
Rinker in PGA field
Lee Rinker will be playing in the PGA Championship for the seventh time. The former head pro at Country Club of the North (1992-95) made the field on Wednesday, July 1, by tying for fourth place in the PGA Professional National Championship in New Mexico.
Rinker, head pro at Emerald Dunes Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., posted a 5-under-par total of 279 with rounds of 71, 69, 68 and 71. The top 20 finishers qualified for the PGA on Aug. 13-16 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.
Also qualifying were Todd Lancaster and Sam Arnold. Lancaster, an Oxford Talawanda graduate who was Ohio high school Division I champion in 1993, tied for eighth with a score of 280. He is an assistant pro at Westwood Country Club in Rocky River.
Arnold, a former Wright State University player, shot 281 to tie for 13th. He is head pro at The Vineyard in Cincinnati.
Bob Stephens, head pro at Sycamore Creek Country Club, opened the tournament with a 71 but soared to an 11-over 82 in the second round and missed the cut. Former Dayton CC pro David Bahr, now at Maketewah in Cincinnati, shot 78-71 and missed the cut.
Mickey Yokoi, head coach at Arizona State for 11 years, finished 44th with a score of 288. Yokoi was Rinker’s assistant at CCN in 1992 when the course opened.
Rapid-fire aces
Two holes-in-one on the same hole within half an hour. That’s what happened at Moraine Country Club on Saturday, June 27.
Dave Gonsior made his fifth ace when he holed the par-3 No. 5 from 140 yards.
Two groups later, Tom Laufersweiler made another ace. Playing from the green tees at 126 yards, Laufersweiler knocked a 6-iron into the hole. It was his first hole-in-one.
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