Men's Golf League

Special Report by Dave Renbarger

Question: What is a Shankapotomus?

Answer: No one is quite sure, not even Ed Harbauer, the captain of the Shankapotomuses.

Ed and his fellow Shankapotomuses (Rick Keebaugh, Mike Hall, and Bill Doney) comprise one of the eight teams competing in the new Port Royal Men’s Golf League this spring. The league is the brainchild of the innovative Guy Suchy and has been a real hit. Four enjoyable and competitive league matches have been held every week since Feb. 1.

Before the first ball was struck, Suchy anointed Dave Renbarger as league commissioner, and eight eager captains were recruited. A lively, three-round player draft was held at the clubhouse on Jan. 21. The draft yielded eight fourman teams, all with team names of varying degrees of cleverness. Dumb and Dumler (a team name coined by captain Landon Gates as a joint homage to Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, and our own Bruce Dumler) ranks high on the cleverness scale but sadly toward the bottom of the current league standings.

Topping the standings six weeks into the seven-week regular season were the Original Gangsters, captained by Bud Henry and including longtime Port Royal members Don Muehlberger and Bob Fratarcangelo, plus the commish The Gangsters, led by their dynamic octogenarian duo, took a five-match winning streak into their Week 7 finale and have virtually sewn up the top seed for the upcoming playoffs.

The race for the three remaining playoff berths is fierce a will likely go down to the final putt. Chuck Wibby’s Prime Timers (including Bill Hazel, Tom Sheahan, and Howard Strauss) and Rick D’Arienzo’s Designated Driverz (includin Jeff Clary, John Strasburger, and Dennis Darling) are well positioned for the playoffs, while Brad Payne’s Pain Killer (Ken Gerth, Jim Walker, and Rick Gorski) and the aforementioned Shankapotomuses and Dumb and Duml (Gates, John Manfre, Dave Chmielowiec, and Dumler) remain in contention.