Hook & Slice May2024

Hook & Slice

The Legend and Lore of the Mulligan Tour Southeast Michigan’s Premier Recreational Golf League Vol. 1 No. 2 May 2024

In this Issue: The Front Nine

Memorial Tournament Preview History of the Green Towels

Making the Turn

Metroparks part of Mulligan Tour fabric

The Back Nine

Closed for Business Vanishing golf courses

The 19th Hole

Where are they now?

Kerry Homberger

www.themulligantour.com

Page 2

Hook & Slice

Published monthly during the golf season

www.tbaygroup.com

Editor-in-chief Erika Fitzpatrick Staff Writers Sandy Savashot Anita Newpudda Willie Makaput Eryn O’McFitzCallaghan Wendy Wildwood Publisher ELF Publishing Inc Mulligan Tour Historian Lenovo laptop

Dudlee’s Plymouth Open

Proud sponsor of the

Proud sponsor of the

Harbor Pointe Open www.getsmithinsurance.com Mulligan Tour

Charity benefactors

The Front Nine

Page 3

The Granddaddy of them all

30th edition of the Memorial Tournament at home at Links at Gateway Erika Fitzpatrick, Editor in Chief

The 30th playing of the Memorial Tournament will be held on May 4th at the Links at Gateway.

The season’s first major championship actually predates the Mulligan Tour.

Long ago, a tournament called the “Erik Meland Memorial Hey, He’s not dead yet! Golf Tournament” debuted on the Willow Metropark course in New Boston. It was 1995 and the tournament host was

very much alive, winning the inaugural event with a gross 91 among a small field of 9 players.

The tournament format changed to a 2-player scramble the next year and continues to this day - now known, simply, as the Memorial Tournament.

Meland launched the Mulligan Tour in 1999, with the Memorial Tournament (Continued on page 4)

Page 4

(Continued from page 3)

joining the schedule a year later. The “granddaddy of them all” was given major championship status as the tournament host was always thinking about comparisons to the Masters tournament of the “big leagues”.

“The Mulligan Tour concept was always planned to look similar to the PGA Tour but for the recreational golfer”, said Meland in a recent interview.

“We had the Harbour Pointe Open as our version of the US Open and then we had the Memorial Tournament as our Masters. That’s where the Green towels come from - a kind of homage to the Green Jackets of the Masters”.

The first Green Towels were awarded to the winners of the Memorial

David Martin and Frank Caruana 2003 Memorial Tournament champs

Tournament in 2002, with past winner’s getting their Green Towels retroactively.

Originally played on a late August date to coincide with the tournament host’s birthday, the Mulligan Tour event was soon moved to a late May spot on the schedule to be closer to the Memorial Day holiday.

But the spring time tournament was continually hampered by wet weather.

The 2004 tournament had to be postponed to a July make-up date when the

Page 5

Thom Bales and Mike Prieskorn

Willi Hesse and John Ferlito

2010 Memorial Tournament Champs

2023 Memorial Tournament Champs

course on the banks of the Huron River was flooded and unplayable. And the 2006 event was moved to Gateway GC just days before the scheduled start due to flooding at Willow.

The tournament host decided to make the move to Gateway permanent in 2007 and the Memorial has been played at the course now known as the Links at

Gateway ever since.

With a pair of winner’s coming from the team event, there have been 48 green towels awarded in the last 24 Memorial Tournaments. And, there have been 12 2-time winner’s, although only 3 teams have won twice together, while the other 2time winners managed the feat with different partners.

Mulligan Tour Trivia

Which Mulligan Tour event was the first in history to need a playoff to determine a winner?

Answer on page 15

Page 6

Making the Turn

Always There

Metroparks courses have long been prevalent partners of the Mulligan Tour Eryn O’McFitzCallaghan, Staff Writer

The Mulligan Tour was born on a Metropark golf course.

The Willow Metropark golf course was home to the Memorial Tournament, the predecessor of the Tour, from 1995 until 2005.

And when the Mulligan Tour launched in 1999, the Huron-Clinton Metroparks played a prominent role in the Mulligan Tour’s early tournament schedules consistently advertising low prices and well groomed courses that presented the Tour with economically

attractive choices for several tour events.

The Huron-Clinton Metroparks Authority (HCMA) was established in 1939 as a regional public park system and currently operates 7 regulation size golf courses in metropolitan Detroit.

In all, the Tour has played 57 tournaments on a Metropark layout including every MT Senior Open since the event debuted in 2010.

And even though the Memorial Tournament eventually left Willow Metropark for the Links at

Page 7

Gateway, the course has hosted 4 other different events over the years.

Recent Tour schedules have had as many as 4 tournaments on Metropark tracks, including the Fifty Cent Classic playing annually on Stony Creek and the C Cool Classic making its home on Huron Meadows. The MT Senior Open uses a rotation of MP courses and the Match Play Championship currently resides at the Huron Meadows course as well.

“The Metroparks are always great to work with”, says Mulligan Tour CEO, Chuck Withey. “They are always in good shape and have great value.

The pricing at Huron Meadows makes it conducive to the 36 holes of play required for 2 days of match play. There are no plans to move the C Cool or the Match Play Championship”.

Well Represented

Metropark golf courses used by the Mulligan Tour

Stony Creek (15) Fifty Cent Classic 2009-23

Willow (13)

Memorial Tournament 2000-05 Match Play Ch 2008, 2019 Big Dog Pro-Am 2006 Senior Open 2013, 17, 22 Tin Cup 1999

Lake Erie (11) Senior Open 2010, 19,. 20, 23 Strokes on a Rope 1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2009 Two-Stick Classic 2001, 2003

Huron Meadows (9) C Cool Classic 2019-23 Match Play Ch 2021-23 Senior Open 2015

Hudson Mills (3)

Go Blue Classic 2005, 2011 Senior Open 2016

Kensington (3) Senior Open 2011, 2018 Caddyshack Classic 1999

Indian Springs (2) Senior Open 2012, 2021

Wolcott Mills (1) Senior Open 2014

Page 8

The Back Nine

Come and Go

Some Michigan Golf Courses repurposed as 90’s golf boom waned in early 21st century Wendy Wildwood, Staff Writer

Roughly 200 Michigan golf courses have closed down in the last 15 years as land becomes more valuable as residential or commercial real estate.

A number of those shuttered courses were home to one or more Mulligan Tour events.

The Links at Pinewood hosted the inaugural Real McCoy Classic in 2005 but closed a couple of years later.

The RMC moved to Farmington Hills GC in 2006.

Hickory Sticks was another course that

Rest in Peace

Closed Courses once used by the Mulligan Tour Links at Pinewood (2008) Hickory Sticks (2009) Harbour Club (2016) Reddeman Farms (2017) Woodlands of VB (2018) Harbor Shores (2021)

(originally Links at Lake Erie) Wolcott Mills Metropark (2020)

hosted a tournament just one time - the 2006 TwoStick Classic. That rural course located west of Ann Arbor closed permanently in 2009.

The Woodlands of Van Buren, opened in 1995 (Continued on page 10)

Page 9

The 19th Hole Where are they now?

Kerry Homberger, 74, still swings the sticks in the sunshine state Erika Fitzpatrick, Editor-in-Chief

Kerry Homberger was the next door neighbor of Mulligan Tour founder Erik Meland.

The two routinely played 9-hole matches during the week in the 1990’s.

When the Tour launched in 1999, Homberger was one of the original 16 members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of Harbour Pointe.

Approaching retirement from Ford Motor Co, Homberger played 7 seasons on Tour before migrating south with his

Kerry Homberger

One of the 16 original members of the Mulligan Tour

7 seasons (1999-2005) 58 starts 4 wins 1999 Western Swing 2001 Animal House Classic 2004 Par-54 Classic 2005 Tin Cup 20 Top-4’s Career Earnings $343.50

wife, Barbara, to enjoy their golden years.

Homberger still plays golf, now possible 12 months a year, in Spring Hill, Florida, located north of Tampa Bay.

Page 10 (Continued from page 8)

and owned by Waste Management - yes, the same WM that hosts the PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open each February shut down at the end of the 2018 season.

The host course to 15 tournaments, including the first HP Open and 11 Match Play Championships, was reportedly always earmarked for the planned expansion of the Van Buren township landfill, and indeed that day finally came.

Reddeman Farms in Chelsea was a favorite Tour stop and hosted 13 tournaments, including 5 different events, between 2000 and 2016.

The clubhouse was destroyed by fire in August of 2017 and the golf course never reopened.

The Harbor Dunes GC

Shootout in doubt

Madison Heights planning to turn Red Oaks golf course into a park Click on link below for C&G story on Red Oaks Golf Course

in Monroe, previously known as the Links at Lake Erie, hosted the Tour’s Caddyshack Classic for 20 years.

That parcel of land became more valuable to the automotive industry as a warehousing and packaging center for Ford Motor Co. and closed at the end of 2021 season.

And the long time home of the Runny Nose Open - and one Menage a Trois Classique - Harbour Club (Continued on page 12)

Page 11

Thank You !

2024 Tin Cup

participants for raising $635 for

Thank You !!

Pine View Classic competitors for raising

$700.00 for

www.alz.org

Breast Cancer Awareness Open

dunmordesign.com

August 25

Farmington Hills GC www.littlediablosalsa.com

www.themulligantour.com

Page 12 (Continued from page 10)

GC in Belleville finally shuttered at the end of the 2018 season.

The next course on the list of possible closures is Red Oaks golf course, home of the Red Oaks Shootout.

Part of the Oakland County Parks system, the course is losing money and the county is considering plans to open the space up to general recreational use with much lower operating costs.

New Again

Not all closures are permanent.

Introducing the Cardinal (shown here)

The 27-hole course at the Inn at St.John’s, closed in 2022 and 2023, is set to reopen to the public at the end of June as an 18-hole championship layout. Greens fees are reported to be $150 during the week and $175 on the weekend!!

The multi-million dollar property update also added an 18-hole putting course (2 acres!!) with various contours and undulations, and a 7-hole short course (dubbed the Little Cardinal) built to expedite a quick short-game practice session.

Page 13

Mulligan Tour World Ranking Top-20 as of April 30

Money Standings

1 2 3 4

6 7 9 10

13 14 16 18 19 20 21 23 24

27 28

Top-30 thru April 30 $52.00 Kline, Greg $46.50 Cubel, Jeff $45.50 Litzler, Tom W $34.50 Hesse, Willi $34.50 McCue, Corey $34.17 Birkle, Eric $32.00 McCue, Justin $32.00 Levine, Stewart Puffenberger, Helen $25.00 $24.00 Martin, Dave $24.00 Hiestand, Ron $24.00 Litzler, Tom R $21.67 Parent, Philip $17.00 Wilsey, Scott $17.00 Parent, Paul $16.00 Ward, Don $16.00 Withey, Charles $14.50 Floyd, Rick $13.50 Stalo, Chris $12.50 Floyd, Tyler $11.00 Fitzpatrick, Erika $11.00 Nothdurft, Gregg $10.00 Oliver, Dave $8.00 Pasz, Jeff $8.00 Raymond, John $8.00 Fox, Mike $7.17 Kiekbusch, Eric $5.67 Dunmore, Rich $5.67 Theunissen, Rod $5.67 Hiestand, Nancy

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

33.2 McCue, Corey 30.8 Fitzpatrick, Erika 30.2 Prieskorn, Mike 27.5 Kline, Greg 26.9 Hiestand, Ron 26.7 Stalo, Chris 25.5 Floyd, Tyler 24.9 Lardin, Brian 24.4 Martin, David 24.1 Ward, Don 23.2 Hesse, Willi 22.8 Withey, Charles 21.6 Markel, Tim 21.2 Loving, Ned 21.1 Gregoire, Kevin 21.0 Nothdurft, Gregg 20.5 Kiekbusch, Ryan 20.3 Ferlito, John 20.1 Brandenburg, Joe Puffenberger, Helen 19.8

Page 14

Mulligan Tour Major Championships

Greg Kline

10 Major Victories The Mulligan Tour Major Championships The Memorial Tournament Harbour Pointe Open Match Play Championship The PLAYERS Championship The WESTERN Championship The EASTERN Championship The TOUR Championship

Page 15

2024 Masters Fantasy Mulligan Tour League

FINAL RESULTS

Prizes Rod Theunissen $25 Outback card Justin McCue $15 Outback card

Mulligan Tour Trivia

points 1 Rod Theunissen 266 2 Justin McCue 264 3 JohnnyVette 262 4 Ken Westerman 255 5 Erika Fitzpatrick 252 6 Brian Lardin 246 7 Gregg Nothdurft 243 8 Barb Hoelzle 241 9 Greg Kline 234 9 Ludachrispins 234 11 Chuck Withey 228 12 Brian Pieszchala 224 13 Scott Wilsey 222 13 Mike Fox 222 15 Jeff Klipa 214 16 MikeyMike 209

Answer: The 2000 Memorial Tournament was the first Mulligan Tour event decided by a playoff. Jim & Sue Cwikla beat David Martin & Frank Caruana 8 to 9 in the 4-hole aggregate score playoff on the practice green after both teams tied with a net-66.

2024 Mulligan Tour Results / Schedule DATE Apr 13 Apr 14 Apr 20 Apr 21 Apr 27 Apr 28

TOURNAMENT Pine View Classic Sweet Sixteen Animal House Classic Tin Cup Sparty Classic Chelsea Classic

Winner Justin McCue 72 (E) Willi Hesse (-7) Tom W Litzler 74 (+2) Greg Kline 74 (+2) Corey McCue 71 (-1) Stewart Levine 72 (E)

Runner-up Jeff Cubel Ron Hiestand G.Kline / J.Cubel David Martin Tom R Litzler P.Parent / S.Wilsey H. Puffenberger

May 4 May 11 May 18 May 19 May 24 May 25 June 1 June 2 June 7 June 8-9 June 15 June 21 June 22 June 23 June 29 June 30 July 7 July 13-14 July 20 July 21 July 27 July 28 Aug 4 Aug 10 Aug 11 Aug 17 Aug 17 Aug 18 Aug 25 Aug 31 Sep 7 Sep 8 Sep 20-22 Sep 28 Oct 5 Oct 12 Oct 13 Nov 2

TOURNAMENT The Memorial Tournament Cherry Creek Classic Dudlee’s Plymouth Open Irish Open Par-54 Classic Strokes on a Rope Alzheimer’s Awareness Open East Side Charity Classic Fox Hunt Harbour Pointe Open MT Senior Open Red Oaks Shootout Quad-Tour Challenge The Holy Grail Fifty Cent Classic C Cool Classic Red, White & Blue Match Play Championship Carrington Classic Ugly Pants Open Big Dog Pro-Am Crazy Brit Caddyshack Classic Little Diablo Western Swing Go Blue Classic PLAYERS Championship WESTERN Championship EASTERN Championship Breast Cancer Awareness Open Canadian Open The TOUR Championship The President’s Cup The Commissioner’s Cup Tournament of Champions The Division Bell The Skins Game U of M Open Runny Nose Open

LOCATION FEE DUE Links at Gateway GC $68 Apr 25 Cherry Creek GC $70 May 2 Fox Hills GC $63 May 9 Twin Lakes GC $72 May 9 Strategic Fox $38 May 16 Cattails GC $50 May 16 Farmington Hills GC $71 May 23 Sylvan Glen GC $64 May 23 Strategic Fox $39 May 30 Lakes of Taylor GC $54 (+56) May 30 Kensington MP GC $60 June 6 Red Oaks GC $ TBD June 13 Fox Creek GC $43 June 13 Sandy Creek GC $52 June 13 Stony Creek Metropark $74.50 June 20 Huron Meadows Metropark GC $58 June 20 Taylor Meadows GC $67 June 27 Huron Meadows MP GC $81 (75) July 4 Carrington GC $68 July 11 Brae Burn GC $44 July 11 Pontiac CC $61 July 18 Whispering Willows GC $44 July 18 Rackham GC $ TBD July 25 Huntmore GC $76 Aug 1 Lake Forest GC $68 Aug 1 Pheasant Run GC $74 Aug 8 Majestic at Lake Walden $82 Aug 8 TBD $ TBD Aug 8 Farmington Hills GC $70 Aug 15 Fellows Creek GC $53 Aug 22 TBD $ TBD Aug 29 TBD $ TBD TBD $ TBD Kensington MP GC $ TBD Farmington Hills GC $44 Sep 26 Links at Gateway $50 Oct 3 University of Michigan GC $ TBD Brae Burn GC $ TBD