Published by
The Tennessean
Wednesday, 7/28/99

The Group dealing losts of aces at Legends

Despite the proliferation of holes-in-one these days, an ace is something of a rarity at The Legends Club in Franklin.

That is until The Group began to crank 'em out.

There is a group of as many as 20 skilled players, with handicaps either scratch or just above, who have a game every Saturday and Sunday, generally on the south course.

In four of the five previous weekends, a member of the group has had a hole-in-one, including two on the 156-yard No. 11.

Scoring aces during that stretch were Gary Bailey, Brad Woods, Todd Beedles and Scott Hall, all playing from the back tees.

"We hadn't had a hole-in-one in some time and all of a sudden we had one and then the total kept going up," said Legends assistant pro Ted Gallina. "Maybe it's the water those guys are drinking. Or the holes-in-one are contagious."

Walker TVGA champ: Springfield attorney Jeff Walker, a former University of Tennessee golfer and member of the Springfield Country Club, has won the Tennessee Valley Golf Association title for the fourth time. However, it had been 13 years since his last TVGA championship. This year's tournament was played at Hopkinsville (Ky.) Country Club.

"Just lucky this time, I guess," said Walker, who beat Hamilton Wheeler, a teen-ager from Russellville, Ky., with a birdie on the third playoff hole. "Wheeler is going to be a real player."

The TVGA is the oldest continuous match play golf tournament in the U.S. It was first played in the 1920s and continued through World War II, when many other golf events were discontinued.

Five Oak in 2000: Those few golf holes you can see being built off Highway 70 near Lebanon represent the early stages of the Five Oak Golf Course, an 18-hole public-private club, which is expected to be completed in the fall of 2000. It is part of a 460-home development.

Midas Pro-Am close calls: Area teams from Hendersonville and Shelbyville were in contention for the Midas Pro-Am title at Lake Tansi Village at Crossville last week, but rain washed out the second day.

The stormy weather left Chattanooga pro Harry Hartman's team the winner at 11-under-par. It was a near-miss for Country Hills pro Chris Ferguson and amateurs Trey Lewis, Gary Hale and Jay Pomeroy at 10-under. They finished in a second-place tie with River Bend pro Randy Helton and amateurs Pat Bell, Richard Smith and George Farris, and one other team.

Cookeville's Bobby Greenwood was the Midstate's only top 10 finisher for low pro prizes, finishing in a tie for fifth with a 1-under-par 71.

Academy Iron play: The Shivis Iron Society, a California group of golf purists, for the fifth year has sent juniors to the Tennessee Golf Academy at Golf House in Franklin. Eleven are here this week, making a total of 43 over the past years. This year the kids who arrived Sunday came from California, Mexico, Georgia and Minnesota.

The Vinny nears: The Vinny, Vince Gill's pro-celebrity event, is Monday and Tuesday at The Golf Club of Tennessee, off exit 188 (Ashland City/Kingston Springs) on I-40 West from Nashville.

The 20 golf pros scheduled to play Monday include John Daly and Loren Roberts. The Tuesday round is devoted to celebrities and that list included Gill, Florida football coach Steve Spurrier, Amy Grant and Nashville Predators goalie Mike Dunham. Tuesday also includes a must-see clinic for junior golfers conducted by Dennis Walters, a paraplegic player.

MTSU grad scores: Shawn Powell, a recent graduate of the Middle Tennessee State mass communications school, has received a two-year fellowship with the U.S. Golf Association in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Maryland native was most recently the 1998 P.J. Boatwright intern for the Women's Tennessee Golf Association at Golf House in Franklin.

Richard Dent Classic: Richard Dent, a former Tennessee State football star who has been a Super Bowl MVP and a three-time Pro Bowl defensive end, will serve as celebrity host for the first Richard Dent Golf Classic, Sept. 4, at Hermitage Golf Course.

The scramble, with proceeds going to fund TSU athletic scholarships, will be a part of the John Merritt Classic weekend, with the Big Blue playing Alabama State at Adelphia Coliseum on Sunday, Sept. 5.

Chip shots: Barbara Eller, wife of Hermitage Golf Course co-owner Mike, is tournament chair for the Tennessee Breast Cancer Coalition, which will hold its third golf classic Aug. 6 at Hermitage. In two years, the tourney has raised $80,000 ... Craig King of Centerville won the 26th Ken Wilson Invitational for the third time this past weekend at Centerville's Skyview Country Club with a 4-under 68 -- just a week after scoring a hole-in-one ... For the eighth year, Springhouse Golf Course currently is salvaging golf balls from the course's lakes, with a quantity of balls being donated to junior golf and the rest sold to help finance six girls and three boys traveling to the USGA Junior Nationals.

Senior correspondent Jimmy Davy covers local golf for The Tennessean. Fax information to him at 259-8826.