Cape golf team rises to challenge at Henlopen Conference Championship

When the regular season ended May 18 and the complicated state tournament calculations were completed, the Cape Henlopen High School golf team just missed qualifying based on its 10-4 record.

Ten teams statewide use their season record to play in the state championship, to be held May 28-29 at Cripple Creek Country Club. However, 36 players from the other golf teams also qualify – and if enough of those players come from one high school, they also qualify in the team category. The Henlopen Conference was allotted 11 of those 36 statewide spots.

The Vikings rose to the challenge May 21, with a fourth-place finish in the Henlopen tournament at Mulligan’s Pointe in Georgetown. Five Cape players finished in the top 11 spots available for individuals in states, and thus became the 11th team.

Dane Palmer’s 87 earned him an eighth-place medal and Reed Jones won a medal for 15th with his 92. Ben Skelley and Tommy Burn each shot 95 to make states, and Saxon Kalb earned one of the last few spots with his 99.

Sussex Academy won second place in the HAC tournament, and Sussex Tech finished in third. Cape will join Indian River, Academy, and Tech in the state championship as the Sussex County contingent.

A fitting way to improve your golf game

Jayne Tamburello walked up to the Mizuno fitting tent at the May 4 Demo Day at Rookery South with a major update in mind. The Rehoboth resident’s current set of clubs dated back to 1998, but she hadn’t played them for most of the past two decades. She said she was beginning to participate in The Rookery’s regular Thursday evening women’s league scramble, and smiled as she told me that other league golfers had teased her about the old clubs.

When she asked Henry if Mizuno sold women’s clubs, he quickly responded that his company doesn’t sell by gender. He then gave her a special 6-iron that was fitted with Mizuno’s 3D Shaft Analyzer, and said they would use that device to find clubs that would suit her game.

After each time Tamburello made a slow, steady swing, Henry collected the data from the analyzer. After her third swing, Henry told Tamburello they would try out a lightweight Senior A shaft and go from there.

He explained to her that the analyzer showed she had a 50 mph golf swing, with a late release of the club shaft at impact. Because Tamburello is 5-feet-8-inches tall, he recommended a standard club length, but her swing data also suggested the club’s lie angle should be set 2 degrees flat.

As for the clubs, Henry recommended Mizuno’s Hot Metal JPX 919s, in the lighter B-weight option. Tamburello tried several shots with different clubs in the new configuration, and hit them well. She also tested a new driver and had enough success with those attempts to buy one.

Tamburello kept smiling as Henry worked up her order form. It looks like there will be no more teasing about her old clubs.

This is Part 2 of a series. Part 3 will appear in an upcoming column.

Ladies clinic at Rookery South

Rookery Director of Golf Butch Holtzclaw will hold another Ladies Clinic starting at 5 p.m., Monday, June 3, at the Rookery South range. For six Mondays in a row, the one-hour sessions will cover the full swing, game management, club fitting, short game and more.

To sign up for the $150 series, contact the Rookery South pro shop at 302-684-3000.

Local club competition results

The Kings Creek Country Club 9-Hole ladies group hosted the Lady 9-Holers from Cripple Creek CC May 15, for a 2, 1, 1 game. For this team event, players from both groups were paired by ABCD, and the two best net scores for the par 3s and the best net score for the par 4s and 5s are used.

Diane Huebner (CC) and Kings Creek’s Debbie D’Orazio and Sandy Neverett won first place. Marge Widder of Cripple Creek teamed with Kings Creek’s Carolyn Horn and Mary Mezger for second place.

Linda Minalsco (KC), Pat Vallese (CC) and Rosemarie Schmidt (KC) won third place, while fourth place went to Mary Beth Berolla (KC), Janet Reid (CC) and Jane Perkins (KC). Cripple Creek’s Karen Smith won closest to the pin on the second hole. 

The Kings Creek CC Ladies 18-Hole group played their team 2, 1, 1 game May 16. For the first flight, Kathy Casey, Barbara Hines and Leslie McClintic won first place, with Jean Chlastawa, Nancy Froome and Barbara Weissenberger in second.

Katie Heintz, Prabha Karapurkar and Pattie Magee won the second flight, followed by Beth Cohen, Winnie Sewell and Kay Woollen.

Rehoboth Beach CC held its Ladies Opening Day event May 15, using an ABCD scramble format.

Elise Coar, Judy Scrutchfield, Ginger Rettig and Lora Drewer won first-place net, with Coar also making closest to the pin on the 13th hole.

Kim Stockson, Kerry Lockwood and Barbara Bullock won first-place gross.

Jeanne Allen, Cyndy Simeone and Marcy Saliba finished second net. Daisey Hudson was closest to the pin on the fifth hole.