Nostalgia Sunday - The One That Launched It All

Byron Center, MI--The James E. Vos Memorial Invitational committee announced today they recently added several previously unknown and historic photos to the tournament archives. The photos were discovered by tournament co-founder and executive committee member, Jack Vos, as he was cleaning out files in his home's lower level.

Finding old golf photos is fun and surprising in and of itself. These photos, however, are historic in that they are the only known images of the inaugural tournament, held May 5-7, 1988. Three images were found and quickly scanned. Paired with additional and previously archived data, they paint a fascinating and humorous picture of four friends bound by the same traditions of the game that frame what is now the James E. Vos Sr. Memorial Invitational.

From left to right, the tournament's co-founders as they appeared in 1988 on the eve of inaugural tournament: Mark Rice, Jim Vos, Sr., Thom Anema, Jack Vos.

The tournament was held over two nights and two days and cost $121.90 for three rounds of golf and two nights lodging. The tournament's first trip sheet was printed on an old dot-matrix printer and is below.

Several things are worth noting. One, the trip dates. May 5-7. Brrrr. The tournament would be held in early May for two more years until 1990 when a spring snowstorm dumped 2-4 inches of snow on Boyne Highlands washing out two rounds. The snow eventually melted and golf was played, but with snow in the bunkers. Two, 36-hole days were the norm from the tournament's first day of play. Three, and perhaps most importantly, the photos of the tournament's namesake, James E. Vos Sr., are priceless. Stylish and with an ear-to-ear grin, the mighty Buick LeSabre Brougham behind him, he was clearly in his glory and his element.

Three additional pictures found in the same batch help complete the story.

The last round of the first trip was played on the Schuss Mt. course. Jim Vos Sr. and Mark Rice played a 2-man best ball vs. Jack Vos and Thom Anema for dinner that evening.

Schuss Mt. 16th Hole as it appeared in May 1988.

The Homestead Resort to Host 28th Annual James E. Vos Memorial Invitational

Byron Center, MI--The James E. Vos Memorial Invitational tournament committee made an unprecedented announcement today. For the first time ever it will bring the tournament to Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula and The Homestead Resort, overlooking Lake Michigan and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park.

www.thehomsteadresort.com

Until recent years the tournament had almost exclusively been held in northern lower Michigan's big resorts--Treetops, Boyne, and Garland Resort. Things began to change in 2009 as tournament planners began exploring new options and lower package prices. Since then, the tournament has been hosted by several "firsts" including A-ga-ming and, most recently, Lakewood Shores. But the tournament has never been held in the Leelanau Peninsula.

In playing host, The Homestead will be the tournament's lodging headquarters. The actual tournament will be played on three different courses in and around the area, none of which has ever hosted a JEV tournament round until this year. The courses are:

Manitou Passage Golf Club (www.manitoupassagegolfclub.com)
Mistwood Golf Club (www.mistwoodgolf.com)
The Leelanau Club at Bahle Farms (www.leelanuclub.com)

Manitou Passage is a 20-year old Arnold Palmer design originally opened as King's Challenge. It fell on hard times and into disrepair until The Homestead purchased it in 2009 and asked The King back for full rennovation. Mistwood is an early 1990's Jerry Matthews design with 27-holes. The Leelanau Club is a little known but well regarded and relatively new Gary Pulsipher design.

The tournament will be held from Wednesday evening, June 3 through Saturday morning, June 6. The tournament executive committee is sending tournament invitations this weekend.

2015 Tournament Dates Announced

Byron Center, MI--The James E. Vos Memorial Invitational Committee today announced the dates for the 2015 tournament will revert back to the traditional Thursday through Saturday schedule. The tournament will be held beginning Wednesday evening, June 3 through Saturday morning, June 6, 2015.

The tournament committee also announced they are planning to hold the tournament in northern Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula. Several venues are being considered including:

1. Manitou Passage Golf Club (http://www.manitoupassagegolfclub.com/)
2. Mistwood Golf Club (http://mistwoodgolf.com/)
3. The Leelanau Club at Bahle Farms (http://www.leelanauclub.com/)

Tournament lodging host will be The Homestead (http://www.thehomesteadresort.com/). Details to follow as they are confirmed.

Final Trip Details

Looking forward to the 27th annual James E. Vos Memorial Invitational. Here are some final trip details for this year's participants.

1. Package price is $337.20. Your deposit should have already been accepted by the resort so your remaining balance would be $227.20.

2. Package includes three nights lodging in the Lakewood Shores 2-bedroom suites, breakfast Monday and Tuesday, unlimited golf Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, full use of the practice area, full complimentary use of the Wee Links par 3 course located right outside our lodging. The two complimentary breakfasts include taxes but do not include beverage or gratuity. Breakfast Sunday morning is not included, but available in the onsite restaurant. Our lodging has kitchens if you choose to sleep in and enjoy breakfast in your room.

3. Tee times, competitive format, and courses are as follows:

Ryder Cup-style competition. Each competitive match is worth one (1) point. Team with the most points at the end declared the tournament winner.

Sunday - The Gailes (all day)
a) 7:30am - modified  shotgun start*
2-man best ball (match play)

b)  12:30-1:30pm afternoon tee times
2-man best ball (stroke play)

Monday - Blackshire (all day)
a) Morning tee times start at 7:40am
2-man best ball (match play)

b) Afternoon tee times start at 1:30pm
2-man scramble (handicapped)

Tuesday - The Gailes
-Morning tee times start at 8:40am**
-Singles (match play)

*Lakewood Shores has another outing Sunday and the only way they could get us in and around is with a modified shotgun start. It's not ideal but it will work. Everyone will start at 7:30am and on a different hole of The Gailes. Also note that are afternoon tee times are tight, but with everyone starting at the same time, theoretically we will all be done at the same time. Making the turn should work, but there will be very little time for lunch in between. Not ideal, but we'll make it work.

**The later start is traditional and is done in order to allow a) tired bodies just a wee bit more sleep the last night, and b) to allow some breathing room for checking out of rooms in the morning of the last day.

5. Teams and Pairings

Teams have already been selected. Pairings will also be pre-selected prior to the tournament through at least Sunday's matches. This is being done to save time and create efficiency. The fact that we have only 23 players does create some match scheduling difficulties, but we  have worked through these before. We'll go over all this prior to the tournament.

4. Lunch and supper is not included in the package. We typically all end up at a local restaurant each evening for supper.

5. The Gathering. Please plan to meet as a large group for a bit on Saturday night in one of the condos. This has become a nice little pre-tournament gathering where we greet each other, welcome the rookies, pick the pairings for matches, and go over other tournament details. We'll start around 9-9:30pm and try to wrap by 10-10:30pm. It's important to not miss this. Please do your best to be on time.

If you have any questions, please call or text Mark Rice. New cell number is 616-826-8232.

See you in a few days.

2014 James E. Vos Memorial Invitational Teams Announced

Oscoda, MI--The tournament committee today announced the teams for the 26th playing of the James E. Vos Memorial Invitational, now just days away.

The executive committee made the decision to select the teams in advance to save time and create event efficiency. The committee did consider randomly picking teams on Saturday evening before the tourney, as we have done before, drawing names out of hat. Picking teams creates a tremendous gathering event on the eve of first round. Excitement builds as everyone watches and wonders on which team they will land. Randomly picking teams that evening is also time consuming and, given the higher than expected participants in this year's event, the tournament committee made its decision to select teams in advance. 

Care was taken to pair family members and to keep rookies on the same team as those who brought them, while also putting people on teams that haven't traditionally been teammates in the Grand Haven vs. The World format. Care was also taken to match as evenly as possible overall team handicaps and the handicaps of A-level and B-level participants. 

The only wrinkle this year is we have twenty-three participants, not 24. That means one team will be comprised of twelve players and the other, eleven. This does complicate things all the way around but the tournament has experienced this before and has developed a suitable work around. It's not ideal and, unfortunately, one team had to end up with eleven.

Nuff said.

Herewith the teams for the 2014 James E. Vos Memorial Inviational.

Team A/Handicap (final name tbd; see below)
Mark Rice, +10

Rodg Rice, +27

Jeff Stuk, +17

Ken Terpstra, +14
Cam Van Koevering, +14
Don Van Zee, Jr. +18 (rookie)
Don Van Zee, +12
Jack Vos, +20
Jon Vos, +13
Sam Vos, +7
Bob Warners, +20
Jim Warners, +18

Team B/Handicap (final name tbd; see below)
Jim Baker, +19
Chris Grek, +15
John Mulder, +24
Mark Ochsankehl, +7
Dan Rosema, +10
Dave Tanis, +17
Dirk Tanis, +18 (rookie)
Jeff Tanis, +13
Owen Tanis, +21
Dan Vander Wal, +11
Kyle Vander Wal, +11

Team names will be selected at the Wednesday evening Gathering event (approx. 9:30pm Saturday evening, details to follow in another post). It is a tournament tradition the reigning MVP retains the right to select his team's name between either the Fairway Finders or the Recovery Shots. We will wait to see what Dan Vander Wal chooses.

To save time and create efficiency, the executive committee will also develop in advance the pairings for Sunday's and possibly Monday morning's matchups. Stay tuned for further details.

And Then There Were Three: Papa Vander Wal Wins Third Career MVP

Oscoda, MI--Dan Vander Wal has been named the 2013 Stroke Saver Trophy winner--his third career MVP award. Vander Wal joins the elite group of Dirk Van Zee and Jon Vos as the tournaments only three-time winners. Dan won his first MVP in 2002, sharing the Stroke Saver Trophy with his brother Nick, and then winning it outright in 2009.

The decision was fairly easy. Dan went 5-0 for the weekend and was the only player all week and on either team to go undefeated. Challenging Dan, but coming up just short was Chris Grek who went 4-1 losing just his first match and going undefeated the rest of the way.

That Vander Wal won the award while sandbagging, I mean, while raising his handicap index by two points (from +9 to +11) is even more impressive. His scores weren't spectacular, going 87-88-85-82, but as has been exhibited regularly in this tournament, it's not how you play but how well you play with your partners that matters. And, that he did.

Paired with younger and better looking brother, Nick, in the first round, the Vander Wal's won a close match, winning 1-up against bulldog Rodg Rice and Mike "John Daly" Posby. Paired with Don Van Zee, Dan faced Rodg Rice again in round two, this time handily beating him and son, Mark Rice, by three-strokes in the afternoon 2-man stroke play event.

Day two was easy for Papa Vander Wal and he won both matches going away, paired with Doc Mulder and beating two titans: Jon Vos and Dan Tanis 5&4 in the morning 2-man match play event. In the afternoon scramble event, Dan was paired with Brian Van Hall and given a 5-stroke deficit (based on handicaps) against another seemingly tough team of Dave Tanis and 2-time MVP Ken Terpstra. The match see-sawed back and forth until the terrible and wacky 10th hole at The Chief Golf Club. There Vander Wal/Van Hall birdied to Tanis/Terpstra's double-bogey, making up three quick strokes and never looking back. They won going away, shooting 69 in the scramble format, erasing the 5-stroke deficit and winning by five more.

Dan's toughest match was his last. Paired against the ever-tough Jack Vos and giving Jack 600 yards and seven strokes, the war was waged. Jack got down early, going triple-bogey, triple-bogey, bogey and suddenly digging himself in a -3 hole. After matching pars on the fourth hole, Jack battled right back, winning the next three holes to level the match through eight holes. Back and forth it went with Jack going up +2 through 10. It would be his largest and last lead of the match. Vander Wal quickly won 11, 12, 13, and 14 to go up +2. Ever the fighter, Jack sunk his teeth in and didn't let go, getting the match to -1 through 17 and a chance to tie if he won the tricky 18th. He pared it...but so did Dan, winning the singles match 1-up and securing the 2014 Stroke Saver Trophy.

Dan is a well-loved and long-time participant in the James E. Vos Memorial Invitational. Well played, Papa Vander Wal. Well-played.

2014 Rooming List Announced

Oscoda, MI--The tournament committee today announced the rooming list for 27th annual James E. Vos Memorial Invitational. Participants in the 2014 tournament will be staying in the resort's two-bedroom condos adjacent to the 18-hole Wee Links par 3 course. Each unit features two bedrooms with twin beds, full kitchens and sitting areas. Use of the Wee Links is complimentary to resort guests.

http://www.lakewoodshores.com/resort.htm

Herewith the rooms and participants assigned. The condo numbers above each set of names do not correspond to actual condo numbers at the resort.

Condo 1

Mark Rice

Rodger Rice

Dan Vander Wal

Kyle Vander Wal

Condo 2

Jack Vos

Sam Vos

Cam Van Koevering

Jon Vos

Condo 3

Dave Tanis

Jeff Tanis

Owen Tanis

Dirk Tanis

Condo 4

John Mulder

Dan Rosema

Chris Grek

Mark Ochsankehl

Condo 5

Jim Warners

Bob Warners

Ken Terpstra

Jeff Stuk

Condo 6

Don Van Zee

Don Van Zee, Jr.

Jim Baker