Day 48 - Thursday, October 6 - Oklahoma << Index

Anticipated: Play golf at Lew Wentz Golf Course in Ponca City, Oklahoma.

Travel:   Itinerary: Leave motel for 9:AM tee time at Lew Wentz Golf Course. After golf we will drive to a motel in Joplin, Missouri. casino   States/Provinces Played:

Web: Lew Wentz Golf Course - Ponca City, OK

Actual: (Photos and text)

Click on the photos below to enlarge Welcome to Oklahoma sign and Lew Wentz Golf Course sign Pat with head professional Kevin Brown Greens superintendent, Mike Self and dog, “Pete” (left) Cliff Poet, golf shop assistant and (right0 David Miller, reporter Scenes from the golf course (bottom two pictures are scenes from the clubhouse porch)

Our luck continues to hold! Last night when we went to bed, the rain continued to fall; however, sometime in the night it stopped, but the wind kept blowing. When we awoke, it was still cloudy and the wind was still blowing as we drove to the golf course about 9:00AM, wondering if it would be dry enough for us to play. We had already met the golf professional, Kevin Brown last evening, and both he and his assistant Cliff Poet were there when we arrived. We teed off at 9:30AM on a very cold blustery first hole. About half way down the first fairway, Pat made a very wise decision – she went back to the van and retrieved our stocking caps and gloves (we brought them along for the northern states and provinces, we never dreamed we would need them in Oklahoma or other points south). Incidentally, the cold front that we experienced today dropped 10 to 15 inches of snow on North Dakota, Montana, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where we were playing just ten days ago. Anyway, when we teed off this morning, the temperature was in the low 40s with a chill factor in the low 30s. The course was reasonably dry after all the rain, but it has cart paths all the way around, so we stayed on them as we navigated the course. Lew Wentz Golf Course is a beautiful facility, which was built alongside Ponca Lake. Some of the tee boxes provide fantastic views of the terrain. The greens are medium speed and the fairways are narrow making tee shot accuracy important. The signature hole is #15, a 520-yard, par 5 featuring a dogleg fairway with the lake on the left side. There are also 5 ponds that come into play on many holes. While on the 16th tee we were pleased to meet the greens superintendent Mike Self and his dog Pete (see picture). We had an enjoyable chat with him about the golf course and we told him how pleased we were that we were able to play it today. Mike must have inspired us because after he left we both made a par on the 16th hole. We both thought that we should have had lower scores, but as stated above, the weather conditions were brutal. Jim shot 91 (yardage = 5949) and Pat shot 115 (yardage 5451). Jim missed his goal of breaking 90 because of double bogies on holes 17 and 18 (too much pressure!). Upon completion of our round we were met by David Miller (see picture). David is a reporter for the Ponca City News. He took some pictures and asked a few questions for an article to be included in today’s paper. (Web site: PoncaCityNews.com) We went back into the pro shop and talked for a while to both Kevin and Cliff. We want to thank them for their hospitality and for waiving the green fees. It was greatly appreciated. We left at 1:30PM for our next destination, Joplin, Missouri. We arrived here about 5:30 PM (180 miles – 300 km), We dodged a bullet today because of the bad weather all around us. It was cold, but we feel fortunate to have completed our round. In the 48 consecutive days of golf, we played in the rain (drizzle) twice; 9 holes in Nova Scotia (tail-end of hurricane Katrina) and 15 holes in Wisconsin. It is predicted that we’ll have good weather as we continue southeast into the gulf states and Carolinas, but who knows, there may be another hurricane lurking out in the Atlantic ready to pounce. Note: To our good friend, Dale Mrazek whose hometown is Ponca City: Dale, we enjoyed our one-day stay in Ponca City. It appears to be a fine city, especially out near Lake Ponca where Lew Wentz Golf Course and several parks are located.