Christmas 15—DERRYFIELD COUNTRY CLUB’S Danny Arvanitis has been competing in the New Hampshire Amateur Championship for more than 50 years. Golf has changed a lot during that time, but the format for the State Am hasn’t.
Even when Arvanitis played in his first State Am as a 16-year-old, the tournament champion was determined by two rounds of stroke play followed by five days of match play, he said.
That’s the way the players seem to like it.
“I think it’s perfect,” said Atkinson Golf and Country Club’s Mat Gover, the medalist in this year’s State Am. “I wouldn’t change anything about it.
“I would say the biggest challenge is definitely the length of the tournament. It’s just a mental grind once you get past the first two days. You’re battling out there for seven rounds if you go all the way. That’s a huge test to see who you are as a golfer and where your game is at.”
“I think this is everyone’s favorite tournament of the year,” added Passaconaway’s Ryan Brown. “You really can’t let your guard down at all. You have to stay focused, stay locked in. It can be a long week if you’re playing well, so you have to stay in that right mentality.”
Vermont uses four rounds of stroke play to determine its amateur champion, and the format for the Maine Amateur championship is three rounds of stroke play.
The Massachusetts Amateur Championship resembles the New Hampshire State Am in that it uses two days of stroke play before shifting to match play. Sixty-four golfers qualify for match play in New Hampshire, but only 32 move on in Massachusetts.
Matt Schmidt, the New Hampshire Golf Association’s executive director, said outside of New England, most states use strictly stroke play to determine the amateur champion.
“It’s unique to have a match-play State Am and to have a match-play State Am in such a small state with 64 making it,” Schmidt said. “Compare the populations in Mass. and New Hampshire it almost seems backwards that they’re 32 and we’re 64.
“I would never want to change it. I think so many people try to qualify because there are 64 spots for match play. If we said, ‘Let’s cut it down to 32 and finish (Friday),’ I don’t think you ‘d have nearly as many people try to play, because if you cut the amount of match-play qualifiers in half I think a lot of players would feel like they don’t have any chance to qualify.”
Schmidt said changing the format has been mentioned in casual conversation during NHGA board meetings, but there has been no momentum to make a change.
“Nobody had a super-compelling reason why we should do it,” he said. “It was, ‘We could change it if we wanted to, but why?'”
Match play is the more forgiving format, since a big score on a hole isn’t as punitive in match play as it is in stroke play. That factor, plus the larger match-play field gives an underdog a better chance of advancing deep into the tournament, Arvanitis said.
“I love it the way it is,” added Sky Meadow’s Brandon Gillis, last year’s State Am champion. “I think match play is a great format for the State Amateur. I like the Round of 64, too. I don’t think it should be 32.
“A nice, long week is what the State Amateur should be.”
New England Am up next
The New England Amateur will be played Tuesday through Thursday at The Woodlands Club in Falmouth, Maine. Golfers will play 18 holes each day, with a cut to the low 60 players after 36 holes.
These are the New Hampshire players entered in this year’s event: Valentino Cheek (Exeter), Harvin Groft (The Oaks), Aiden Azevedo (Atkinson Resort), Keith Stone (Pease), Joe Bowker (Canterbury Woods) and Jack Pepin (Atkinson Resort ).
No golfer representing a New Hampshire course has won the New England Amateur since Portsmouth’s Craig Steckowych prevailed at The Quechee (Vermont) Club in 2001.
New Castle’s Nick McLaughlin won the 2015 New England Amateur played at Baker Hill, but McLaughlin was representing Far Corner Golf Course in Boxford, Mass., that year.
Valley Seniors
Results from the Valley Seniors Golf event held at Crotched Mountain Golf Club:
Top 10 Gross: Jeffery Garland (76), Don Shuffelton (83), David Howell (83)*, Kevin Migliozzi (85), Steve Tullar (88), Dave Johnson (91)*, Whalen Dunn (92)*, Dave Fleming (92)*, Rod Pimental (95), Dave Tullis (95)*.
Ages 55-74 Gross: Garland (76), Migliozzi (85).
Ages 55-74 Net: Shuffelton (69), Steve Felder (77).
Ages 75-92 Gross: Howell (80), Johnson (88).
Ages 75-92 Nets: Dunn (77), Kimball Temple (78)
Closest to the pin: Howell (15-11).
*-Three strokes added because of different course rating from tees played.
Rules question
Question: True or False? If a player’s ball rests against a flagstick on the lip of the cup and some of the ball is below the putting green’s surface, is the player deemed to have holed out?
Answer: True. If your ball comes to rest against the flagstick left in the hole, and any part of your ball is in the hole below the putting green’s surface, your ball is treated as holed.
Source: Rule 13.2
NH golf calendar
July 16: Mixed (Loudon)
July 16: Live Free Golf Event (Candia Woods)
July 17: Parent-Child Championship (Stonebridge)
July 18-20: NEGA Amateur (The Woodlands, Falmouth, Maine)
July 19-21: Junior Championship (Beaver Meadow)
July 19: Senior Legend Classic (Lochmere)
July 21: Women’s Weekly Combined (Newport)
July 23-24: Senior Team (Mount Washington)
July 30: Live Free Golf Event (Nippo Lake)
July 31-Aug. 2: Women’s Amateur Championship (Montcalm)
Aug. 7-9: NEGA Junior Amateur (Mt. Washington Resort)
Aug. 8: Women’s Weekly Combined (Pease)
Aug. 8-10: Stroke Play Championship (Ridgewood/Atkinson Resort)
Aug. 12: Live Free Golf Event (Souhegan Woods)
Aug. 15-16: Women’s Mid-Amateur (Ridgewood)
Aug. 20-21: Mid-Amateur Team (Mount Washington)
Aug. 20: Mixed (Mount Washington)
Aug. 22: Women’s Weekly “B” (Bretwood)
Aug. 24: Stoke Play Series (Hoodkroft)
Aug. 27: Live Free Golf Event (CC of NH)
Aug. 29: Women’s Weekly “A” (Derryfield)
September 5: Women’s Weekly Combined (Den Brae)
September 6-7: Senior Championship (Canterbury Woods)
September 11-12: NEGA Senior Amateur (Fox Hopyard/East Haddam, Conn.)
September 21: Stoke Play Series (Kingswood Gold)
September 26: Fall Classic (Keene)
October 2-4: Mid-Amateur Championship (Rochester)
October 8: Mixed (Kingswood Golf)
October 16: Tournament Series (Cochecho)
October 18: Stroke Play Series (Newport)
October 23: Corporate Challenge (Concord)
October 30: Tournament Series (Laconia)