7th Annual "Bar Stool Open"

10 AM

Yesterday was the annual Bar Stool Open on Grand Lake.....Grand Lake at one time was the largest man-made lake in the world(until those lakes made by power plants such as Hoover's Lake Mead came along)...stretching from Celina to St, Marys it measure 10 miles long by 3 miles wide. Over the past 20 years it has turned from a weekend cottage and fishing lake, to a expensive lake front property and ski lake...the fish for the most part are long gone, the Yuppie trash that has moved in from Dayton and Cincinnati and raised both the property values and taxes are not exactly welcomed by all...but the LIA(Lake Improvement Association) continues to work at making the local lake better for all.

The Bar Stool Open started in 2001 with less than 50 "contestant" boats...yesterday we had 144 teams of 4 golfers with another couple of hundred "hangers on"....12 bars, accessible by boat, 12 miniature golf holes, and plenty of beer and booze...the Bar Stool Open gets pretty decadent by the time it wraps up late Saturday/early Sunday.

I missed last years, being on vacation in Florida. 2 years ago, I admit to being so drunk, as not to remember the final 3 holes...stupid is as stupid does. This year, I was going to participate, but sober I would be....basically just to see how foolish the boozing golfers would be....I was(sober) and they were(boozing golfers). Made for a rather boring day, but I survived it and feel great this morning. #2 son Hal was with a different team, starting off at the Sunny Side Inn...Nick and his crew(Joey the Trucker, his girlfriend Jen the teacher, and me) started off at the infamous Duck Foot's Landing(so we would finish up at Nick's dock at Bayview Marina and Bar)....we golfed lousy, Nick and Joey were pretty trashed by the time we were 2/3rds done, and Jen and I stayed the sober ones. Meanwhile Hal and his team of college friends drank their share, but golfed well...finishing 3rd in the 144 team event....First Place $500/2nd $250/3rd $125...only bad news for Hal was...as we were heading for our final and home dock at Bayview, I was talking with him on the cell phones lamenting the boredom of boating sober(but also the genius of it)...his boat his a wave and his cell phone flipped from hand to the bottom of It's It Inlet....never to be seen again....his share of the prize money will go towards a new cell phone....he has a bad habit of losing or washing those phones.

All-in-all I'm glad I stayed sober for this one.....smart move on my part, one of the few I've made it that event.

2 years ago

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Bar Stool Open #5.....started drinking Miller Lite about 10AM....4 of us, Nick, Joey, Newcome, and me...made up one team, with youngest son Hal as our back-up, as we became more trashed, would golf each hole for one of us. We ended up at midnight, the 4 place team(tied) out of 112 entrants...not bad for a bunch of drunks, but out of the money none-the-less.

I stayed at Nick's sleeping on the recliner, and feeling the effects for the next 3 days......vowing I would not repeat this scenario....and I have been true to that vow as of yesterday's 7th annual Bar Stool Open.

prh