golfDad90

According to the Holy Cross High School website, their next tournament is in Maysville for the Mason County Invitational. After that, they have conference (Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference) and Regional.

How has Nick played so far this season? Looks like Holy Cross has played in the Catholic Cup, All A Classic, and the Cougar Classic.

:ohbrother: So I enter the public/private debate. First, it is what it is and I accept it. I don't think we'd be better off with separate championships. I like the idea that we bring together the best players in the state for the state tourney - at least for golf. Second, any school that can pull in students from a wide area has an advantage over schools confined to a specific area. Although some schools with defined areas have an advantage because of a golf club within their bounds. Third, St X has a great history of success in athletics. They can provide players more than other schools in the state.

I believe no one will challenge St X this year. Although they took 3 seniors to state last year, they are deep. Their B team beat my son's team in a tournament last year. Justin Thomas is the best junior in the state and should win the State High School individual championship too. I don't want to get into a public/private debate here, but St X has an obvious advantage.

Steve and Blake should both do well at NKU. Steve medalled at Cincinnati Met qualifier and Blake did well in 7-Up. Good luck to both of them! :walk: Back to the original topic, anyone figure out where Nick Bockweg might play?

I looked on 7-Up Tour website (nkjrgolf.com) and didn't find Nick. Has he played any/many tournaments? How old is he? I assume HC in the post title means Holy Cross? Holy Cross might be able to grab a state spot with Blake Trimpe burning up the local 7-Up tour. In any case, congrats to Nick!

Ryle's Jordan Erlewine is my favorite to win the region - which he won two years ago as a Freshmen. I expect Ryle to finish 1st or 2nd in the Region. Chris Lally should be healthy this year. Blake Hamilton returns after playing in the State tourney last year as a Freshman. Chris Desmarais will likely be 4 or 5 man. CovCath might regain the Region Championship after finishing runner-up the last two years. They will be led by Mickey Sutton and Andrew Kendall. I don't know who else will join the top 5 - maybe Josh Moorman. Beechwood might be the sleeper this year. Josh Bertke qualified for the All "A" State championship but not the State tourney in Bowling Green. Although, Josh starts kind of late due to baseball. Watch for Carter Hibbard from Boone. I expect he'll settle down and gain more control over his swing. And finally, Northern Kentucky golf won't be the same without Villa's Denny Van Houten. I will miss his smile, his swagger, his love of the game, and how he taught sportsmanship to his players.

To determine "best" you need some criteria such as those above. To mix things up a bit, I vote "hockey". From a physical standpoint, you get strength, agility, speed, coordination, and endurance. Ever try to skate? To boot, hockey players play in shifts since it's so grueling. Mentally, hockey is similar to basketball but not as tough as others such as cross country or golf. Nothing against basketball players - nor golfers for that matter!

Don't forget Steve Flesch! Another great Kentucky golf story. I believe that having several junior tours in the state makes it stronger. Having 3 prominent pros from the state is very exciting. :ylsuper:

I've seen Nick play. He is a very good athlete and has had some success this past summer by winning a Musselman-Dunne event. T-24th at State is very respectable. Nick has improved a lot since his baseball days. I haven't seen Ben play so can't comment on his game.

Good for Ben! But I would say that he hasn't proven himself in Kentucky golf. He shot 171 this state tournament and didn't help CovCath. He didn't play in the state tourney last year. In 2006, he shot 165. I'm not aware of any regional/national tournaments that he's played. Where has he played well? I couldn't find him on NJGS. And, I remember you saying in another thread that Nick George could win state. "If Nick George stays true to his game, I believe he's on of the best golfers in the state." Who's better, Nick or Ben?

I looked at PJGT and FCWT for my son. He has not played in them. I'm not an expert, but my advice for college bound golfers is to play in regional and national events such as; AJGA PGA Junior Series US Junior and PGA Junior Select events such as the Hudson Junior (best event I've seen), and the Bubba Conlee Any 2 or more day event that reports to the National Junior Golf Scoreboard From what I can tell, the National Junior Golf Scoreboard (NJGS) is "an input" for college coaches. For better or worse, the NJGS puts a lot of weight on AJGA events. For me, FCWT is too expensive (at more than $300 per tourney). I am considering PJGT but feel there are other options for off-season prep such as the Mountain Dew Spring Series and the Musselman-Dunne Match Play Championship.

Please don't misunderstand, I do think it's great that the middle school kids were able to play. The state golf tournament is a special experience. Of the 22 kids who shot 90 or more on Day 1, only 5 were in middle school. Still, I would not have expected a team with two 6th graders to make the cut, such as Elliott County who made the cut on the strength of their top 3 (seniors). Most remarkable to me was West Jessamine who made the cut with three players from middle school. I expect we'll see them several more times in the upcoming years. I got to see Fred Allen Meyer from West Jessamine play. Fred Allen played and acted like a high school upper classman. He started day 2 with some nervousness but never lost his composure and never showed any frustration.

2008 State High School Golf Tourney - Top 5 by Class (including ties) Includes members of teams who made cut plus individuals who made cut (*) Seniors 4 Peter Meeks (Marshall County) T5 Blanton Farmer (Lexington Christian) 7 Patrick Newcomb (Marshall County) T8 Zack Butler (Paul Dunbar) T10 Andrew Desmarais (Ryle) T10 Hunter Frazier (Lexington Christian) T10 Dillon Mays (Taylor County) T10 Charlie Schaffer (Paul Dunbar) Juniors T1 David Payne (St. Xavier) T1 Travis Thompson (Marshall County) T5 Kyle Wilshire * (Scott County) T14 Matthew Anderson (Monroe County) T16 Sammy Thompson * (St. Mary) Sophomores 3 Justin Thomas (St. Xavier) T8 Nate Johnson (West Jessamine) T20 Ryan Flanagan (Somerset) T31 David Snyder (Somerset) T33 Todd McDaniel * (Clay County) T33 Tyler Morgan * (Jackson County) Freshmen T24 Hager Collins (Lexington Christian) T43 Preston French * (Henry Clay) T53 Tanner Keeton (Taylor County) 62 Davis Pardue (Russellville) T66 Wade Cave (Taylor County) Middle Schoolers T37 Fred Meyer (West Jessamine) 68 Connor Haas (West Jessamine) T69 Travis Rose (West Jessamine) 79 Hunter Holbrook (Elliott County) 80 Troy Tooley (Monroe County) 81 Ryan Gillum (Elliott County)

The 6th graders shot 92 and 102. The 3 seniors shot a combined +12. I heard the course played around 6900 yards. Many tight tree-lined fairways. No long carries over hazards. Bermuda grass rough grabs the ball and the club - more than the grass on most courses in Kentucky. It's great to see a number of middle-school kids in the tournament. West Jessamine has a 6th, 7th, and 8th grader on their team and sit in 5th place.

Top 4 teams - St X, Marshall County, Lexington Christian, and Dunbar. All within 4 strokes (+3 to +7) Then, a 17 stroke gap to teams in 5th-8th. Looking forward to seeing West Jessamine play (assuming Ryle, West Jessamine, and Dunbar play together). Fred Meyer (7th grade) shot 74 today to lead his team. I over-estimated Elliott County -- two 6th graders is a bit much for this tournament.

St X and Marshall County appear to be the strongest based on other tournaments played during the season like the KIT. I would put Dunbar, Lexington Christian in the next tier. Elliott County and Ryle could also finish top 5. Elliott County and Ryle play Friday a.m. while the other 4 mentioned here play in the afternoon. The weather can change significantly from morning to afternoon (for better or worse). Weather is looking good for both Friday and Saturday.

Which team do you favor to win the Boys' State golf tourney at the end of this week? Region Team Region Score 1 Marshall County 291 6 St. Xavier 296 9 Paul Dunbar 304 9 Lexington Christian 304 5 Elizabethtown 306 4 West Jessamine 307 2 Daviess County 310 3 Russellville 311 3 Monroe County 311 4 Taylor County 312 10 Corbin 312 11 Pikeville 312 12 Greenup County 313 6 Male 315 10 Somerset 315 12 Elliott County 315 2 Apollo 317 11 Johnson Central 318 5 John Hardin 319 8 Pendleton County 321 1 Heath 325 7 Ryle 326 7 Covington Catholic 334 8 Mason County 336

It's a very odd system. They order the kids' based on average scores reported by the coaches. Then, they do a reverse horseshoe (lowest last on #1 tee). I believe it took 6.5 hours for the last groups to play. Ridiculous! :irked: I would very much to see them seed based on team finish at the conference. That way the teams are in sequential in tee times and allows the coach to provide better coverage. Not a bad idea to have the slower players go last too.:walk:

We pay $35 for "something" then pay for our own shirts, tournaments, travel, etc. School has provided for kids' meals at state. We finally started a small fundraiser but really need more (like a scramble).

Holy Cross (Chris Grogan) and Rick Rowland (not sure of his school) were the organizers. Chris mentioned that the course ignored their pin requests. As a result, pin sheets were wrong too. The course could have also raked the bunkers, tough to hit out of crusty sand. No insult to Chris and Rick - it's a tough job and they didn't get the help they needed from the course. Chris is a great guy.

Yup - it was pretty ridiculous. They had the pins on small shelves and on the edge of greens (with lots of slope around). Greens held well but were fast downhill. My son spun two shots off the green after landing 10 yards or so on the green. Lots of 3 and 4 putts. The wind kicked up later in the day and affected the better players more. Thus, two of the three individual qualifiers came from the early to mid tee times. That's golf (and life)!

I'm watching this webpage: http://www.khsaa.org/golf/2008/2008boyssregionalresults.pdf So far, just Regions 6, 7, and 8 on it though. 6 - St X, and Louisville Male 7 - Ryle and CovCath 8 - Pendleton County and Mason County Dunbar's school webpage said that they won their region.

Other 2 individual qualifiers (in addition to Rickels) - Stan Zajac from Dixie and Austin Thomas from Boone. JudgeSmales was giving overall medalist results.

@GatorFan Love your Pic - Bubba J rocks! Saw Jeff Dunham in concert last Friday. He was great. His encore was Bubba J.