Story and photos by Amy Newcomb
GUIDON staff
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The Garrison Command team took home the post championship trophy after having the lowest score during the 2012 Commander’s Cup Golf Tournament Aug. 2 at Piney Valley Golf Course.

The Garrison Command team of Danny Howell, Fred “Smitty” Smith, Britt Carman and Kelly Carman had a collective score of 275 on the greens.

Britt Carman, Garrison Command team captain, said he was very proud of how his team performed.

“They did great. Everybody shot what they needed to and scored under par, and overall they did a great job,” Carman said. “We have a bunch of great golfers on one team and that’s pretty much the key to it — everybody needs to be able to hit good shots and pull out those clutch shots.”

The Medical Department Activity team of Richard Couton, Jerry Story, Brian Pienkos and Wade Seals, defending golf champions three years in a row, did nearly as well, earning second place in the tournament with 285 points.

Story has played for the MEDDAC golf team for five seasons and said the team scored a little better last year than it did this year. He thought his team did well considering many of them didn’t get out to play as much as they would have liked to prior to the tournament.

“I think we had a real strong team. We always have great guys who play together continually — we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” Story said. “We usually put people together so we have an opportunity to score the best that we can.”

Finishing in third place was the 92nd Military Police Battalion golf team, which included players Jim “Doc” Blair, Keith McElroy, Al Delamarter and Dave Kuhn. They finished with 294 points.

McElroy said this year, like the year before, the 92nd MP Bn. had an experienced team that played well together.

“We had some solid players on the course that really could contribute to one another in the format we were playing,” McElroy said. “Like every golfer knows, each round has its ups and downs. Overall I was extremely pleased with how our team performed.”

Larry Keeton, Garrison Command sports director, said the weather had affected the greens, which played a big part in how the course was played this year.

“The greens were the slowest I have ever seen them,” Keeton explained. “They can’t cut the grass too short like it should be, because the heat would kill it.”

Keeton said he saw plays where the ball would be rolling and it looked like it should fall right in the hole, but the ball would just stop because the grass was just too high.

Story agreed, “When you think you got this great roll, this read on the ball, you may have it, but boy it just stops.”

Rob Steinmacher, recreation aid for Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, said in order to compete in the Commander’s Cup Golf Tournament for the post championship trophy, teams were required to complete the entire regular season with one forfeit or less. Most teams did well, he said.

“Participation was about the same as last year, but as with tennis, the overall quality of the teams improved,” Steinmacher said.

With the completion of golf tournament, the only Commander’s Cup events left in Fiscal Year 2012 are the annual softball tournaments, which will follow the completion of the intramural season in the coming weeks, a 10k road race tentatively scheduled for Sept. 7 and a sand volleyball tournament, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 17. To register for these events, call 596.7444.