| DAYTON CC TO HOST SPRING BETTER BALL |
| Written by Bucky Albers |
 Members of the Miami Valley Golf Association will be playing Dayton's oldest golf course on May 7 when they participate in the 2012 season-opening Spring Better Ball competition at Dayton Country Club.An outgrowth of the Dayton Golf Club, which was founded in 1897, Dayton Country Club was incorporated in 1908. A clubhouse and a nine-hole golf course were completed in 1910. In 1917, the famed architect, Donald Ross, visited DCC and made recommendations for changes to the golf course that included expansion to 18 holes. The clubhouse was heavily damaged by a fire in 1929 when the boiler overheated after a busy day of activity at the club. The clubhouse was immediately rebuilt, but DCC suffered through a difficult time during the Depression. During World War II, the second floor of the clubhouse was remodeled and equipped to serve as a dormitory for military officers. The golf course was remodeled in 1948 by another renowned architect, William Diddel of Indianapolis. He changed the routing to bring both the ninth and 18 holes back to the clubhouse. The first irrigation system was installed in 1955. DCC hosted the Ohio Amateur Championship in 1920 and 1960 and was home to the Bogie Busters Tournament from 1967-1974. In recent years, the club has hosted U.S. Amateur qualifying events. The club’s head golf professionals have included: Willie Hoare, J.S. Nicholl, Jock Collins (1927-31), Tommy Bryant (1931-42), Massie Miller (1943-xxxx), Dave Cardon (19xx-1954), Norm Butler (1955-69), Jimmy Gilbert (1967-1997), Jim Kincaid (1998-2001), David Bahr (2002-06), Andy Fisher (2006-2009) and the present pro, Keith Fisher, who took the job in May of 2009. Nowadays the DCC course is tight with fairways lined by mature trees, and it is hilly in places. It is known for its tricky greens which don’t always send putts in the direction one might expect. In other words, local knowledge is helpful. A field of approximately 50 two-man teams will participate in the May 7 event which has four divisions – scratch, handicap, senior scratch and senior handicap. In the senior divisions, both players must be 50 or older on May 2. In the handicap divisions, partners’ handicap indexes will not vary more than 8.0 handicap index strokes on the handicap revision from May 1. One of the teams to beat in the scratch division is the pairing of Jeff Scohy and Pete Samborsky. Together they have won five of the last six Metropolitan Stroke Play Championships. Samborsky, who first won the Metro in 2002, also won it in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011. Scohy won it in 2009. The championship will have a 1 p.m. shotgun start. |
