Before getting into the recap, let’s all take a moment and thank our wives/significant others for putting up with yet another year of TBO golf. Let’s also pause to apologize to our livers, brains, other vital organs. Let us also finally remember the small amount of work we all did on Friday morning after another session with Bridget and the Thursday crew at Tanner. Special shoutout to all the recording devices at Tanner Valley for helping me put together this recap as I forget most of what is done/said down there!
Let’s first start with our Season Preview and who our mystery guest (James Arthur Blowheim) picked to win the league: The team of Connor/Jim Morgan/Jon Carroll. He gave them the supreme rating of five Boeheim Boogers out of five:
Well Jimmy, let’s just say you should stick with basketball. Here’s a few of your lines from the preview:
“I think this team has what it takes to get the job done. Connor will do well in Flight 1. Jon’s foray into Flight 3 will yield good results. The question is can Jim Morgan do enough in Flight 2? I think so.”
James Arthur Blowheim, “2021 Season Preview”, April 27, 2021
Let’s break that down by the respective golfers:
- “Connor will do well in Flight 1…” – WRONG! Starting the year at 1-5 was the death sentence. He corrected the ship eventually by finishing 5-3-4, but an overall record of 6-8-4 isn’t going to cut it
- “….can Jim Morgan do enough in Flight 2? I think so.”: Pretty accurate on this, Coach. Jim finished with a record of 10-7-1, making him a top 10 golfer.
- “Jon’s foray into Flight 3 will yield good results.” Let’s just say this prediction was not quite accurate. Jon’s finish of 4-8-5 puts him in the bottom 5 of TBO golfers.
Switching gears to the two teams battling it out for the title, oddly enough both teams were given the same Boeheim Booger rating:
The interesting thing about these two teams was where the team leadership came from on the course. The eventual champions were led by the Bud-heavy-boozin’ brute, #1 ranked TBO golfer Mike Mahar out of Flight 3. His teammates were middle of the pack. Similar story with the second place team led by the Flight 1 Bellevue Country Club extraordinaire Devin ‘Snowflake’ Carrigan, who was #4 ranked golfer. His teammates also were middle of the pack.
So enough about the talk, let’s get to some stats!
Final 2021 Flights (Note: Subject to change!!)
Top 3 Improved Golfers:
- Billy Kirkby: EIGHT STROKE IMPROVEMENT over 18 holes! That’s the power of the Gold Tees!
- Denny Welch: down 3.63 strokes per 18 holes
- Joe Donegan: down 3.38 strokes per 18
Top 3 Regressed Golfers:
- Bobby Moran: Added 5.29 strokes per 18
- Dickie Donegan: added 3.89 strokes per 18
- Paul Daniels: added 2.78 strokes per hole
| Front | Back | Change from 2020 | 2020 Avg | Most Improved | |||
| Flight 1 | Devin Carrigan | 75.44 | 39.56 | 35.89 | -0.89 | 76.33 | 11 |
| Connor Brown | 78.47 | 40.22 | 38.25 | -0.99 | 79.46 | 9 | |
| Pat Donahue | 79.88 | 41.00 | 38.88 | -0.01 | 79.89 | 17 | |
| Merritt Daniels | 82.94 | 42.44 | 40.50 | -2.32 | 85.26 | 4 | |
| Dan Kane | 83.22 | 42.56 | 40.67 | 1.15 | 82.07 | 25 | |
| Mike Carroll | 83.43 | 42.00 | 41.43 | 0.58 | 82.85 | 20 | |
| DJ Mahar | 83.89 | 42.67 | 41.22 | 0.60 | 83.29 | 21 | |
| TJ Donegan | 83.95 | 42.67 | 41.29 | -0.49 | 84.44 | 15 | |
| Steve Donegan | 84.89 | 42.56 | 42.33 | 0.78 | 84.11 | 22 | |
| Dale Russell | 86.00 | 43.63 | 42.38 | -0.61 | 86.61 | 14 | |
| Craig Hawkinson | 86.00 | 43.89 | 42.11 | 1.47 | 84.53 | 29 | |
| Dick Donegan | 86.11 | 45.11 | 41.00 | 3.89 | 82.22 | 33 | |
| Flight 2 | Pat Mooney | 87.13 | 45.00 | 42.13 | |||
| Chris Donegan | 87.44 | 44.33 | 43.11 | -1.19 | 88.64 | 7 | |
| Drew Prucha | 88.33 | 44.11 | 44.22 | -0.67 | 89.00 | 12 | |
| Sean Mott | 89.44 | 45.22 | 44.22 | -1.56 | 91.00 | 6 | |
| Rick Fanto | 89.76 | 44.88 | 44.89 | 1.32 | 88.44 | 27 | |
| Matt Lochner | 89.78 | 45.78 | 44.00 | 2.44 | 87.33 | 31 | |
| Dan Mahar | 90.44 | 44.11 | 46.33 | 1.22 | 89.22 | 26 | |
| Jim Morgan | 90.56 | 45.67 | 44.89 | -1.19 | 91.75 | 7 | |
| Denny Welch | 91.00 | 47.00 | 44.00 | -3.63 | 94.63 | 2 | |
| Mike Shanahan | 92.44 | 45.67 | 46.78 | 1.74 | 90.71 | 30 | |
| Mike Burns | 93.26 | 46.43 | 46.83 | -0.64 | 93.90 | 13 | |
| Jon Carroll | 94.22 | 48.56 | 45.67 | -1.69 | 95.92 | 5 | |
| Flight 3 | John Mooney | 94.35 | 47.78 | 46.57 | 0.97 | 93.38 | 23 |
| Marty Donegan | 94.44 | 47.44 | 47.00 | 1.32 | 93.13 | 28 | |
| Bill Kirkby | 95.13 | 49.00 | 46.13 | -8.11 | 103.24 | 1 | |
| Paul Daniels | 96.33 | 49.33 | 47.00 | 2.78 | 93.56 | 32 | |
| Pat Cregg | 96.85 | 48.02 | 48.83 | 0.46 | 96.39 | 18 | |
| Bob Zaleski | 97.68 | 47.43 | 50.25 | -0.07 | 97.75 | 16 | |
| Brian Thayer | 97.89 | 49.89 | 48.00 | ||||
| Tom Donegan | 98.71 | 49.43 | 49.29 | 0.55 | 98.17 | 19 | |
| Joe Donegan | 100.73 | 49.88 | 50.86 | -3.38 | 104.11 | 3 | |
| Bob Moran | 102.63 | 51.75 | 50.88 | 5.29 | 97.33 | 34 | |
| Mike Mahar | 102.78 | 52.78 | 50.00 | 1.03 | 101.75 | 24 | |
| Jeff Raus | 102.90 | 51.57 | 51.33 | -0.93 | 103.83 | 10 |
Double Par counts:
Flight one saw a few more double pars in 2021 compared to 2020 (Thanks Dan Kane!!), Flight 2 was right around the same as last year, while Flight 3 had a much better year mostly due to lower double par numbers from Billy Kirkby (Thank you Gold Tees!) and Joe Donegan. Interestingly, Joe seems to have gotten over his double par fears on #18. He had one 10, no 9’s and one 8 on #18. However, it would appear the fears just swam up the creek a little to #9 as Joey double parred it 3 out of the first 4 weeks….and then again in Week 17. #9 is the new #18 for Joe.
| Double Par Counts | 2021 | 2020 |
| Flight 1 | 9 | 6 |
| Dale Russell | 0 | 2 |
| TJ Donegan | 0 | 1 |
| DJ Mahar | 1 | 1 |
| Mike Carroll | 1 | 2 |
| Craig Hawkinson | 0 | 0 |
| Steve Donegan | 0 | 1 |
| Dan Kane | 5 | 0 |
| Merritt Daniels | 0 | 0 |
| Dick Donegan | 2 | 1 |
| Devin Carrigan | 0 | 0 |
| Connor Brown | 0 | 0 |
| Pat Donahue | 0 | 0 |
| Flight 2 | 30 | 31 |
| Rick Fanto | 1 | 5 |
| John Mooney | 1 | 2 |
| Chris Donegan | 0 | 1 |
| Marty Donegan | 3 | 6 |
| Sean Mott | 1 | 2 |
| Mike Shanahan | 2 | 1 |
| Dan Mahar | 3 | 1 |
| Matt Lochner | 3 | 2 |
| Brian Thayer | 6 | |
| Drew Prucha | 4 | 3 |
| Jim Morgan | 5 | 8 |
| Pat Mooney | 1 | |
| Flight 3 | 78 | 90 |
| Denny Welch | 2 | 3 |
| Paul Daniels | 2 | 7 |
| Mike Burns | 1 | 6 |
| Bob Moran | 7 | 5 |
| Bill Kirkby | 3 | 8 |
| Pat Cregg | 8 | 4 |
| Mike Mahar | 15 | 14 |
| Tom Donegan | 3 | 4 |
| Joe Donegan | 15 | 22 |
| Bob Zaleski | 5 | 3 |
| Jon Carroll | 10 | 9 |
| Jeff Raus | 7 | 9 |
Top 5 Luckiest Golfers (golfers who’s opponents shot under quota)
- Dan Mahar: Opponents were MINUS THIRTY (-30) vs. their quotas vs. Dan. He had only two opponents all year go over their quota all year ( Week 6 Jim Morgan, +4 (loss), Week 7 Mike Burns +1 (win)). While being this lucky is not the sole reason for taking home the title, it really does help
- Brian Thayer: Opponents were -23 vs. their quota vs. Figs. Didn’t help him very much as we’ll cover in the next section. Have to be both lucky and good.
- Pat “Ssshhhh, they might be listening” Cregg: Cregger’s opponents were blinded in a haze of cigarette smoke and Coors Light foam shooting -21 vs. quota.
- Jim Morgan: Tie for fourth with Prucha with opponents going -20 vs. Quota.
- Drew Prucha: Tie for fourth with morgan (-20). Worth pointing out that
Top 5 Unluckiest Golfers (golfer’s who’s opponents shot their asses off vs. quota)
- Pat Donahue: Opponents were +25 vs. their quota against Pat. A 6-8-4 record is not too shabby given what he was up against.
- TJ Donegan: Opponents were +24 vs. quota. This level of opponent performance would be a leading cause of TJ’s final record of 4-8-4
- Bob Moran: Tie for third: Opponents were +20 vs. quota
- Dale Russell: Tie for third: Opponents were +20 vs. quota
- Connor Brown: Opponents were +16 vs. quota. Despite Connor’s top 5 Player Performance, this once again proves that to make it to the top of TBO, you have to both play well and not be unlucky.
Top 5 Over-Performing Golfers vs. Quota
- Devin Carrigan – Devin shot an incredible +23 vs. his quota. Interestingly, there are lot of extremes throughout Devin’s year. Devin has rounds of +9, +8, +6, but also notched rounds of -5 twice, -7.
- Joseph Donegan – Interestingly with Joey, most weeks Joe was +/-2 within his quota. However, I feel for the person who ran into Joe when he was +9 vs. his quota (TWICE!). Joe ended up the year at +15 vs. his quota
- Mike Mahar – The Flight 3 Champ was +9 vs. his quota. Much like Joe, most weeks were -1, 0 or +1 vs. his quota. However, Mike had a few weeks where he shot his ass off.
- Mike Carroll – Tied for fourth with a +7 vs. quota
- Connor Brown – Tied for fourth with a +7 vs. quota.
Top 5 Under-Performing Golfers vs. Quota
- Brian “Figs” Thayer – As with most first year golfers, the start of the season was tough for Figs. Over the first seven weeks, Figs was -35 vs. quota. He managed to stay even for the remainder of the season and finished the year at….-35 vs. his quota.
- Mike Shanahan – Shanny managed to eek out a 7-10-1 record despite a year that saw him finish at -28 vs. his quota.
- Bobby Zeleski – With his second season on the Gold tees, Bob put up a -21 vs. his quota.
- Pat Cregg – Tied for fourth with a -17 vs. quota
- John Mooney – Tied for fourth with a -17 vs. quota
Random ass Stats…
- The winning team score of 77.5 is tied for the all time highest (2014 – Nick Wight, DJ Mahar, Bob Moran)
- The last place team score of 42 represents an all-time low. The previous all time low was also in 2014 with a score of 43 (Dale Russell, Chris Donegan, Marty Donegan)
- There was only one Eagle recorded for the whole year – Dale Russell on #18 in Week 4.
- The person who tied for the worst round vs. quota (-8 in Week 1) also had the best round vs. quota (+11 in Week 16) – Dickie Donegan
- There were two double digit rounds vs. quota: Dickie in Week 16 at +11 and Jon Carroll at +10 in Week 14.
- Updated Player vs. Player all-time records
Odd stats about winning the title…
- Excluding the two new golfers Pat Mooney and Brian Thayer, 15 of the 34 remaining golfers have not won a TBO title.
- Of that 15, there are four golfers from the original 2008 TBO roster who have not won a title:
- Rick Fanto – highest finish of 3rd in 2018
- Pat Donahue – highest finish of 3rd in 2020
- Mike Carroll – highest finish of 3rd in 2016, 2017
- Pat Cregg – highest finish of 3rd in 2020
- Only two current players have officially won the title three times:
- DJ Mahar – 2012, 2014, 2018
- Tom Donegan – Another record holder as the only golfer to win it three straight years: 2015, 2016, 2017
- An additional five current players have won two titles with one former player winning two:
- Joe Donegan – 2019, 2020
- Craig Hawkinson – 2013, 2020
- Dan Maher – 2016, 2021
- Matt Lochner – 2019, 2020
- Jon Carroll – 2011, 2012
- Nick Wight (retired?) – 2011, 2014
Welp, this about does it for the IT Nerd this year. Another year in the books, another year of starting at screens and not doing work.
Later losers….Now that TBO talk is over, is it time for Sleddy Talk!?!?!
