HISTORY
The germ of the idea that
became the Smitty Tour was conceived one cold and boring evening
in November of 2001, when the Tour’s first commissioner, one
Doug Smith, couldn’t find a damned thing worth watching on
TV and decided, instead, to read his latest edition of Golf Digest.
After reading about the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour, the Senior Tour,
the Buy.com Tour, the European Tour and blah, blah, blah.....he
exclaimed, “why not us? Why not we Smitties?” We could,
he opined, create our own tour, with brotherhood and comaraderie
and a little bit of ball-busting as the foundation upon which we
could build our future! We could get together on a regular basis,
beat the proverbial ball around for a few hours and then retreat
to someone’s house to commiserate over some ice-cold suds
and lick our wounds. When you think about it, that’s probably
what motivated those that formed the PGA Tour in the first place,
wasn’t it? So we can return to the roots of competitive (or,
in our case, not-so-competitive) golf - to golf in its purest form,
if you will. And so it was - on that cold and dreary eve - an idea
was born. It’s a story as old as time........a young (alright,
not so young anymore) man dares to dream. He puts his dream into
action. His brothers and friends ridicule him. He goes ahead and
does it anyway, and VOILA! - the dream becomes reality! I must admit
to getting a little teary-eyed every time I recall it, but it was
a magical combination of unbelievable boredom and sheer genius that
led to the formation of this great competitive endeavor. The rest,
as the old saying goes, is golfing history, my friends.
2007 Henry Smith Tour Championship Cheeseboard
Winners
2002 Jay Liedel / Jeff Liedel O.K. We have just survived The Big Storm, as our local weather pundits termed it, and as I look at the calendar I notice St. Patrick’s Day is less than a week away. When I think of St. Paddy’s Day, I think about green beer, little green men with red beards, etc. Most of all, though, I think of green fairways, green greens, lime green golf slacks, green being passed to the winner of our skins competitions, and I think that this freakin’ winter better end soon or I’m gonna lose my mind!! So, with that in mind, it’s time to take pen in hand (or the computer equivalent thereof) and wax poetic about the upcoming golf season – the 7th year for the Smitty Tour – and the competition for the one of the most sought-after trophies in all of golf, the Coveted Smitty Tour Cheeseboard. Looking ahead to the 08 schedule, our intrepid tour amateurs will re-visit several of our old, traditional haunts like Brunswick Hills, Indian Hollow, Forest Hills and Brentwood. We’ll return to Mallard Creek and Creekwood – venues we haven’t seen in awhile - and we will make our first visit to Pleasant Valley in Medina, which will definitely be our most challenging tour stop of the year. Last year’s Scramble, staged at Hinckley Hills, worked out pretty well, so we’ll head back there for another go-round. Compared to the 07 Season, it should be somewhat of an upgrade in course quality and challenge, and you know how much we love a challenge. Everyone, of course, will be focused on wresting the Bord du Fromage away from our first two-time champeen, Andy Liedel. He, quite naturally, is determined not to allow that to happen and has already been to Florida for his annual pre-season warm-up. The other Liedel boys have their illegal golf vacations coming up soon. 06 champ Capt. Ken Smith and his compadre, Gentleman Ray Pucko, are also heading South to get a leg up on the rest of us. Speaking of legs, 2005 winner Greg Smith is recovering from off-season knee surgery, following his failure to recognize that soccer is not an appropriate sport for someone over 35 years of age. At least he won’t be accused of taking part in unauthorized off-season practice! 2008 promises to be yet another in those close battles that we’ve seen over the years. Actually, I heard a quote on TV a month or so ago, attributed to the late, great Bobby Jones …… “There’s golf and then there’s tournament golf, and the two are not very much alike.” I kind of liked it and thought, with some minor changes, it might work for us …….. there’s golf and then there’s Smitty Tour golf, and the two are not very much alike. What d’ya think? Kinda works for us, doesn’t it? Anyway, enough of this nonsense. In just a little more than a month, we should be teeing it up at Mallard Creek (yes, I remember the snowed-out 05 season opener), so for those of us not fortunate enough to go South to loosen up, try to figure out a way to do it in the garage or something – just get ready. Remember – we’ve never had a back-to-back winner, and 2008 is not gonna be the year we allow that to happen!!!
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