8th GAP/AGA Super-Senior Coal Scuttle

Fox Hill wins eighth straight Scuttle title

EXETER, Pa. — Fairway filmmakers documented Chapter Eight of “The Skulk Supremacy” Wednesday at Fox Hill Country Club (par 71, 5,805 yards).

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Fox Hill, to the delight of figurative oddsmakers everywhere, won the 8^th GAP/AGA Super-Senior Coal Scuttle Championship. Jim Hoover led the team with a 1-under-par 70. He shared individual medalist honors with Pocono Farms Country Club’s Tim Holland.

Fox Hill, represented by Hoover, Richard Berry (77), James Devers (83) and Ed Hennigan (73), finished at 7-over-par 220 to prevail by six strokes over Elmhurst Country Club.

The top three of four scores count toward the team total. The GAP/AGA Super-Senior Coat Scuttle Championship is contested at the home of its defending champion. Fox Hill continues to make its case for permanent site status.

“Let’s give credit to [Fox Hill Superintendent] Ron Garrison because the golf course is fantastic. The course is in great shape,” Berry, 68, of Forty Foot, Pa., said. “Ron does a tremendous job for us.”

And Hoover, the Super-Senior Coal Scuttle medalist in 2020, did a tremendous job in leading his Fox Hill teammates Wednesday. He made four birdies heading out yet only carried a score of 1 over at the turn.

Hoover opened with back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 1 (par 4, 363 yards) and 2 (par 4, 394 yards).

“I haven’t played since Sunday, so I was trying to get the swing back together again. It didn’t come back too fast,” he said. “I didn’t have any confidence.”

Back-to-back birdies injected confidence. Hoover stopped a 9-iron at a foot on No. 3 (par 3, 172 yards). He hit a sand wedge from inside 100 yards to 15 feet on No. 4 (par 4, 319 yards). After carding his lone outward par on No. 5 (par 4, 380 yards), Hoover fired back-to-back birdies on Nos. 6 (par 5, 438 yards) and 7 (par 3, 153 yards). But his newfound 2 under vanished thanks to a double bogey on No. 8 (par 4, 361 yards). Hoover’s pitching wedge approach caught the front left bunker. His extrication attempt landed 15 feet above the flagstick, a problematic location on Fox Hill’s slippery surfaces. Hoover ran his par putt five feet past and missed the comebacker. That double bogey preceded a bogey on No. 9 (par 4, 362 yards).

Fox Hill needed a turnaround from its four-time reigning Super-Senior champion. The team’s lead shrunk to three over Elmhurst. Hoover fortunately returned to championship form. He birdied No. 11 (par 3, 125 yards) after knocking a gap wedge to four feet. Hoover made it a clean 4-for-4 on Fox Hill’s par 3s when he hit a 6-iron to three feet on No. 13 (158 yards). Hoover’s 60-yard pitch on the par 5, 486-yard 14^th hole settled 15 feet from the hole location. Hoover made good on the birdie effort.

Breathing room for Fox Hill. And another Super-Senior Coal Scuttle for the trophy room.

“I think we have some pretty good players, first and foremost, in the Senior Division. And you want to win at your home course,” Berry said. “We’re trying our best to keep it here.”

“The greens are tough. These are homer greens. The way it is, if you aren’t comfortable putting breaks on mostly every putt, it gets to you,” Hoover, 68, of Kingston, Pa., said.

GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The Association’s 330 Member Clubs and 90,000 individual members are spread across Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.