Philly Publinks’ Collins captures Fall Net Championship at Schuylkill

ORWIGSBURG, Pa. — “Ugly” is how Hank Collins describes his golf game this summer. The rounds he’s played left the Philadelphia Publinks GA member discouraged and frustrated.

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  Any antonym for ugly is a fitting descriptor for his performance in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Tee It Forward — Fall Net Championship at a splendid Schuylkill Country Club Wednesday. Collins, who competed from the forward tees (par 72, 5,688 yards), posted 43 points in the net stableford format.

  “It was the first time I’ve broken 95 all year,” Collins, 78, of Berwyn, Pa., said. “Everything just kind of worked. It was a combination of a lot of different things. It just worked out.”

  How’s this for a combination: a four-putt, two three-putts, a bunch of one-putts, a sand save for par and a chip-in birdie? Collins, who fared well on Schuylkill’s undulating greens, ran the gamut Wednesday. The aforementioned chip-in occurred on the par 3, 118-yard 11th hole after he landed a 9-iron short of the putting surface. A bunker blast and mid-range putt on the 16th hole (par 3, 120 yards) meant a net birdie on the scorecard.

  “Ugly” did appear on a couple of occasions at Schuylkill, but left no permanent scars.

  “Skulling a wedge or a 9-iron a few times. The only thing good about it was the direction,” Collins said.

  Collins, who worked for a truck manufacturer, frequently competes alongside friend Timothy Joyce, the 2013 Francis B. Warner Cup (Net) champion. The two check off a pair of important boxes: having fun and enjoying new courses.

  “Let me just say this. There’s nothing I don’t enjoy about playing in a GAP event,” Collins said. “We get into everything we can.”

  A stop at Dairy Queen is a must for Collins and Joyce, too. They scout for a planned stop on the way home. Add Collins’ trophy to the treat list.

Women’s Division
Lucia Simon drove past Schuylkill Country Club en route to her son Joshua’s wedding a year ago. The roadside view beckoned a firsthand visit.

  “I never knew of the club. The next day, I got an e-mail about an event here, but I couldn’t play in it,” Simon, 60, of Center Valley, Pa., said. “So when this one came up, I knew I wanted to play the course. I went online and read about Schuylkill. I needed to go and see it.”

  The course met Simon’s expectations and then some. She points to a chip-in birdie on the par 5, 450-yard 17th hole as a highlight. She left a 7-wood short of the putting green and sent straight tracker into the jar.

  Simon classified her GAP debut as “awesome.”

  “Easy to sign up, easy to be here. I’m sorry to see such a small field of women. I’d like to say I beat a field of 50,” she said jokingly. “I had a great time.”

  The Tee It Forward — Fall Net Championship, formerly known as the Second Handicap, is open to players 18 years of age and older with handicap index less than 36.0. The event began in 1946. The Golf Association of Philadelphia adopted the Tee It Forward parameters and changed the scoring format to net stableford in 2012.

Golf Association of Philadelphia
Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) is the oldest regional golf association in the United States and serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. Its 153 Full Member Clubs and 57,000 individual members are spread across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. As Philadelphia’s Most Trusted Source of Golf Information, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.