Notebook: Racking Up the Holes-in-One

Hole-In-One: Rick Luzar, a member at Forest Hills, recorded his ace while playing at the Hyland Golf Club on May 20. Rick used his 7-iron to cover the 135 yards to the sixth green. He was playing with Don Johnson and Daniel Neveu. This was his sixth hole-in-one and his first here in the Sandhills.

Mark Young, a member at Foxfire, aced the 165-yard 12th hole of the East Course on May 1. He used his 5-iron to reach the green. Playing with him were Warren Landis and Rich Faraci.

John Grady, also a member at Foxfire, scored his ace on April 12, on the West Course. He used his trusty driver to cover the 186 yards to the green. His playing partners were Leslie Frusco, Sue Bachelder and Claire Marks.

Chuck Barnes made his hole-in-one at the Hyland Golf Club on May 18 using a Titleist Pro V1. He hit his Cobra 6-iron to the 167-yard 10th hole. Witnesses were Doug Reagan, Jeff Bolles and Ryan Mize.

Dick Mitchell, a member at Pinewild, aced the 143-yard 17th hole of the Holly Course on May 22. He used his 5-wood to reach the green, and witnessing this shot was his wife, Betsey.

Scottish Connection: Members of the Country Club of Whispering Pines have a continuing connection with golf in Scotland. Fifteen years ago a member of CCWP stayed in a Scottish B-and-B and developed a long-term friendship with the owner. Through the years additional friendships flourished and developed into a competition that is played in odd years at CCWP and even years in Scotland. Eight golfers from each country compete in a match play format, with the Americans taking 10 of 12 matches this year.

Hospitality is extended to the visiting players by the resident golfers. This year the hosts were Bill and Ginny Campling, Ron and Nancy Derrick, Dean and Nancy Donley, John and Anne Gerwig, Jerry and Karen Lewis, John and Joan Gillis, and Don MacIlvaine and Mary Steffan. Dinners and cookouts filled every evening, along with boat rides on Spring Valley Lake, beanbag toss games, good conversation and lots of laughter.

The Scottish players, John Black, Euan Kerr, Alex Mackie, Eddie Malcolm, Dave Peters, Dough Ritchie, Matt Smyth and Neil Watson, represented Carnoustie, Panmure, St. Andrews and Scotscraig golf courses in Scotland.

As the sun set each evening, Matt Smyth, guitar in hand, entertained all with his playing and singing, leading to an international songfest, making everyone a winner in this ongoing Scottish Connection.

Midland: The Ladies Golf Association played on May 19 in a team event with the following winners: JoAnn Slayton, Georgia Snow, Marjene Chapman, 107; Pegge Banks, Dee Hancock, Nancy Hartwick, 110; Doris Stone, Sally Kelly, JoAnn Hoff, 113.

Q&A with Kathy Blackwell of the Austin American-Statesman « The ...

A. I can never say my title with a straight face  — it’s executive features editor, which essentially means that I’m a department head. I oversee the features staff of 17 reporters and four assigning editors, the daily Life section, the Austin360 entertainment tabloid, Statesman Homes and the books content that appears Sunday in Insight & Books — and the corresponding content that appears on our news and entertainment sites.

I also plan and edit Glossy magazine, a high-end niche publication that comes out nine times a year and is delivered to 50,000 subscribers. I report to the managing editor and executive editor.

I haven’t had a typical workday since 2006, quite honestly. I never know what to expect when I come in to the office — or, I should say, when I wake up and plug in to my email, Twitter and Facebook. It took me a while to realize that a highly structured approach to the day can be more of a detriment than an asset, but once I did, this flexible approach really made a difference in my ability to change gears and be able to react to whatever the day or night brings.

Having said that, though, structure is still important. The Life section is a pre-print, and the production desk has shrunk dramatically from when I first took this job in late 2004, so planning is essential, details crucial. It’s really a balancing act — the more you have a grip on things you can control, the better off you’ll be when things you can’t control arise.

I read the paper before I come to work (if I wait to read it at my desk, it will never happen), and I also check the home pages for our news site ( statesman.com , where some of my lifestyle material appears) and our entertainment site ( austin360.com , where the majority of my content appears). I also take a quick look at Twitter and Facebook feeds to get an idea of what people are talking about.

My days revolve around meetings and emails. I try to deal with them efficiently and get them out of the way so that I can get on to the editing and planning parts of my job.

Every morning I attend the 10 a.m. news meeting, where all the department heads discuss what did/didn’t work in that day’s paper, go over what’s online on the major area news sites and what’s doing well on ours, and then go over what each department is planning for the next day. We have another news meeting at 3:30 focusing on just the next day’s paper, going over updates and changes. I or one of my assigning editors does a daily “standup” meeting at the page designer’s desk around 10:45 to go over our Life sections for the next two days and see what we’re missing, what isn’t working, that kind of thing.

Fiddle Time Joggers + CD

Fiddle Time Runners

Fiddle Time Christmas

Cello Time Sprinters + CD

Fiddle Time Scales 1