Caliendo Winter Tour Wraps Up 57th Season
The Caliendo Shore Winter Golf Tour concluded its 57th season on Thursday, April 12, at Stanton Ridge Golf & Country Club in Whitehouse Station.
The 57th was one of the Caliendo Tour’s most successful, despite the fact that the weather played havoc and two events had to be canceled. But others were salvaged by moving them away from the traditional Thursdays. One was played on Tuesday, March 6, Atlantic City Country Club, ahead of the nor’easter that came two days later. Play was conducted at Ballamor on Jan. 16, also a Tuesday. The Tour played at Greate Bay on Friday, Jan 19 as a departure from Thursday, again due to weather.
The Caliendo League conducted its championships on April 12, with Matt Porter winning the amateur gross over defending champion Anthony Fioretti in a playoff. Greg Jacobson took the amateur net while Mark McCormick of Suburban won the pro championship for the second consecutive year.
Lou Fulgoni of Howell Park won the Player of the Year honors, winning seven events during the course of the season.
“We feel the Caliendo Tour was better than ever,” said Tim Macken of Knoll, who served his first year as president of the group. “There were many more ways to be involved. We added a Pot of Gold each week. We had a Senior Division in which 40 to 50 members participated each week. The Tour added a two-man team event for the first time, with net and gross winners, at Rossmoor on March 29.”
Macken improved the communication flow by providing an e-mailed Tour News update each week during the season. For the first time, sign-up sheets made it easier to view pairings for every event.
“I would like to thank our administrator, John Doherty, and pros Pete Busch and Ken Pridgen who kept finding courses we could play during this harsh winter,” Macken said. “I think we are also going to add more members than the 165 we had this season. At times, only 60-70 would show up when the weather wasn’t so great.”
Doherty appreciated Macken’s efforts.
“Tim knows most of the guys in the league. He’s been a member for 37 years. He knows golf and what people want. He’s added a lot of variety, which is good for golf,” Doherty said.
“What most people do in the summer, he’s doing in winter as far as organizing things, and that’s not easy to do. Between myself and Tim, we know what people want. This was a long winter. The weather couldn’t make up its mind, but we got through it. A lot of people made a lot of effort.
“For people who want to play, it’s a good league.”
Added board member and competitor Mike Paduano: “Tim has been very open-minded about issues that involve the tour. We’ve made a lot of changes that have proven popular and he has done a good job. We added new prizes, restructured the budgeting and scoring, reallocated prizes to the field and membership was full early in the season.”
