Little John Golf League

The Little John Golf League of Houston is having their League Championship the weekend of 10/10-11 at The Golf Course at Cinco Ranch and Cypresswood Golf Course.  Rick Kimbrell, the President of the league, had some time to talk about the upcoming championship and the golf league in general.
 
Houston Golf Nut: Give me a little history about the league and why it was started.
Rick Kimbrell: Quite a number of years ago, the league was started by the IOF fraternal organization.  The league went through a number of iterations while sponsored by the IOF but all association with the IOF ceased long before my involvement with Little John Golf League.  However, why it was started pretty much remains the same today…to provide a venue to play competitive golf, in a friendly atmosphere, with other guys and gals who are interested in promoting the game of golf.  It does not matter what your background is, what type of job you have, whether you’re rich or poor…all you need is a love of the game and desire to compete.
 
HGN: How is the Little John Golf League different from a regular club league?
RK: Most regular club leagues play at a single club or course.  At best, they may hold their events on several courses in their part of Houston.  There are some other leagues in Houston that do play, as we do, all over the Greater Houston Area but most of those leagues limit the handicap of the players to 18 or less.  We welcome all handicap levels to play.  The only limit to a person’s handicap in our league is what is established by the USGA Rules of Golf.  We split our events into two flights equally dividing the number of players into the lower or higher handicap bracket.  All play is net stroke play using established USGA (GHIN handicapping service) handicaps.  Also, unlike some leagues in town, we do play 100% by the USGA Rules of Golf.  If you hit the ball out of bounds, you have to hit another one from the spot where the ball was originally played.  Many leagues allow you to go to where the ball went OB and play from there.  Also, in our league, you have to hole the ball out.  There are no “gimme” putts.  We want to play golf “by the rules”.    
 
HGN: Some golfers might be intimidated joining a league.  What is the skill level of most players and is there a handicap range that is preferred?
RK: The majority of our players are between 12 and 24 handicappers.  We have a number of single digit handicappers but we also have just as many with handicaps 25 and above.  As far as handicap range preferred…we really don’t care.  All handicaps are welcome and all that we ask is that our members have a familiarity with the Rules of Golf as that does help speed up play.  We are always willing to help someone with any rules situations.  For most all of our events, we try to put 2 lower handicappers and 2 higher handicappers in the same grouping.  This gives everyone a chance, over time, to play with everyone else in the league.  As far as being intimidated…new people should go out to our website and look at the past results from some of our events.  They will see some pretty ugly scores that have been shot in the past.  Unfortunately, some of them are mine. 
 
HGN: What can you tell me about the upcoming championship?
RK: This is our annual 2-day League Championship and it is the only 2-day event we hold all year.  All of our other events are 1-day events.  It is played, just as all our other events, are…net stroke play, combined score over 2 days.  This is the only event where we give out trophies for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers in each flight.  The prizes are also much better for this event.  And, we offer a few more competition chances in this event that are no held at our regular events.  More than anything…if you win your flight…it gives you bragging rights for the coming season.  We are playing two great golf courses in the Greater Houston area and we strive to get all of our members to play as it is also our annual business meeting and election of officers for the upcoming season.
 
HGN: It’s Sunday afternoon at Cypresswood and you’re in contention to win.  Who’s the last person you’d want to be up against?
RK: LOL.  Wow, the demons inside my head and controlling my putter are bad enough.  I love competition.  I would say our lowest handicapper in the league, Kiran Nair.  I remember when he was a 13 handicapper and could not putt to save his life.  Now he is a solid 3 or so handicap and a great player. 
 
HGN: When does the new season start and how does someone join?
RK: We really don’t have any breaks in our seasons.  We play the League Championship on October 10-11 and our new season starts 2 weeks later on October 25th.  Anyone wanting to join or just get additional info about us can visit our website www.littlejohngolfleague.com.  There they will find lots of info about us.  They can also send an email to me at rkimbrell@littlejohngolfleague.com. 
 
HGN: Tiger or Jack?
RK: I’m old school.  Jack of course.  But, got to admit, Tiger is impressive.  No doubt, he will surpass Jack’s records.   
 
About Little John Golf League

Little John Golf League is a Greater Houston area traveling golf league.  If a player wants to play some competitive golf, we are a fun competitive league.  Playing a variety of golf courses and establishing a USGA handicap over those courses tends to help a player be more competitive with the handicap they establish than someone who only plays one course and their handicap is based upon scores shot only on that one course.  We play 20-24 events each year all over the Greater Houston Area…as far south as The Wilderness in Lake Jackson, east at Eagle Pointe, north at HighMeadow Ranch, west at Houston National and just about all the great daily fee courses in between.  All handicaps are welcome.  And, we offer an optional net/gross skins game at all events.  Please check out our website www.littlejohngolfleague.com.