Written by From a story by Jeff Cole

The “microburst” storm hit the Carlowden Country Club like a freight train. Over 150 trees were lost or damaged all over the course.  Around 80% of the damage occurred on the left side of the fairway on hole No. 17 and around the green on hole No.2.
Onlookers that expected to play that morning said that there was no other way of explaining what happened except that a tornado had to have touched down. Trees that stood for over 70 years were snapped in two and scattered every which way. Also people were shocked at how hole No. 2 now looks as they stood on the tee. A hole, which was once a tricky par 3 that was surrounded by dozens of pine trees, now is a wide open hole with pieces of pine laying on the cart path, in the sand traps and in the once wooded area.
Because of all the damage, the sports committee held an emergency meeting concerning the fate of the Club Championship. It commenced once all of the members were present, since some people had a difficult time driving up to Denmark.
The decision was to allow the maintenance crew to have a full day to clean up the areas of play and reschedule Saturday’s 18-hole round to Sunday and play 36 holes.
The women, who were to have begun their ‘First Lady” tournament that day, decided that they would play 18 holes on Sunday and wait to the following Sunday to finish their tournament.
At 8 a.m. on Sunday, morning, July 16th, all players were briefed on a few local rules that were placed in effect that day mainly on holes 2 and 17, but applied all over the course due to fallen branches, etc.
The local rule was that if your ball goes into the damaged area, you don’t even have to look for it. As long as your four-some agreed that your ball went in there, you were allowed to place your ball in the drop areas without any penalty.
After 36 holes on Sunday, Rob Peluso and Butch Haley were tied for the lead.
Both golfers headed for the No. 17 tee for a sudden-death playoff. Whoever won the hole won the championship. If they tied, they would play the next hole.
Peluso teed off first. He pulled his shot left and had a 50 yard chip on the par 4, 308 yards. Haley put his tee shot on the right hand side of the fairway and has a simple 40 yard chip with a lot of green to work with since the pin was on the left back of the green. Haley’s second shot was about 6 feet from the hole. Peluso chipped short and put his third shot within Haley. Haley made his birdie putt and conceded Peluso’s par to win the 1995 Carlowden Country Club Championship.

From a story by Jeff Cole, dated August 2,1995 and printed in the Carthage Republican Tribune.