Sixers on Ice 2023
Take a little trip on I-35 just north of San Antonio and you’ll find a spot in the road where the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers meet called New Braunfels. This little slice of heaven in Texas is home to Schlitterbahn waterpark, Wurstfest and the STROHs inaugural ‘Sixers on Ice’. This event took shape out of an idea to both help out (and maybe brag to) northern statesmen that have what is called “real winter” and host a STROHs season opener. It’s no Kapalua, but having the ability to walk around Landa Park Golf Course in shorts sure did make the boys from Colorado smile.
Landa Park Golf Course, our home for this year’s festivities, is a hidden gem of a course. Stretching out to a whopping 6205 yards with reachable par 4’s, daunting par 3’s and fiery greens, Landa was a perfect place for a little sharpening of the golf skills. The format for ‘Sixers’ was as follows: head-to-head match play, with each match consisting of a designated six-hole stretch. Each player would play three matches per day with a total of six matches being played over the two rounds. Scoring: hole won = 1 point; hole halved = 0.5 points; hole lost = 0 points; match won = 1 extra “kicker” point for a total of 7 points up for grabs in each set of six holes. “We want this scoreboard to look like the first half of a basketball game.” -Austin Alaniz, Party Planning Committee Member. So, the rules are simple, win as many holes as you can over 36 holes. Oh, and each player brings a sixer of beer for…festivities.
Josh Donelson announced the beginning of the event by giving everyone a true announcement on the first tee. “Nothing gets the blood flowing quite like having your name called and less than a driver in your hands,” Donelson remarked when watching the first groups go off with varying degrees of success. The tournament was underway and moves were made early. Heston Heller jumped out to an early lead winning 6.5 pts in the first 6 with Tim Brooks at 6.0 and a gaggle of others at 5.5. Once everyone left the confines of the initial six holes, people settled down and got into a groove. The par 4 number 9 saw not one, but two people drive the green for eagle looks in the Alaniz, Mujahid, Thompson and Icenogle group. Fore calls were not heard from the group in front, but those may have just been lost in the Wurstfest buildings next door. Brooks continued to surge leading the pack with a perfect set of six to give him 13, while the likes of Alex Irion, 11pts, quieted Heller’s early lead, and Andrew Litschi, 10.5pts, worked his way back into the fight. Finally, in the last 6 holes of the day, we had a short par 5 and three reachable par 4s. Shots could be made, lines could be taken, but could you putt on these glass greens for this final stretch? Fore calls were made off 13 to get a line into the par 5 green in two. Clubs were dropped on 16 when cutting the corner meant getting your hand caught in the cookie jar going too far right. Alex Mahar chipped in from 30 yards away for birdie to dunk on Heller. Lamborghini’s feared for their life on 18 when driver’s were pulled to reach the green. Coming out of the dust of day one, there was one man standing above the rest at 16 pts, Tim Brooks. Day one ended with the understanding that the advantage of course knowledge was gone, feels for greens were getting better and calculated risks could be taken. There were 8 men within 6 pts of Brooks, could any of them get the job done?
The crew gathered at the clubhouse, and cheers, claps, and lottery tickets were given to Robert McCall for Closest to the Pin on hole 12, and Brandon Kusek for Long Drive on hole 13. Points were tallied and the Day 1 Leaderboard was complete.
Have you ever stayed at a water park in January? Sixers on Ice did. When we spoke about Schlitterbahn Waterpark being relatively close to the course, we meant a short par 5 away. Everyone rolled up, received their parking pass and room assignments from camp director Donelson, and then the festivities began. It all started pretty low-key. Grab a beer, hang out, talk about the round, and maybe pick the brain on golf courses from the three Coloradans. It quickly divulged into a contest of sorts where a particular orange cooler became the target of a chipping contest. Roars were heard. Nothing was broken, and the guy with the broken finger won the pot. As the evening wore on, barbecue was delivered, cigars came out, a man fell asleep in the middle of the room on a couch, and call of duty was played with a side conversation of religion. Everyone found their niche amongst the various people and conversations. A door knob was broken (but fixed the next day). The evening turned into night, the party grew to a low roar during a dice game and then backed off once it was realized golf was to be played the next day and we weren’t that young anymore.
A delightful breakfast was served by Stefan Icenogle, Andrew Litschi, and Josh Donelson, to a rather ragged-looking crew. Wandering into STROHshaus both tired and reeling from their previous decisions, copious amounts of Gatorade, coffee, and even a few beers were consumed by the masses. Breakfast of champions, to be sure. Tee times at 11 AM crept closer, so more and more people ventured over to Landa to warm up as best as possible. Day two of Sixers on Ice was upon us.
Is any lead a safe lead in a format where the pts come and go so quickly? Would Brooks be able to fend off his foursome to be crowned the champion? Or would someone come flying in from the cheap seats to sweep their group and win the whole dang thing? Let’s find out.
Coming out of the starting blocks hard both McCall and Donelson won 5.5 pts in the first 6 holes at Landa, sending a message that it was anyone’s game. Brooks picked up 4.5 pts to keep a lead of 2 over Heller and Icenogle, with Shields and Litschi hot on their trail. Moving into the middle 6 holes with three par 3s, two drivable par 4s, and one meaty par 4, there was aggressive golf that could be played. Listchi, Heller and four others drove the green on 9 with varying clubs. The par 3 tenth played extremely tough with a back left pin to a wild green perched up above a tributary of the Comal where left was not an option, but a right bail out meant certain bogey. Donelson, Litschi, Alaniz, and McDowell had an impressive 5-point swing in their favor in the middle match, and Icenogle managed 5.5 pts, but none could outdo Gardenhire pinning 6 pts to his score. Finally, we moved into the six holes that would determine our champion. Guys were in the home stretch and looking for a chance to spread their wings and hit down the par 4 14th to find a better angle. Fore calls were made, and play was excused for players hitting in traffic patterns that looked more like I-35 stop-and-go traffic than the expressways of Mopac. Through the chaos of 13 and 14, on 15 Portwood found his stride. After hitting his approach on the green some 20 ft away, then making the putt with authority, Omar Mujahid remarked, “Did I just walk into a buzzsaw?” Portwood answered in the affirmative, and took the match with 4.5 pts. The crowd favorite number 16 is a par 4 of only 345 yards, but with all the quirk that a certain Big Randy would love. It is a dogleg left with a centerline tree at 240 yards. If you hit the ball 210 or 250 yards you are fine, but anything in that range and you might have to find out how true the “90% air” rule is. The green is fortified by bunkers on its front and a large drop-off on its back. Here the crowd favorite Rob McCall rope-hooked a 4 iron to give him 80 yards to the pin, and newcomer Baccus made a 70′ bomb to halve the hole with Greg Shields. McCall, Mahar, Heller, Portwood, Moxey, Brooks, and Shields all came down the stretch winning 4.5 pts to finish the day.
Scores were tallied. Calligraphy was written by McCall. Scores had to be recounted due to a slight hangover by some individuals and the long drive and closest to the pins were announced. The long drive on hole 3 went to the rope hook hit by McCall at 335 yards and closest to the pin on hole 7 went to Alex Irion’s delightful 5 iron from 215 to about 8 feet. Scores were confirmed and we had our winners. Scoring 15 pts on the final day, and 28 pts total, Stefan Icenogle takes our runner-up spot. Finally our winner of the inaugural 6ers on Ice tournament, with 13.5 pts on the final day and 29.5 pts total was Tim Brooks of Houston, Texas.
Congratulations to Tim Brooks and Stefan Icenogle. We are proud and hope you choose to defend your titles at the 2024 6ers on Ice.
We are extremely proud of this group of 20 guys to come together and raise nearly $500 dollars for the Austin Firefighters Relief and Outreach Fund (afrof.org). We are looking to make 2024 even bigger with bigger prizes, bigger fundraisers and donations, and a bigger field – target next year is 40 players and $1,000 donated! Stay tuned and #getinvolved.
