Jimmy Dewling (L) and Dan Ellis (R) took 61 shots at the CC of Lansing
(GAM photo)
LANSING, MI (September 20, 2017) – Dan Ellis of East Lansing and Jimmy Dewling of Bloomfield Hills, golf coaches, former teammates at Michigan State and both long ball hitters, worked their strategy to perfection in winning the 4th GAM Four-Ball Championship presented by Chemical Bank at Country Club of Lansing Wednesday.
They bombed it.
“We looked forward to this tournament, but you are not coming in expecting to shoot something like that,” said Ellis after the duo combined for a 10-under 61, five better than the runner-up score of 66 turned in by three teams.
“Both of us had quite a bit of experience on this course because we played it a lot when we were in college, and we decided to use our big weapon, our length. Of course you still have to execute it, and we certainly did today. Jimmy played really well.”
Ellis, an assistant men’s golf coach at Michigan State, and Dewling, who sells real estate and coaches the boy’s team at Brighton High School, combined for eight birdies and an eagle on the day, and doubled up birdies on some holes in the morning wave of golfers.
“I had three kick-in birdies, drove a green early in our round to get it going, and then Jimmy really started playing well,” Ellis said. “At one point he had five 3s in a row on his card and it would have been six if we needed his putt. It was fun to watch him. He really hasn’t had much time to play this summer with his work, but he had his game going today.”
They were on the same Michigan State golf team from 2008 to 2012, and Ellis said staying around the game as coaches has helped them to continue developing their golf games.
“We’re better players now than we were when we were in college,” he said. “You learn things just by being around other golfers, helping guys and being around other coaches.”
And both still bomb the golf ball. Dewling, 27, hits an average drive of 325 yards, and Ellis, 28, is in the 320 range on a regular basis.
Dewling, who shot 64 on his own ball while Ellis shot 67, made the long eagle on the par 5 No. 6 hole, which measures 546 yards. He hit a slice fade with his driver and a 5-iron draw to 12-feet and two-putted.
“He did it just like the hole draws up,” Ellis said. “It was fun. We’ve been good friends for a long time, and we still like to compete and try things. It was great.”
The three teams at 66 included Ellis’ boss, Casey Lubahn, the head men’s golf coach at MSU, who played with another former Spartan and former Michigan Amateur champion Jimmy Chestnut of Royal Oak.
Also shooting 66 were Benjamin Liggett and Steve Barry of Mattawan, who won the card playoff to determine the second-place trophy winners, and Chad Johnson of Westland and Jordan Andrus of Pinckney. Five teams shot 67 and five more shot 68.
View results for GAM Four-Ball
ABOUT THE GAM Four-Ball
18-hole four-ball stroke play event with two shotgun
starts, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Men, two-person teams with a maximum handicap
index of 10.8.
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