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Aug 09

2016 RDGA Mid Amateur Contestants to Compete for Title at Chili Country Club

  • August 9, 2016
  • News
The 497-yard par-5 18th hole at Chili Country Club provides golfers an opportunity to birdie – as long as they can master the club’s fast greens. On August 12 and 13, Chili hosts the 2016 RDGA Mid Amateur Championship for golfers ages 25 and over.
 
 
For most Rochester-area golf courses, the summer of 2016 has been a challenging one. Unless you have an unlimited supply of water – or can afford to pay for one – it has been a tough year to grow turf.
 
At Chili Country Club, the region-wide drought conditions have been every bit as challenging as everywhere else – but, given those challenges, head superintendent Chris Bruger has been doing a yeoman’s service this season.
 
“Chris has been doing a great job this year,” says Chili golf instructor Sean Reardon. “In spite of the conditions, he’s kept the greens, tees and fairways in great shape.”
 
Those conditions will be put to the test this week, when Chili hosts the 10th RDGA Mid Amateur Championship on Friday and Saturday, August 12 and 13. Open to male amateur golfers age 25 and over, the Mid Amateur is one of the RDGA’s annual major championships.
 
Overseeing the operations at Chili is PGA Director of Golf and owner Vince Pompa. Now in his 48th year at Chili, Pompa has always striven to offer the best possible playing conditions for the most affordable price in the area – keeping his guests happy and staying competitive in a crowded local golf marketplace.
 
“You never know how long you’re going to be in this business,” Pompa said in a recent interview. “So, I figured, as long as I’m still here, I’m going to try to make this place the best it can be.”


In recent years, Pompa has worked to upgrade several areas, from paved cart paths throughout the course to improved fertilization practices that have made the fairways very lush and green.
 
Of course, Chili’s primary claim to fame is – and has been – its greens. Not long ago, in fact, Pompa received some unsolicited high praise for Chili’s greens from a distinguished source: retired local greenskeepers Ed Benoit, Bill Brown and John Collins.
 
“They told me that the ball rolls as good here as any place in Rochester,” Pompa said of the visit from the trio of greenskeepers.
 
A Well-Earned Reputation for Quality, Affordable Golf
First opened in 1961 as a nine-hole course, Vince Pompa and his brother, Nick, purchased the Chili Country Club in 1968, eventually developing the facility into the challenging 18-hole course it is today — as well as the club’s reputation for golf equipment merchandising.

In 1980, Pompa became Chili’s sole owner and has guided the club through the industry’s boom years. Along the way, he has earned the Western New York PGA Section’s Merchandiser of the Year Award for public/semi-private facilities, as well as being honored several times in the top-100 best pro shops list by Golf Shop Operations magazine.

The par-3 fifth hole at Chili Country Club features a narrow
tee shot through trees and over water to a fast green.
 

In fact, Pompa’s reputation for offering the best deals around on brand-name golf equipment briefly included a chain of “Chili Discount Golf” retail outlets that he operated throughout the Rochester area during the 1980s and early 90s.

Although Pompa closed those satelite retail outlets years ago, Chili Country Club continues to be a go-to place for to shop for golf related merchandise – at greatly discounted prices. One reason for his shop’s success is that Pompa lets golfers “test drive” the latest equipment right on the driving range at the club.

Today, although only the original Chili Country Club pro shop remains, that same philosophy still holds true.
 
“You go to some places to buy clubs and all you can do is hit a ball into a net,” Pompa points out. “But that really doesn’t give you the full picture. You can’t really tell if a club is right for you unless you can hit it under the same conditions you do when you’re playing – outside, on the golf course.”

After golf, players can relax in the air conditioned comfort of Chili’s restaurant. Operated by Mario Gatti and his father – with years of experience in local golf event planning – the restaurant offers casual dining options as well as traditional grill fare for individuals, foursomes and other golf outings.

Accuracy Rewarded on Chili’s Tight Fairways and Challenging Greens
Although the championship length of Chili Country Club’s layout might be considered “short” by modern standards – 6,618 yards from the “tips” – the course has many other ways in which to defend itself.
 
Anyone who ever plays a golf course has their own opinions as to what its’ most challenging holes are. According to Vince Pompa, Chili’s most challenging hole is the 437-yard, par-4 12th, a slight dogleg right with a narrow two-tiered green, guarded by bunkers to the right, left and rear. The green also slopes away from the fairway, towards the 13th tee.

Another challenge is the 180-yard, par-3 fifth hole, which is nestled between a narrow schute of trees lining both sides of the hole and protected in front by a creek and a lateral pond.

“This course is a challenge – those two holes are among the toughest holes in the city, mostly because of the greens,” notes Pompa. “It helps to know what you’re doing – but at the same time, we continually try to improve playability so that it can be enjoyed by people of all skill levels.”

Golf instructor Sean Reardon echoes Pompa’s comments regarding Chili’s greens as they relate to the playability of the golf course.

The par-5 11th hole at Chili Country Club is typical of the course’s narrow, tree-lined fairways,
leading up to a small green featuring several undulating breaks.
 
“The greens are big enough – and they are holding shots,” he says of the quick greens at Chili. “But, if you hit it into the rough around the greens, it’s going to be a challenge to stop it close to the pin.”

A Major Championship for the 25-And-Over Golfer
One of the more recent additions to the annual lineup of Rochester District Golf Association championships, the RDGA Mid Amateur Championship is open to all amateur male golfers age 25 and over (as of the beginning of each year’s tournament) who are members in good standing at RDGA clubs. All contestants must have a RDGA/USGA Handicap Index supplied by the RDGA.

Patterned after the USGA’s Mid Amateur, the first RDGA Mid Amateur Championship was held in 2007 as a way to provide a formal competition for local post collegeiate-age amateurs, for whom the game is an avocation, rather than a stepping stone to a professional career. The format of the event is a two-day, 36-hole, stroke play competition, conducted as two 18-hole rounds held on consecutive days.
 
The 10th annual edition of the RDGA Mid Amateur Championship visits venerable Chili Country Club for the first time this year. Scheduled for August 12 and 13, competitors will tour the beautifully-maintained, par-72 semi-private course in two, scratch, 18-hole stroke play rounds. In addition to the Championship trophy, the winner receives an exemption into the following year’s RDGA District Championship John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial which will be hosted by Locust Hill Country Club.
 
A Rewarding Experience
When Chili Country Club welcomes some of the area’s better scratch amateurs for this year’s RDGA Mid Amateur Championship, Reardon doesn’t expect them to light up the course with low scores.
 
“You have to hit it straight here,” he says. “You’re not just going to walk in and expect to post a low score.”
 
That’s the “stick,” if you will, for players. The “carrot” is the reward that awaits the event’s top finishers when they take their tournament gift certificates to the shop following play.
 
“They’re going to find that their winnings are going to go a lot further than they do at other places,” Reardon adds. “Vince not only offers one of the area’s biggest selections of golf equipment and apparel, but he also offers it at some of the best prices you’ll find anywhere.”

This article was written by RDGA Communications Director Dave Eaton.