December 1, 2006

BROOKLYN, MI — The Captains Club announced today the complete overhaul of the optional Friday 4-man Scramble. The 2007 Carl Spackler Open Championship along with Poststats.com will completely overhaul the team event in an attempt to increase the competitive play while adding additional unique character to the event.

"We are making some major changes this year," said Jay Dilks, Vice President of SNN. "We have an opportunity in Michigan and taking the opportunity and running with it."

The Grande Golf Club is a top-course in the state of Michigan and very unique without a replay fee. "The Grande is pretty neat," said Dilks. "A cheap replay rate at $20 is a substantial loss of revenue for a course like the Grande. Another regular rate is unacceptable to establishing a great value to the Carl Spackler Open."

The Captains Club solution includes negotation with two Brooklyn courses. The solution is expected to provide additional value, another 18 holes of character and remove clubhouse bag storage on Friday.

"We are very open to the possible value a second course might provide," says Dilks. "One of the possible courses is a 20-minute walk from the hotel, which boosts the alcohol consumption without providing travel problems. It also is very short ensuring a quicker replay. The other much longer course is half-way between the Grande and hotel and includes a clubhouse much larger than Mountain Valley's."

The 4-man Scramble is expected to remain a team event, but a new handicapping system will be implemented allowing equally matched teams regardless of size or skill.

"The new handicap system will allow a 5-man team to compete against a 3-man team," said Greg Garrett, Vice President of Online Scoring. "This is a critical improvement with 2004 and 2005 events being won by 5-man teams."

The system does not consider long drivers and great putters, but does use golfer stroke handicap to establish target scores. "As an example, four scratch golfers are expected to shoot 19-under par," says Garrett. "A team of four Rick Dosky's is expected to shoot 6-over par. The system converts these projected team handicaps to a set of usable points. I was initially skeptical, but it looks pretty good on paper. Anything is better than a 5-man team winning the event 3 years in a row."

The 4-man Scramble is expected to change off the tee this year with potentially a very short course," says Jay Dilks. "We are investigating the removal of clubs from golf bags or requiring 4-drives per team member as a solution."

The Captains Club is also investigating the required use of a baseball bat off the tee on the shortest par-4. "The bat is an interesting idea that we have explored and investigating the reality of it," said Garrett. "It is obviously a one-year trial idea, but have heard many outing success stories. It would eliminate the possibility of someone getting popped in the head by a tee shot."

The 4-man Scramble was inserted in 2003 when the Captains Club decreased the 72-hole tournament into a 54-hole event. The scramble adds camaraderie as a team event and also allows other participants the option to explore non-golf activities throughout the 5-hour period.

The 2007 Carl Spackler Open Championship begins on June 7. A cap of 78 golfers has been established for this year's event. The first 78 golfers will be signed with a tournament fee of $348.