Filipponi Named Golf Field Judge

YUCCA VALLEY – Leo A. Higgins, acting general chairman of the Pioneer Pass Golf Challenge Committee, has received the official confirmation of acceptance of the post of PPGC head field judge from Mervyn L. Filipponi, former recreation director of the Yucca Valley Park and Recreation District.

Higgins asked Filipponi, now employed by the Sacramento County Park and Recreation District, to take on the job of refereeing disputed decisions for the rugged 28-mile 19th Hole golfing adventure through Pioneer Pass, which is the most spectacular part of the Seventh Annual Pioneer Pass Golf Challenge starting next Friday at the Yucca Valley Golf Club.

The tone of Filipponi’s response to the committee indicates the spirit of camaraderie which immediately takes hold of all challenge participants as the launch their yearly assault and defy the laws of nature and gravity by playing golf up the mountainside from Pioneertown to Big Bear, said Higgins with a droll smile.

Filipponi’s letter reads:

“Thanks a lot! Now I know how it felt when General Custer realized the significance of the Indians’ onslaught–I have been dealt a thrust, taken by storm and otherwise blitzed.

“I trust the committee realizes the significance of this impalement and will absorb the fusillade when this hard-headed Swiss-Italian comes up with his usual arbitrary judgments.

“If you have the courage to assign the head field judge to me (per missile I just received from ACTING “Pusher” Leo Higgins, my buddy and long lost pal), then you must have the viscera to stand beside me no matter what. Right?

“The Lamb has been prepared for the ceremony – now come ye Shepherds and seek thy just due.

Cantankerously,
Merv.
I Ben Had, Head Field Judge)”

This year, for the first time, the Flight A golfers will be aiming for the sought-after first prize of an expenses-paid, one week golfing vacation for two at the Dorado Beach Hotel, Puerto Rico. The PPGC committee feels it has an intriguing aspect to offer all golfers by pointing out to them that they will be playing golf, figuratively speaking, from the Joshua trees and yuccas of Yucca Valley and Pioneertown past the big pines and firs of Big Bear to the coconut palms of Puerto Rico