With the return of some semblance of normalcy in 2021, BuffaloGolfer is grateful to feature the golf leagues of western New York. With no sense of regularity, as soon as a league reports in with text and photos, we will feature the league on this fortunate site. We hope that you enjoy this tour of Buffalo’s golf leagues, and that you alert us to fun, interesting, and long-standing leagues that we have yet to feature. We begin with the Buffalo Cigars Golf League at Concord Crest golf course.
The Buffalo Cigars Golf League came to be in the summer of 2020 as a 40-member, entry-level league. Although Buffalo Cigars is located in the Orchard Park/West Seneca area, we choose Concord Crest as our home course because of all that it offers for league play. As an entry-level league we had and continue to have all levels of ability and experience of golfer in our league. The premise of the Buffalo Cigars Golf League is that it is a “fun league”. We play a 16-week schedule and play the course as our common opponent on a weekly basis. Handicaps are established and maintained based on the USGA scoring system. Flights are established and flight champions playoff to determine the overall league champion. We play a “best ball team event and a “team scramble” for the non-playoff teams as special events. We have a mid-season chicken barbeque and season ending steak barbeque where we present our league awards. Because of our mantra of being a fun league, we keep prizes and awards to a minimum monetary value, so that we can recognize more golfers. As we await the opening of the 2021 season, our membership has grown to 60 members.
Here are three anecdotes that help to portray the weekly achievements of the Buffalo Cigars golf league.
Story #1:
There were two holes (hole #12 and hole hole #13) that run side by side, two of our golfers teed off and believe it or not their tee shots collided in mid air sending their tee shots careening back towards their respective tee boxes. In 60 plus years of playing golf, I’ve never seen or heard of that happening.
Story #2:
One of our golfers teed his ball up on the white tees on a par 3 and after what seemed like forever completing his pre-shot routine, smashed his ball into one of the gold tee box markers driving his ball about 30 yards backwards. The silver lining? It looked like one of his better swings.
Story #3:
One of our league officials teed up his drive on the 400 yard 1st hole, took a mighty swing at his ball and shanked his drive down the 18th fairway. That drive was about 100-150 yards off line, making the hole longer after his drive than what it measured before his initial drive.
Concord Crest is located on Genesee Road, in East Concord, NY. In 2021, it celebrates its 20th anniversary. The facility includes 18 holes of golf and 3-hole practice facility, along with a full-service clubhouse.
