Old Log owner Don Stolz is under no illusion that Ken Ludwig's "The Fox on the Fairway" is a great play. It is not in the same class as the farceur's two more successful comedies, "Lend Me a Tenor" and "Moon Over Buffalo."

A celebration of golf, the play involves a grudge match between two rival clubs, Quail Valley and Crouching Squirrel. Confident of a rare victory, the Quail Valley CEO, Henry Bingham, makes a huge wager with the director of Crouching Squirrel, Dickie, who has some dirty tricks up his sleeve.

The comedy reads as if it were written by a country club staff for use at the annual amateur variety show. Thankfully, the professionals involved in Old Log Theater's current production make an amusing evening of it.

As director, Stolz does as much with the play as is possible to do. The production brims with the slapstick business that is his specialty. But even with the quick-paced farce, he is able to instill humanity in the broadly written characters.

James Cada's Bingham grounds the play. He brings a sharp, dry wit to his portrayal of a desperate man who really has something to lose. As the villainous Dickie, Steve Shaffer makes a nice foil. His scene-stealing performance is delightfully annoying.

As Dickie's ex-wife, Susanne Egli plays a sexy woman who knows her way around a double entendre. Peggy O'Connell turns Bingham's belligerent wife into an entertaining cameo.

Joseph Papke makes Bingham's harried assistant a sweet boy who is charming and endearing, if a bit dim. As his fiancée, Anne Reason has a tendency to overdo her role of a ditz, but she and Papke are effective as the romantic leads.

Jon C. Stolz's set creates a stylish country club setting, while still giving it a generic suburban atmosphere that nicely comments on the play. Carolann Winther's costumes make the most of a recurring gag about garish golf sweaters.

The romantic happy endings are as obvious and predictable as they are unearned, so the ending falls a bit flat. But the bottom line is that this is an evening full of laughs. Stolz and the cast deserve extra credit for working so hard to deliver them.