A Tale of Two Tournaments

Hubby and I just played two charity golf tournaments back to back. One was on Friday and the other was on Saturday. They both had shotgun starts requiring crack-o-dawn wakeup times. But other than that, they were very different experiences.

The format of the first one was Captain’s choice, a.k.a. scramble. I was the only woman in the foursome, which turned out to be advantageous on certain holes where the red tees were as much as 150 yards forward of the whites. We played with two guys named Guy and Jim. I think they tried to be on their best behavior for my benefit, but after about half a dozen beers, their true colors started to show. Jim started telling off-color jokes and revealed some of the "secret" men's rules of golf that I had never heard of. For example, if a man shanks a drive and hits short of the ladies tees, he has to play the rest of the hole with his wiener out.

The first place team shot a 59. We shot a 61 but so did two other teams. An odd tiebreaker involving who scored lowest on arbitrary holes resulted in the two other teams getting second and third place. The prizes were gift certificates that had to be spent in the golf course pro shop. But our team got zip. I felt a bit miffed, but at least hubby won a raffle prize (a gift card at Dick’s).

The next morning, we got up before dawn to pack goodie bags into the trunk. This was for the annual charity tournament that I have played since 2009 (when I won the trophy for Ladies Champion). After skipping 2010 because of “the injury,” I played again last year and won the Womens Longest Drive trophy.

This year, my mother was on the organizing committee, and I helped her procure and stuff items for the goodie bags. I also helped recruit players, so all of my golf buddies from the twilight crew were there (Dodi, Susanne, Jen and Todd, and Debbie Harry and her hubby) plus Bea and Seri. The rest of the field was mostly retired doctors and others affiliated with the charity.

The tournament format was Callaway, in which everyone plays their own ball and individual net scores are derived from a formula involving subtracting a number of hole scores depending on your gross score. The higher your gross, the more holes you subtract.

We had all practiced at the tourney course two weeks earlier and I shot a 108, so my goal was merely to break 100. I shot a 102, so I didn’t quite make it. All day long, my putts were skating past holes, just left or right. If my ball and the hole were cars on the highway, this would be fine, but in golf what you really want is a head-on collision.

On Hole 16, the closest-to-the-pin hole, I dunked my ball in the water. On Hole 8, the long-drive hole, I landed 15 yards short of Bea. But on a par 5 toward the end of the round, I was able to pure two 7-wood shots in a row (one over a hidden creek) and make the green in three. It was a make-or-break moment where I could have laid up to the edge of the creek with a shorter club, but I decided to go for it. And I was rewarded with a little personal glory.

After the round, we all sat on the clubhouse patio, enjoying grilled steaks with the other players. Bea won two trophies (Womens Champion and Longest Drive). I didn’t win anything but I didn’t really want to. I had helped my mom pick out the trophies, so it wouldn’t feel right if I actually won one of them.

There were plenty of raffle prizes, and Todd won a ladies putter, which he promptly gave to his wife, Jen. Seri had bought a few raffle tickets and I thought she looked a little sad as number after number was called and she hadn’t won anything. Finally, after all the smaller prizes were awarded, it was time to choose the ticket for the grand prize, a foursome at a local country club.

And wouldn’t you know it, Seri won it. I felt a rush of euphoria upon seeing Seri’s face light up when they called her winning number, and not just because I hoped she'd share the prize with me. Winning isn’t everything. But it sure is something to see.

18 + 18 = 91

It was a very golfy day. I hadn’t played golf for 2 straight weeks because it has been hot as Hades around here. Seri was away in Korea and Bea was out with back pain, so I hadn’t seen either of them for almost a month. Yesterday, the three of us met for coffee and catch-up chitchat, and today we got down to business. We teed off at 8:46am, with Debbie Harry completing our foursome. It was just like old times, except earlier in the morning. The sun was out and the humidity was high, so our energy was not the greatest. It was like the first day of school after a long, hot summer.

I wore the new visor hat that Seri had brought me from Korea. We were like two little golfers on the prairie.

The scene of this happy reunion was Pine Ridge, where I’d played a few times since shooting 90 at Fox Hollow. I have never managed to break 100 at Pine Ridge, since it’s a longer course with a higher slope rating. Today was no different, and I shot 106. After 18 holes, Bea said she was feeling warmed up, and asked if I wanted to play another 18. I was just getting warmed up, too, so I said yes, even though it meant I had to make some calls and cancel some things, including telling my hubby that I couldn’t make it to the grocery store today because my putter was en fuego.

But who cared about making dinner when my adrenaline was already pumping and my eyes had grown big, and I had that feeling you get after coming off a roller coaster ride and you want to go again, right away, before you lose your nerve. I was tired and achy, but it was nothing a big juicy hot dog and an ice-cold diet cola wouldn’t fix.

So, after Seri and Debbie Harry returned to their cars and drove away, Bea and me teed off again. And in the end, I was glad I did, because I shot a 91. On the front nine, I managed to keep it all under control and shot an encouraging 48. It looked good for breaking 100, but on the back nine, I never did worse than a double-bogey and actually birdied a par 5 and a par 3. I think it may have been my first birdie on a par 5, but I know for a fact that’s the first time I ever birdied twice in a round.

“You see?” said Bea, “it’s easy when you play all day.”
Yes, it seems easy when you play all day. The hard part is getting a whole day to play.

The Set-Up Three-Step

When you don’t taken a golf lesson for awhile, some strange things can start happening to your swing. Mine was starting to morph into the “homemade” category, with my spine tilting unnaturally away from the target and the ball creeping slowly left till I felt like I was an extra in Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.

I knew it was time for a check-up but I didn’t feel like starring in a solo lesson. On Saturdays, there is a golf clinic that offers group instruction on specific topics. I went to the one on full swing with woods and driver. It was hosted by Julieta Stack, who has a knack for making golf instruction clear and simple.

The lesson began with addressing the ball: Start with your feet together and the ball in the middle. Grip the club, stick your butt out a tad, and drop your arms till they hang straight down and the club head is behind the ball. To me, this feels like bowing forward, almost like a curtsey to a square dance partner. The rest reminded me of a simple dance step, which I will call the “Set-Up Three-Step.”

Feet together and address the ball.

Flare out the left toe.
Step to the side with the right foot.

You should end up with the ball behind the left heel and your feet shoulder width apart. Then take a swing as usual. When I tried it, it seemed like a much more natural way to get all the angles right at address, with my spine tilted away from the target and my head behind the ball, but not in the forced, exaggerated way I was doing before. And it all starts with the feet. Just like dancing.