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.