One day, I received a postcard from the St. Andrews Church regarding a charity tournament at Los Verdes G.C. (my home course). I justified the $125.00 cost as a donation to a good cause. They said it was a scratch tournament. I couldn’t possibly win but I could relax and get a round of golf in while getting some competitive experience.  I got the details and signed up over the phone.

While getting ready that morning, my wife asked “don’t you feel pressured” I told her no, I actually felt good, I felt like a PGA Tour Pro getting ready to go out and compete but without the nervousness (because I couldn’t win). The pressure question did put the concern in the back of my mind for the first time. I got there about 2 hrs. before tee time so I wouldn’t feel rushed. I paid my entry, received some goodies and the rules.

The rules were different than I had expected from my email and telephone inquiries. Instead of a scratch tournament, it was really a Texas Scramble (4 person team/ all 4 drive then “better ball” to the hole) scoring only a team score. I was actually disappointed because I was looking forward to recording and comparing individual scores in a competition. It would be a little like Annika Sorenstam showing up to the Colonial to test herself and being told they would be playing 4-person best ball.

Oh well, I went to practice on the range and putting green until 30 minutes till tee off. I warmed up (LW- #4 iron) and noticed my shots were going right. I checked grip, setup, swing and it all seemed ok. I began to have panic concerns about shot correction possibilities (what could I start doing to get it worked out before my tee off time) but dismissed them because I do not normally hit irons offline (other than an inattentive shot) so my muscles must be the x factor. My woods practice was just so-so. I wasn’t going to worry about it. I’d practiced for the last 4 days (including playing 18) and just had to trust that I will do ok when I get out there.

In the staging area, I was told we could buy Mulligans (a 2 re-shot ticket for $10) and that meant 8 possible strokes reduced if each team member bought one. I felt my competitive urges starting to rise. Maybe we could win something after all! Also, there is a couple closest to the pin and hole in one prizes to consider. I located the three guys I was playing with and asked if we were going to try and win something and buy Mulligans or just play for fun. The consensus was to play for fun – no Mulligans. Apparently, the same guys get 1^st and second each year. Ok, fun is good.

We got our picture taken at the #1 tee and began play. It was another beautiful day along the Pacific Ocean.

The best laid plans:  It was advertised that the #5 hole would be used in the hole-in-one contest to win the car. They also had told me we would be playing all holes from the white tees. Armed with this information, I practiced shots to get on the green on 3 different occasions from the white tees (149 yards) prior to the event day. I know this is a one in a million thing but if I could consistently get on the green, maybe it would be a one in a thousand shot.

The bad news: Arriving at the hole, the posted sign said the minimum distance for males was now 165 yards. The even bigger problem was at 155 yards, the white teeing ground rose up at a 45 degree angle to the 189 yard blue tee ground. Inconsistent with my practice distance and not thinking, I grabbed my wood and promptly hit it into the right trees. I should have just used my 3 iron.

 Overall, I was pretty happy with my periodic contributions. If I recall correctly, the majority of tee shots used were mine and half of the second shots used were mine. One guy had to drop out at #15 so we had to play for him the last four holes. The fact that the other guys wanted me to play the missing man’s shots was a nice compliment. We ended up with a 79 that could have been 69 with better putting. We finished, turned in our card, then had a dinner, raffle, silent and live auction.

 Thanks to Don, Ed and Tom, it was nice playing with such good sports who also made it a good time.