As you can surmise from the title, our 3-person scramble did not go as well as we had hoped. Regardless of our play, we had a fantastic time and enjoyed our time playing “whack-where did that go?” As I had thought before we teed it up, GIR was the critical factor for scoring. A particular stat we did not excel in at all. Regardless, I am still a grateful golf and looking forward to Tuesday when we play again.

When we first arrived, we were met by the enthusiastic management and staff. As always, Jeff (left in the picture below) had everything under control and directed the players to ensure we all followed the new COVID-19 operating rules. As a special surprise, they provided a free breakfast (which I did not realize was offered) to set the day off on the right foot.

Given that it was raining when we started, the fact that the Osprey Team was ready, professional, and courteous lessened the drab weather. After our round, we were treated to a delicious steak dinner. Overall, the 3-person scramble was a huge success.

There was only one rule added that changed the basic format of a pure scramble tournament. Our team had to use two drives per nine for each player. This one difference added extra stress on our team given the play additional challenge of the wet weather for the first six holes.

Regardless, we pressed on. We hit some great shots and some not so great shots. It seemed that we were all hitting great or not. This is an unfortunate part of any tournament and we experienced it in spades yesterday.

As we started with a par and birdie, things were looking great. However, that is when our play end off the rails. We did not get off the tee well, but recovered quickly. It seemed that when we took three steps forward, something happened to move us two steps back. For the first six holes, the ball had zero roll and skipped of the green on approach shots. Just when we seemed to hit one close, it would roll out making our first putt a huge challenge.

We did have some good bounces though. Blair hit a sprinkler head on a chip that resulted in an easy putt for par. He it a rock on the 13th hole and landed in the middle of the fairway. For the most part, our play was spectacularly mediocre!

Of our 18 holes, we were putting for birdie on 12 holes. Unfortunately, we only converted three for birdie. However, if they were giving a prize for most burned lips, then we would win because that happened on 8 of the other GIR holes. In some cases we lipped out twice. Golf is a game of inches and we definitely proved that today. We finished with a one over 72 that put us in the lower third of the field, out of the prizes.

Playing well is only part of any tournament. We were fortunate to be teamed up with Bob (who I have known for years), Seb and Paul.

They were a great team with an easy going approach to their game. We had some great conversations and cheered each other on. We were very lucky to be teamed with Bob, Seb and Paul and we look forward to playing together again in the future.

We want to thank Jeff and his team for a great tournament. We had a fantastic time on the links and the food was fantastic. We look forward to playing in another event very soon.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!