After thousands of rounds of golf, I thought that there was very little left to accomplish given my skill level. Well, last Thursday during in our scramble Men’s Night competition I reached a new milestone. The four man scramble was played at the Mattawa Golf and Ski Resort, my home course. When we first started playing, Mike, Barry, Charlie and I had hopes of playing well because of the favourable scoring conditions. And score well we did. Starting at the first hole, we played golf at a higher level than normal; Ii was very exciting and a great deal of fun. I am grateful I was able to participate is that magical round.
I realize that it seems I am playing things up, but in fact I think I am spot on. It was one of those special scrambles where everyone contributed at the right time. During every shot except one, someone step up and made a great shot whether it was hitting the ball long, striking approach shots close, chipping in or making a clutch putt. Everyone contributed at the right time to set the stage for our very low round.
Our final score was a 9 under 28! We scored 1 eagle, 7 birdies and one par. That is the best 9 hole score ever for a team format of any kind in which I participated.
On a side note, I usually putt last and I always say that I never want to putt during the round. Except for one hole (which I missed a short putt by going first) I never had to take my putter out which is just the way I like it. 😉
Our round started out with Charlie hitting a great shot on the par 5 to 220 yards out. I hit a solid 3 wood pin high just off the green to the right. Mike proceeded to chip in for an eagle. What a great way to start. As we walked to the second tee, Barry and I talked about what we thought would be the low score of the night. I suggested a 7 under 30, Barry said a 29; I guess we were both wrong as we shot a 28.
As we navigated around the course, we were hit 8 greens in regulation, had 8 one putts, and chipped to within 2 feet on our only par. We were all striking the ball very well in certain areas of our games. We also shot closest to the pin twice (for the time during the event as there were other players still to compete). We were never in trouble on any hole and we made the best of every opportunity.
During the round Charlie hit the ball very well off the red tee (he is a senior). On many occasions, he put us out 30 yards past the rest of the group which was a tremendous advantage. He also was our first putter and made many 5 foot putts. Barry hit some great approach shots and was our clutch long distance putter. He sank 2 putts that were at least 25 feet long. Additionally, he was the only player in play off the tee on the 9th hole; thank goodness. Mike hit the majority of close approach and chip shots. We relied on him to get us close to set up many birdies. His pin hunting scope was definitely on target. I filled in where I could. My strongest contribution was with my 3 wood. I was able to hit the ball well off the deck leaving us a short chip on the par 5s. We all contributed and the score proved that it takes a team to shoot a low golf score.
Shooting the best team score every for 9 holes was a great fun. But, the camaraderie of playing golf with three great guys was better. I am grateful that each week I play golf with like minded, easy going golfers. That is were I win the most, but shooting a 28 was definitely a highlight to my early 2022 golf season.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
Jim, nice work and congrats! It’s great when the scramble squad is firing on all cylinders. Is that your normal group or were you assigned randomly?
Brian
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Brian,
It is my normal group for Men’s Night. I was looking for a team and Mike (The owner operator of the golf course) asked me to join their team. I am glad I did because we have great conversations and an easy going round. Men’s night is to have fun and we are definitely doing that. Do you play in a Men’s night type event?
Cheers Jim
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Jim, I would love to play in a men’s league but don’t have an opportunity. The last semi-organized golf I played was when I worked for ADP about 20 years ago. We had a Monday 9-hole captains choice league with the staff and it was great fun. You need a golf culture in the work place which we had. I definitely miss that.
Brian
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Brian,
That is too bad. It is great fun and being a member of a course definitely helps.
Cheers Jim
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I played in a lot of scrambles over the years. Some with big name people showing up and others more localized. One though seems to attract a lot of the best golfers in the area and I get to play in it because it’s put on by a client of mine.
I brought my little brother along one year and we were paired with a couple of guys who were as competitive between themselves as my brother and I were with each other. We seemed to be egging each other on all day between the pairs and it was working. We eagled all four par 4’s. Moved a couple closest to the pin markers a little closer. Shot a 56. And boy were we hyped. Thought we had a chance. But boy were we wrong. Playing against the caliber of golfers we were we should have known better but it was still a let down. Our 56 was only good enough for 5th place. A 20 under 52 had won it and two ties for 54 and 55 had kept us from stardom. lol
So we didn’t win. But we had an awesome time trying. And a good day with my brother. I even had an extra little chuckle at thinking we’d won because I do the website work for the company so I’d have been posting my own picture on their site on both the page for that years tournament and the history of all past winners area. And sharing my company name with the other two as team sponsors. Maybe awkward. Certainly ironic. I found it worth a little chuckle when the thought finally crossed my mind as I left that evening. I wish I remembered more details of that tournament. It was the last one I played with my little brother. We did have a good day though. The only arguments were over whose drive we should take. His or mine. lol We all had our miracle shots. My two were a 3 iron second shot on a par 5 after the other three missed with 3 woods. I figured I could get to the throat safely and give us a chance at a chip in eagle maybe but got it to the hole and left us the easiest eagle of the round. And a 4 iron I hit from a fairway bunker that I’d put us in. The other three all found the woods one way or another with drivers off the tee and I’d hit my trusty 3 iron but pulled it pretty hard over and just rolled over the lip of the fairway bunker on the left so that’s what we were stuck with on what should have been an easy par 4. I got it just right and put it inside 6 feet and another birdie when we were worried about par about that time. I was always hitting last that round and no one had managed to get in a very good position and none were on the green.
I didn’t always have the best shot, but it seemed that every time it came down to me. I got it done. Sort of at least. Not sure I count that pull into the sand as getting it done. lol but I did save a drop and get us into birdie position so anyone that wants to argue that one is going to be getting a deaf ear. lol
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Kevin,
It sounds like a magical round. A great memory for sure!
Cheers Jim
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