Turkey Shoot Tournament, or How to Play Golf in Shorts in 40 Degree Weather

I was having lunch at the course on Friday and saw that they were having a tournament on Saturday morning. I hadn't planned on playing too much in November, but I've talked myself into it every weekend. I stopped by the pro shop and signed up. Neither Sean nor Joe could join me (and I didn't think about asking Jean-Marc until too late on Friday night). The weather was supposed to be between 40 and 45 degrees with wind up to 12mph; that sounds like shorts weather to me!

I brought pants with me Saturday morning, but left them in my locker when I changed my shoes and went upstairs to breakfast. David, the membership director, saw me as I walked into the dining room and said, “You're the second one that I've seen in shorts this morning.”

That was one more than I expected. I found a plate and got some eggs, bacon, tater tots, and a bacon, egg, and cheese croissant sandwich along with some OJ and coffee. This is way more than I usually eat before playing; usually, it's just coffee.

I skipped the range and just stretched out by swinging a few irons by the practice green. I would have had plenty of time since we didn't start on time, but I just hit a few putts to remind myself how fast these greens are. I have only been a member at Shackamaxon since September and the greens have been fast and in phenomenal shape. I ran into about 10 other guys who echoed David's sentiments about my shorts.

I met two of the other guys on my tournament team, Jerry and John. We got hooked up with Jay, who is the newest pro at the club, for the first two holes and then Michael drove out and joined us for the rest of the round. The format was to take the one best net score on hole 1, the two best nets on hole 2, and the three best nets on hole 3. Rinse and repeat for the rest of the holes. Jerry, John, and I were all 14-15s and I think Michael was a 5. I think it would have been good to have somebody in the 20s to make a par/net eagle or bogey/net birdie from time to time.

We managed a 68-68 for 136 and I had an 88 (net par 71) and contributed a lot. This was a new format for me since the only team events that I've played have been scrambles or shambles. Scrambles are fun since you can just bomb drives and go flag hunting once you have a ball that's safe, but I still really like to play my own ball.

I was driving the ball really well until they wanted to change up the order on the tee and I ended up going first. That just sparked a disaster as I'm much more comfortable going last, competitive round or not. Thankfully, that was only for three of the last five holes; big slice, OB into somebody's back yard, bombed my hybrid over the green as the wind stopped blowing.

My short game was on, especially from inside 100-110 yards. Unfortunately, I couldn't make a putt to save my life. I must have missed a half dozen 4-5 footers, including scuffing my first putt from about ten feet on #9 (our 17^th hole in the shotgun start) and that led to a three-putt. Yes, ouch is right.

One interesting point was when I hopped out of the cart after we got back to the clubhouse. Jay had left us and Michael had decided to walk and use one of the caddies by that point. I tried to carry my bag as we walked down the first fairway, but somebody from the club stopped me and said that I wasn't allowed to carry it myself. I guess that's just for outings/events since I've carried every other time that I've played there.

I'm certainly not a country club guy so I'm still learning how this works. Malcolm was very nice, but it took me a few holes to get used to it and being called sir. Personal service makes me a little uneasy since I'm used to being pretty self-sufficient. I've already told a couple of the guys to please call me Brian, I'm not a Mr. anything (although it did make me feel good after I thought about it yesterday).

There was wine and cheese in the lobby afterwards, although we grabbed a sandwich in the grill room while we waited for the winners to be announced. Our 136 was good enough for 7^th out of 16 teams and Jerry won the prize for closest to the pin on #8 with 7'6”. I'm taking credit for part of that since we decided it was playing about 200 yards and that was the hole where I flew the green with my hybrid. The other three guys all ran for their bags to go down a club after we saw my ball land.

I'll detail the course over the winter or when I get back out in the spring, but my best hole was #12 (our second of the day). It's a 470 yard par 5 with a stream about 40 yards out. My drive got hung up in the wind and I hit my hybrid from 240 to lay up short of the stream. I'm still subscribing to the theory of get the ball as close as you can until I know I'm more consistent from 100 yards (or some other layup distance). My second shot just cleared a bunker and rolled in the fairway to about 60 yards. I hit a ¾ sand wedge 20 feet left, but pin high. I rolled my putt with the break and it finished just below the hole. Tap in for par/net birdie and I was feeling like it was going to be a good day.

Round recap: 44-44=88 (net par 71); six pars (three in a row to start!), eight bogeys, three doubles, and one (dreaded) other; no one-putts. I think starting off with a drive right down the middle and a par on the first hole got rid of my nerves for the day. My putting turned out to be horrendous and I think it cost me a minimun of three strokes.

Next: I think we have a half-day on Wednesday before Thanksgiving so I may stop by the range if nobody wants to do anything and it's not raining. I'm playing in a par 3 scramble at Iron Valley in PA on Black Friday (forecast: 37F and partly cloudy). Yes, I'm bringing pants.