Nine Under Par Again

I played in a charity tournament last week at Granite Ridge Golf Club in Milton, Ontario. This was the tenth edition of the event, which is hosted annually by my employer. I missed the event last year, but played each of the two years before that. Interestingly, my team has registered the same score on each of the three occasions that I have participated. Under the popular "scramble" format, we have managed to score nine under par every single time. The first time, that resulted in a second place finish, one stroke behind the winners. The second time, it was good enough to clinch victory. This time, it once again resulted in second place, albeit two strokes behind the winners.

Three quarters of my team has remained intact for all three rounds. The fourth member of the team was different each year. That might be one of the reasons for the consistency in scoring. Still, it does seem a little unusual. I can say that the way we compiled that score has changed dramatically from year to year. Last year, for instance, we found ourselves scrambling quite a bit to save par on a few holes. This year was much smoother than that. We were never really in danger of making a bogey; it was just a question of how many birdies we could make.

I think we also worked better as a team this time around. The higher handicappers played their shots first, with the aim of providing usable shots. For the most part, we succeeded. This enabled the lower handicappers to get very aggressive. On a couple of occasions, such as driving the green on a short par-4, that aggression payed off. However, the teamwork really payed off when it came to putting. We did a fantastic job of reading the greens and learning from each other's putts. I contributed three or four long putts myself, which felt pretty good.

Although we didn't win, it was truly rewarding and enjoyable.

Thanks guys!