Playing for keeps

There's no family on the golf course.

Not when you're competing in the Chamberlain Classic!

The place - Highland Golf Club in Brockville.

The teams - me, my Dad, my Uncle Tony and my Grandpa vs. my Great Uncle Bob, my Great Uncle Sid and my two Uncle's, Scott and Phil. On the line was bragging rights, and the annual championship, won by my team (minus me) the year before.

To keep things fair for us non-golfers, we played a best ball format. That means that everybody drops their ball wherever the best shot lands, and hits from there. No hacking through the woods in best ball.

The playful competition was mostly between my Grandpa and my Great Uncle Bob, who laid out the rules of engagement and made sure his team was in uniform. 

As for me, I'm not much of a golfer, even though the game seems to run in my family. There are things about golf I like quite a bit; the scenery, mostly. Some golf courses are truly beautiful places to be for three, four hours. But I've never played enough to become any good.

So I wasn't expecting much, and I certainly wasn't the team MVP, but I think I carried my weight. I managed to make one impressive long putt that would have looked good on the pro tour, along with a couple nice drives and a beautiful 200 yarder straight on to the green. Probably the best shot of my career!

 In all, our team finished up two strokes under par; not bad at all. But would you believe it, Team 'Uncle' finished with the exact same score! And they shot more birdies than us, so they won the tie break and the match, taking home the Classic championship for the year.

I couldn't be too disappointed though. It would have nice to be a part of the winning team, but we all had fun, which was the more important thing.

And it's always nice spending time with your family, even when you're competing.

Comments

[Terry King]

Love the article Jason and I'm sure Uncle Tony will chuckle when he reads it tonight. Love you, Aunt Terry