Boring story about me winning club championship at age 15

[westhoff]

My apologies if this sucks, but I'm bored and there ain't much going on in this forum.

I grew up in a small Kansas town 100 miles west of Wichita of about 1000 people called St. John. We had a nine-hole county golf course that played to a whopping 2700 yards from the tips, par 35. To this day, I haven't played many courses that are as nice as it. Beautiful bluegrass fairways and bent grass greens, and never had to make a tee time. Membership is a little steep at $400 per year, but we managed. Even though I probably played the course over 500 times it never got old.

I played pretty much everyday after school there wasn't any snow or tornadoes and whenever I wasn't working in the summer. We didn't have a golf team at the time and I couldn't get one started because of lack of interest and idiot school board members. They finally got a golf team a couple years ago and have had plenty of players every year.

So it's the summer of '98 and I'm fifteen years old. It was the summer I first started playing in tournaments. There would usually be some kind of junior tournamentevery week at a course within an hour from St. John. I had done alright I guess, usually breaking 80 and had one 69. (wish I had more 69s when I was 15 [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]) The club championship is always the third weekend of August. 18 holes Saturday and 18 holes Sunday, 1:00 shotgun. You would basically just pick who you played with on Saturday and then the scores would determine who was in the final group on Sunday. I almost didn't play because a lot of people weren't thrilled with the idea of a fifteen year old beating them, but since there wasn't a high school golf team I told them to kiss my ass. There were basically two people I had to beat. My computer teacher, whose son and my brother are still best friends. And the greenskeeper, who I remain very good friends with. There were a few other members that were capable of shooting par. (yes, I said shooting) But not for two rounds.

I arrive at the course at about 12:30 on day 1. It's about 95 degrees with not much wind surprisingly. No driving range. I figure out who I'm playing with (just a couple members I get along with) and just stretch and putt until we tee off. We start on number two, a straight 350 yard par 4 with OB pretty close all the way down the left. It plays downwind but uphill, so if you hit driver you have a very difficult 50-70 pitch. It's best to just hit a 2-iron down to the 100-yard marker. I had just gotten a new 3-wood a couple weeks before this and absolutely loved it. I hit every shot perfect with it. I figured with the lack of wind it would be the perfect club to hit. I proceed to hit my first tee about 38 yards down the middle of the fairway as I hit about eight inches behind the ball. I'm not even sure I actually hit the ball. There was this weird silence from my playing partners. It was pretty embarrassing. So I just walk forward a little bit and absolutely crush the 3-wood this time about ten yards short of the green and get up and down. Routine par amirite? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I play great the rest of the round and shoot 71, three clear of Tom (the greenskeeper) and another guy who I've never seen named T.J. (TJ and I would become pretty good friends) and four clear of Dick (the teacher).

I get to the course about the same time on day two and everything is the same except the wind is blowing 25-35 and gusting up to 40mph. No big deal, it's not like I haven't played in the wind everyday pretty much. I don't remember a lot about the round for some reason except remembering afterwards that I played way too conservatively. I was definitely struggling/feeling the pressure on the back nine and my lead slipped away on 17 when I missed a short par putt. Tom and TJ both parred, and the three of us were tied going to 18. Hole 9 is a straight 475 yard par 5, but back into the wind so no way of reaching in two. We all laid up to about the same spot and all hit mediocre wedges to about twenty feet. We all missed so we had a playoff! (I shot 79) OMG! I was so nervous, definitely didn't want to hit first, but of course I drew "1". We started on number 1, a quirky par 4 of only 280 on the scorecard. It doglegs about 80 degrees left, around the neighoring person's property which is OB and has a pond on the right. You either have to hit a 7-iron to right of the OB which leaves you about 100 in but leaves you kind of blocked by a giant elm tree or hit a 3-iron/5-wood over the OB with a draw. The wind blows straight across from the left, so if you hit it just a little right you're in the water. You can easily hit a 3-wood in front of the green, but it's just way to risky. I hit a 5-wood that leaks a little right into the rough but dry. Tom and TJ are both in the fairway, we are all about 60 yards out. The flag is tucked back-left on top of a ridge. They both hit the ridge and stop about twenty feet short. My wedge shot hits in pretty much the same spot, but coming out of the rough releases about eight feet past the hole. They both miss so I have a downhill eight footer to win. I somehow make contact with the ball and it hits the back of the cup and goes in! I'm pretty sure I would have been chipping for par if it didn't hit the hole. I was in total shock. I didn't scream or jump or anything. I just couldn't believe I won. It was definitely one of the best days of my life. I won the next year by a lot and absolutely sucked my senior year because I discovered sex and mary jane.

Hopefully this wasn't too boring. Anyone else got any awesome stories/brags?