2019 TCC

 Interest in the TCC continued to grow in the winter of 2019 as we started planning the next year’s addition of the TCC. We ended up with 14 participants, which makes team games difficult to plan with 2 teams of 7. You know when you are playing a pick up baseball game but don’t have enough players to field 2 teams? We would always designate the lead runner as the “ghostie”. Then depending on the hit, we would move the ghostie forward so many bases. We figured we could structure the ghostie by averaging how many strokes we would get as a team and allotting the stroked per hole. The person playing with the ghostie would announce on the tee box what the ghostie’s score for that hole would be, with the end result of the ghostie shooting the average that our team would shoot. It was innovative, and it led to mixed results. 

Teams were picked via a snake draft prior to our Saturday morning round at Willingers Golf Club in Northfield, MN. Willingers is tough layout requiring a lot more shot selection off the tee than we were used to. Team Luke and Team Dan split the morning Vegas matches leaving the cup score at 4-4. Johno on one hole hit a drive probably 200 yards out of bounds, and upon coming up to a ball near the boundary announced that it was his ball. Chaos ensued. When asked which ball he was playing, Johno remarked that he didnt remember. Johno’s sourcing strategy for golf balls involved him getting buckets of balls that his granfather, who lived near a golf course, found over the years. This would come into play in later cups as the inspiration for a team name. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. 

Inverwood golf course in Inver Grove Heights, in trying to drum up more business, had a special that is you paid a nominal fee in the off season, you could play golf without greens fees (with some restrictions). Being that many of the group had caught the golf bug, multiple members of the TCC had signed up with that deal. So, to save money as families were growing and mortgages were undertaken, we decided to play our afternoon scramble there.

We decided to run 1 3-man scramble match, and 2 2-man scramble matches. The 3-man scramble would be worth 3 cup points and the 2-man scrambles would be worth 2 cup points. This allowed the total cup points available to be an odd number, which was helpful since neither captain owned the cup yet. 

Team Luke played hard in the scramble and wont he 3-man match and one of the 2-man matches. Team Luke was in the lead for the up 9-6, setting up the biggest day of match play yet. 

We showed up to Boulder Pointe Golf Club in Elko, MN for our Match play round. 7 matches with strokes negotiated, since not many of us had handicaps yet registered. What followed was the most entertaining match play day to date. 

I was playing with Dan, who was matched up against Johno and I was matched up against Karlo. Early in the round Johno found himself a foot (Johno will tell you it was less than that) off the left edge of a cart path. Johno asked for relief, but my ego got the better of me and I wouldn’t let Dan give it to him. Johno chunked one, but the effect on the shot wasn't what I was after. I was trying to plant some seeds that would sprout later on in the round. For what its worth, Johno probably should’ve been given relief, but it makes for a fun story.

Luke and Jake’s cousin, Andy, is an interesting (interesting in MN speak can mean a lot of different things, I will let you decide what I intended here) dude. He never stops talking and has a quick wit that cuts deep. Andy was playing for Team Dan while his opponent, Hoffa, was playing for Team Luke. On the 15th tee, Andy was 3 down to Hoffa. But Andy had been in Hoffa’s head all day. Andy, continuing to chirp Hoffa, finally broke him on 15. Andy ended up winning 3 of the final 4 holes and pushing one to halve his match with Hoffa. To this day, this is considered the biggest meltdown in TCC history. 

I had already been put to bed by Karlo earlier in the round, but approaching the 17th tee, Johno was one down to Dan. We were the last group coming in. Both players put the ball in play off the tee leaving their uphill approaches into a long skinny green with OB on the right side. Knowing where we were at in the cup standings, all Dan had to do was halve the match with Johno for his team to win the cup. So Johno, needing to win the hole, takes an aggressive club, stands over his ball, and blocks one towards the boundary. With the gallery watching, the ball continued to sail until it came to test out of of bounds. Dan, on his part, didn't make sure Johno wasn't out of it with flubbing a shot until he put him away on the green. Team Dan ended up winning 9 cup points to Team Luke’s 5 that day leaving the cup points at Team Luke 14, and Team Dan 15. Dan had won his first cup, and neither Hoffa nor Andy ever played it in again.