Pleasant Valley - The Not-So Pleasant Scramble Brought to you by Navy Federal Credit Union
I generally regard scrambles as pretty dubious. If golf truly is a game of gentlemen and honor I have no problem. But when the stakes are high and winning is everything and there are no witnesses, the only wood that matters is the pencil... But scrambles are fun when you don't really expect to win, just to hang out with your friends, drink copious amounts of pre-paid drinks, eat the post-round buffet lunch or dinner, and try to win the door prizes. My goal with this scramble however was much more lofty... Ironically I will also participate in a scramble with much higher stakes (free trip to Pinehurst for the winning team) the next day at the same course! So I treated this first scramble as, "the training scramble."
Date: Friday 5/09/2014
Location: Pleasant Valley Golfers Club, Chantilly, VA
Score: 66 (Scramble)
Excuses: Not enough ringers
Course Conditions: Very good. Greens rolled extremely well and true, fairways were in excellent shape, rough not as penal as usual.
The Good: Good time had by all, good food after the round, a few good birdies
The Bad: Nearly Six hours for the finish!!.
The Ugly: Being cursed at, yelled at, and hit up on by golfers behind us while we were waiting for another group in front of us!
The scramble was hosted by Pleasant Valley Golf Club and sponsored by my own bank, Navy Federal Credit Union. The captain of this scramble was an old golf buddy whom I've shared nearly 100 rounds with, mostly at Greendale and Pohick Bay, when I was first learning the game. He is a Navy Federal employee and needed golfers (aka, ringers) to do well. Sadly he took a long haitus from the game for more noble pursuits: Marriage, Family, Children. Noble but destructive to a golf swing.
The team was assembled:
Audie (Captain and Commander, Far Side of the Fairway)
Harry (Ringer, Iron Man)
Chris (Ringer, Long Baller)
David (Semi-Ringer, Short Gamer)
Introduction of recurring character: Chris. Chris will be featured in many more posts to come. A unique character who can destroy a golf ball and is a VIP at Top Golf.
The men played from the white tees and the ladies from the red tees. We started on the 13th hole, a par 5 of decent length but reachable in two for long hitters. The Long Baller blasts a drive 280 yards down the middle of the fairway leaving a scant 225 to the pin (GO TIME!). After each of us failed to make the green, we chose the best shot, a mere 10 yards short and in the first cut of rough. The Short Gamer makes a great chip and puts us less than 6 feet from the hole and I put in the Birdie Putt. Great Start.
Long story short, we cruise around the course, saving par and nabbing the occasional birdie. But about 5 hours later, we just finished the 7th hole and were driving to the 8th hole. The group in front of us were just teeing off. After another 10 minutes, the group was wrangling their golf balls and setting up to hit while waiting for the group in front of them to leave the green. The important part of this story was the ball they decided to play was way to the right of a tree that wasn't visible from the tee box. While we were waiting two groups eventually congregated on the tee box. By the time we were cleared to hit, it appeared as if there was no one on the hole. This visual misnomer was lost on one obviously drunk asshole behind us who cursed loudly "Are you waiting for the F-ing green to clear?" I decided to take the higher road and drive away. The part where I completely lost it, when we finally got to our ball is having one of those groups a ball 20 yards to our left while we were setting up our shot. I contemplated hitting that ball out of bounds but instead I opted for waiting at the next tee box with a club in hand... However I remembered Proverbs 20:3.
"A person gains honor by avoiding strife, while every fool starts a quarrel."
As that group pulled up in their carts we rolled up on them as a group. After some bluster and bravado on both sides, and finding out that someone in the "other group" hit up on us, we all cooled down. We then proceeded to birdie holes #9 and #10. GO TEAM!
At the end of the round we posted a respectable 66. The winning score: 56. WOW. That's 16 under par. That's a birdie on 16 out of 18 holes. Or a birdie on 14 of 18 holes and two eagles. From the white tees the course played a scant 5953 yards. So I could see four solid golfers getting it done. But wow.
Overall I had fun, the food was great, the camraderie was great, and Chris and I even won a major door prizes after the dinner. Audie had to leave because he had scored Wizards playoff tickets. Sadly he chose the game where the Wizards didn't show up... The best part was I gained lots of valuable experience for the CAN Golf Tournament. Where I was the captain and surrounded myself with well-chosen ringers.
BACK TO THE RANGE! BACK TO THE PUTTING GREEN! BACK TO THE GYM! And of course BACK TO PLEASANT VALLEY!
Next Round: Pleasant Valley (Scramble 2 of 2)
Date: Friday 5/09/2014
Location: Pleasant Valley Golfers Club, Chantilly, VA
Score: 66 (Scramble)
Excuses: Not enough ringers
Course Conditions: Very good. Greens rolled extremely well and true, fairways were in excellent shape, rough not as penal as usual.
The Good: Good time had by all, good food after the round, a few good birdies
The Bad: Nearly Six hours for the finish!!.
The Ugly: Being cursed at, yelled at, and hit up on by golfers behind us while we were waiting for another group in front of us!
The scramble was hosted by Pleasant Valley Golf Club and sponsored by my own bank, Navy Federal Credit Union. The captain of this scramble was an old golf buddy whom I've shared nearly 100 rounds with, mostly at Greendale and Pohick Bay, when I was first learning the game. He is a Navy Federal employee and needed golfers (aka, ringers) to do well. Sadly he took a long haitus from the game for more noble pursuits: Marriage, Family, Children. Noble but destructive to a golf swing.
The team was assembled:
Audie (Captain and Commander, Far Side of the Fairway)
Harry (Ringer, Iron Man)
Chris (Ringer, Long Baller)
David (Semi-Ringer, Short Gamer)
Introduction of recurring character: Chris. Chris will be featured in many more posts to come. A unique character who can destroy a golf ball and is a VIP at Top Golf.
The men played from the white tees and the ladies from the red tees. We started on the 13th hole, a par 5 of decent length but reachable in two for long hitters. The Long Baller blasts a drive 280 yards down the middle of the fairway leaving a scant 225 to the pin (GO TIME!). After each of us failed to make the green, we chose the best shot, a mere 10 yards short and in the first cut of rough. The Short Gamer makes a great chip and puts us less than 6 feet from the hole and I put in the Birdie Putt. Great Start.
Long story short, we cruise around the course, saving par and nabbing the occasional birdie. But about 5 hours later, we just finished the 7th hole and were driving to the 8th hole. The group in front of us were just teeing off. After another 10 minutes, the group was wrangling their golf balls and setting up to hit while waiting for the group in front of them to leave the green. The important part of this story was the ball they decided to play was way to the right of a tree that wasn't visible from the tee box. While we were waiting two groups eventually congregated on the tee box. By the time we were cleared to hit, it appeared as if there was no one on the hole. This visual misnomer was lost on one obviously drunk asshole behind us who cursed loudly "Are you waiting for the F-ing green to clear?" I decided to take the higher road and drive away. The part where I completely lost it, when we finally got to our ball is having one of those groups a ball 20 yards to our left while we were setting up our shot. I contemplated hitting that ball out of bounds but instead I opted for waiting at the next tee box with a club in hand... However I remembered Proverbs 20:3.
"A person gains honor by avoiding strife, while every fool starts a quarrel."
As that group pulled up in their carts we rolled up on them as a group. After some bluster and bravado on both sides, and finding out that someone in the "other group" hit up on us, we all cooled down. We then proceeded to birdie holes #9 and #10. GO TEAM!
At the end of the round we posted a respectable 66. The winning score: 56. WOW. That's 16 under par. That's a birdie on 16 out of 18 holes. Or a birdie on 14 of 18 holes and two eagles. From the white tees the course played a scant 5953 yards. So I could see four solid golfers getting it done. But wow.
Overall I had fun, the food was great, the camraderie was great, and Chris and I even won a major door prizes after the dinner. Audie had to leave because he had scored Wizards playoff tickets. Sadly he chose the game where the Wizards didn't show up... The best part was I gained lots of valuable experience for the CAN Golf Tournament. Where I was the captain and surrounded myself with well-chosen ringers.
BACK TO THE RANGE! BACK TO THE PUTTING GREEN! BACK TO THE GYM! And of course BACK TO PLEASANT VALLEY!
Next Round: Pleasant Valley (Scramble 2 of 2)
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