I rarely play in tournaments anymore, but last weekend I played in a scramble and I will be playing in another scramble tournament tomorrow. It seems that when I play in scrambles, I’m expected to be the “ringer.” The first couple times, I was very uncomfortable with that role, but the more I play in scrambles, the more confident I’ve become. I realize now that scrambles are very low pressure tournaments in comparison with the college tournaments I played in back in the day. I have the luxury of hitting last, so there’s almost always already a ball in the fairway or on the green, which means that I have the green light to play aggressively- I don’t really have to be strategic at all. I also enjoy being in the mindset of making/expecting birdies- something I should be doing every round.
Last weekend, I was the ringer for my group at a scramble tournament in Central Washington. We played the Prospector Course at Suncadia and were greeted by 20 mph winds howling through the high desert forest. With my low ball flight and lots of experience playing in the wind, I knew we would have a shot at being in the money. I was even more encouraged when another guy in the group proved that he could also hit the ball well on occasion (I’m used to playing in scrambles where I’m the only player who consistently shoots in the 70s, while the rest of my partners shoot in the high 80s and low 90s). We had a blast out there- ham and egging around the front 9 and piling up the birdies. Then we hit a lull when not one of us could make a putt. After going 6 or 7 under on the front 9, we only managed to make 3 or 4 birdies on the back 9 and wound up shooting a very respectable 10-under 62. Had a few more putts fallen, we could have easily broken 60.
I took several things away from the tournament:
1) It was REALLY nice to have a partner who could hit a really solid shot every couple of holes
2) I need to work on my putting
3) Prospector is the best course that I’ve ever played
There’s not much more to say about #1 and #2 above, but I do feel the need to explain #3. While I’ve been known to occasionally exaggerate things, I can honestly say that Prospector is the best course I’ve played because it had so many good holes and absolutely zero bad holes. It helped that many of the holes kindly suggested that you hit a little draw. That being said, you could work the ball either way and do just fine. I also appreciated the greens at Prospector- they were simple medium-sized greens with subtle breaks, not the overwrought, everything multi-tiered BS of many new courses. Indeed, there was a simple elegance to the course- the holes seemed to blend into the landscape perfectly. There were bunkers in all the right places, and the landing areas were fair. I really enjoyed how everything was right there in front of you- no gimmicks, no hidden hazards, no trees or bunkers or boulders in the middle of the fairways. Beyond that, the views of the surrounding forested hills are absolutely spectacular. Combine all that with excellent conditions and you’ve got the best course I’ve ever played.
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