Recently, I was fortunate to be invited by my best golfing buddy of some forty-one years to participate in a Member-Guest at the Country Club of York (CCY); an absolute gem tucked away in the rolling hills of southern York County, Pennsylvania.
Country Club of York:
- Founded in 1899
- In May of 1926, CCY chose Donald Ross and Associates to design the course. Donald Ross is arguably the most influential golf course designer in the history of the sport. He was involved in designing and redesigning over 600 courses from 1900 to 1948, including but not limited to Pinehurst #2, Seminole Golf Club, Oak Hill Country Club and Aronimink Golf Club.
Dave and I have quite a golfing history, having played hundreds of rounds together at Conestoga Country Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania as well as our crack of dawn, early morning rounds at Groff Farms/Highlands of Donegal in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania.
I am always grateful for Dave’s invitations; clearly recognizing they are based solely on our personal history and my charming personality; as the member sports a 7.2 index while the guest sports a 13.7 index.
The format of this particular event was a bit unique. Two days, thirty-six holes, four-nine-hole matches that included four different formats; Better-Ball of Partners, Two-Man Scramble, Aggregate Individual Scores and Alternate Shot.
Better Ball of Partners: Two partners compete against two other partners, where each player plays his/her own ball. The lowest score of the four balls wins the hole.
Two-Man Scramble: Each partner tees off and the team chooses the best shot of the two balls. This process continues for each subsequent shot, ensuring the team always plays from the most advantageous position. So essentially, the team gets two cracks at every shot.
Aggregate Individual Scores: Each partner plays their own ball. The two scores are accumulated for a total score.
Alternate Shot: Two partners play one ball, taking turns (alternating) hitting the one ball through the hole.
Day-one, which included Better-Ball of Partners and a Two-Man Scramble are reasonably comfortable formats as they are team events, where your partner has the opportunity to bail you out of sticky situations. Day-two however is a horse of a different color, as every shot of the member and every shot of the guest in the Aggregate Individual Scores format and the Alternate Shot format are truly meaningful to the team’s overall performance.
As day-one unfolded, we were in the mix after our initial Better-Ball of Partner’s match. Unfortunately, things began to unravel during our Two-Man Scramble match on the uphill par-four seventh hole (13 handicap), playing 361 yards. The following is a recap of the carnage. Reminder…the team gets two cracks at each shot!
- Dave’s tee shot: Drive landed in the right rough
- Jim’s tee shot: Reasonably solid drive in the fairway, 140-yards out
- Dave’s second ball from the fairway: Left of the left greenside bunker by five feet
- Jim’s second ball from the fairway: Way right of the right greenside bunker
- Dave’s third ball from the left of the greenside bunker: Dumped into the left greenside bunker
- Jim’s third ball from the left of the greenside bunker: Dumped into the left greenside bunker
- Dave’s fourth ball from the bunker: Failed to extract said ball from the left greenside bunker
- Jim’s fourth ball from the bunker: Failed to extract said ball from the left greenside bunker
- Dave’s fifth ball from the bunker: Hit said ball across the green into the gnarly rough
- Jim’s fifth ball from the bunker: Barely managed to extract said ball onto the green; leaving a tidy little thirty-footer for double bogey
- Jim’s first putt: Rolled it past the hole by seven-feet
- Dave’s first putt: Snuggled it up to two-feet
- Dave’s second putt: Drained it for a smooth “triple-bogey”
Requiring an abacus to calculate the severity of the damage, this dynamic duo proceeded to hit nine consecutive “bad” shots in a Two-Man Scramble format, where one reasonably decent shot amidst the nine “bad” shots would have kept things marginally afloat.
At the end of the two-day event, we placed third in our five-man flight; much closer to second place than fourth place. The greatest single collapse in the history of golf on the par-four seventh hole derailed our considerable hopes and dreams!
Thank you for following Bad Golf Guy. The back nine can only get better!
Good trip