Milestone alert – my first first place.

After not being allowed into the club that shall remain nameless, I was told of another local bar club that was more fun, played better courses and was co-ed. So we went right down, submitted our applications and money and joined the Treehouse Golf Club. I think it was right before the first tournament we were set to play that I found out they actually were an all men’s club but they had heard about what had happened before and were in the process of changing their bylaws and figuring out how to handle the handicaps and tee situations for coed play. Hallelujah! A board with brains! If your membership isn’t where you want it, why prohibit half the golfing population from participating? Whatever their reasons for changing, I commend them.

Meanwhile, I am the only woman in the club so far and therefore competing against all men. There are only two flights – A and B, with probably 20-30 people in each flight. Naturally, I’m in B. The first tournament they had me play from the forward tees and I was doing pretty well but we got rained out half way through.

The next tournament, they had me playing from the reds again since it was stroke play, and I got 4th place. The cutoff for winning any money was 3rd. Rats.

The next tournament began the eliminations for the club championship. The format is match play, so they had me playing from the white tees with my opponent. They also run a simultaneous stroke play tournament for the money, which can obviously change strategies a little. I won my match and advanced to the next playoff round. There were 32 of us competing and now we’ve got it down to 16. Greg also won his match in A-flight and advanced to the next round. I also won $20 for coming in 3rd place in my flight for the stroke play. There was a milestone right there: winning anything in golf competition!

Every year, this club holds an “away” tournament. This year it was at Primm out at the Nevada/California State line near Las Vegas. There were tournaments on both Saturday (at the Lakes course) and Sunday (at the Desert course) but they were both just for fun (and money) and were not playoff rounds. They were both team events and Greg and I played together. On Saturday, the format was that each person played their own ball the whole round and, including handicaps, your team uses the best score on every hole for a team total. We both played really well and netted a lot of birdies and eagles. I had one of my best rounds ever and netted 63 (93 gross). It was so much fun AND we won that day! My first experience winning first place! We made a great team, which was nice.

This is 16 on the Lakes Course. Both of these resort courses are pristine and

challenging in their own ways and I recommend them highly. Maybe just not

in the middle of the summer, but that's when it's cheapest, of course.

The next day the format was a “modified Pinehurst” alternating best ball type thing, which was a lot more fun as an idea than in actual execution. We really struggled trying to get a rhythm going and performed poorly. (I’m sure this had nothing to do with the casino experience the night before.) It was interesting for a non-postable round, but we didn’t win a thing. Didn’t even come close.

This is 17 on the Desert Course. I don't know if it was just because it was windier that day

or because it's not as shielded, but the wind was a bear toward the end of the round.

There also seemed to be more places to get in trouble on this course than the Lakes Course.

These are a couple of the jackalopes that run around munching up the courses.

The next tournament was just this past Saturday. It was a playoff round, match play, from the whites at a course unfamiliar to me. Of course, in these match play events, Greg is off in another foursome because he’s paired up with another A-flighter. So we wish each other luck and off we go. I had another really good round. I set a new personal record for par streak (4!) and putted like I’ve never putted before. I drained three 20+ footers, two of which saved par in that streak. It was magical. I was reading the lines, hitting it and it was going right where I wanted it to at the right speed! That’s never happened to me before. On fifteen, I sank a one-putt from about 15 feet, which my opponent (a guy on the cusp between A and B flights) called “the dagger.” It put me up by 3 holes with 3 holes to go. We halved 16 and that was the match. Now I know I’m advancing to the next round with only 4 people in each flight. I still had the stroke play tournament to consider, but winning the match was a relief and I three-putted from about 7 feet. On 18, I went into the sand and it took me four strokes just to get out and I took a nine there. I still netted a 67 and my opponent netted 70. I was just happy to have won my match and never considered the stroke play as a possibility. Turns out I won and my opponent took second! The par streak, the putting, the match win and now my first First Place win all by myself! Now that’s a milestone!

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