Just Tap It In: Part 2

"If you are caught on a golf course and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron.  Not even God can hit a 1-iron."  ~Lee Trevino

     Hello again to this post finishing the fall golf tournaments for my inaugural and Muskingum University's collegiate season.  So far, I have mentioned about two of the previous tournaments and will be discussing the last two today.

     After the last tournament, Coach Kirby decided to have a qualifier for those who did not shoot "the magic number: a two day total of 160."  Sadly to say in those two days, I shot a 161 so I had to play in the one day, 18 hole qualifier for two spots on the varsity team at this upcoming tournament.  At the qualifier I shot an 82 and a playing partner shot a 69 and someone else beat me out by shooting an 80; so I did not go to this tournament but I did have several teammates and even a good high school buddy of mine play in the tournament and they informed me how conditions played.  The first day of the Kenyon College Invitational hosted by Kenyon College was played at Apple Valley Golf Course outside of Mount Vernon, Ohio.  According to my teammates and my high school teammate, Apple Valley was a very nice public course and several low scores were shot there.  It is a par 72 and is 6,946 yards from the tips.  (For more information about the course, please visit: www.applevalleygolfcourse.com)  

     The second day of the tournament was held at Mount Vernon Country Club in Mount Vernon, Ohio; this beautiful course is a par 72 and is 6,493 yards from the tips.  According to my teammates, this course was tough in previous years and by the sound and looks of things, it still held true to that statement.  The thing that they discussed the most was about the greens at Mount Vernon CC; they mentioned about how it is like "putting on concrete, yet soft."  Personally, I like a challenge so I would have enjoyed playing that course if I had made the qualifier.  (If anyone would want any more information about this course, please visit: www.mtvcountryclub.com)  Muskingum University finished 5th out of 8 teams with a 649 team score; my high school teammate's team beat us with a 631 and they placed 4th.  So needless to say, he and I are competitive and I won't hear the end of this for a while...

     Muskingum's final fall collegiate tournament was an interesting one; after five years of deliberation, Coach Kirby was able to work in this tournament to be like a Ryder Cup style tournament.  Muskingum University competed against Heidelberg University in an overall match play event.  On the first day, the team was split up into several groups, half of the team would play alternate shot (or four ball) and the other half would play best ball (or foursomes).  On the second day, twelve of the team members from each college would go head to head in match play.  Everyone on the team was able to play in the tournament and everyone's score helped out in the total.  Muskingum University overall came away with the win against Heidelberg University 14.5 points to 2.5 points; this gave Muskingum the inaugural River Greens Collegiate Cup.  It was a nice feeling on my part because I won both of my matches both days to help with the win.

     So now I have a question for any golfer out there.  Do you have any memorable tournament memories or just something funny that happened on the golf course?  Feel free to tell me under the comments, not only will it entertain me of your golfing experience, but it might help someone else too losing that desire to play...

     Thanks for reading "GET SOME Golf!"  Please pass this along to your playing partners!

Just Tap It In: Part 1

     "The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course."  ~Billy Graham

     As I mentioned in the previous GET SOME Golf post, I am a member of the Muskingum University varsity golf team; our fall season started in early September and lasted through this past weekend.  So this post is dedicated solely on collegiate golf and the experiences from that.

     My first collegiate and the team's first tournament that we played was at the Country Club of Meadville in Meadville, Pennsylvania hosted by Allegheny College.  This beautiful course located on the outskirts of Meadville is a par 72 and is 6,808 yards from the tips.  The course has several places there where if the ball is not placed in a very strategic and aggressive position, the best score possibly made would be a bogey or worse.  Play at this tournament was made difficult for every golfer alike: greens were rolling at a 14 on the stint meter, it was somewhat cold, and several scores were in the upper 70s and 80s.  (If anyone would like more information about the course please visit: www.meadvillecc.com)  As a team, we placed 12th out of 17 teams firing a 2 day total of 657; we did not play our best but thankfully we beat a few teams!  After this tournament, Coach Kirby seemed disappointed by our results and was looking forward to a top 10 finish, so he kept hope alive at our next event, a pre-conference season tournament.

     Coach Kirby decided for the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Fall Conference Invitational to keep the same players that he did at the last tournament.  This tournament was hosted by Baldwin Wallace College and held at Columbia Hills Country Club just outside of Strongsville, Ohio.  This course is proud to proclaim that Jason Dufner played at this course during his childhood before his professional career; it is a par 71 and is 6,404 yards from the tips.  It is a relatively short course but some holes can create a difficult challenge for any golfer.  (For more information about this course, please visit: www.columbiahills.org)  A friend and teammate whose home course was Columbia Hills was unfortunate enough to miss the tournament; so to help the team out and possibly give us a winning advantage, he loaned us helpful advice about the course.  As a team, we placed 7th out of 8 teams firing a 631; Coach Kirby was not a very happy camper after seeing where we placed, but thankfully this was a pre-conference season tournament.

     To get the details of our final two tournaments of the fall season, please read the next post.

     Thanks for reading "GET SOME Golf!"  Please pass this along to your playing partners!

Tee Time

"You have to GET SOME; you need to Go Every Time, So Others May Every-time..."
-from "Division III: Football's Finest"

     Hello all you happy people, my name is Erik Allbright; I am the author of GET SOME Golf.  If you are like most people (including myself), you are probably wondering "Why is this called GET SOME Golf?  That does not make any since..." Well to be honest, I first heard this quote when I was playing golf for Muskingum University, which inspired me to name this blog after that quote.  It still might not make any since but if you are in my shoes, it probably would!  The golf team considers "Get Some" as one of the many fun quotes that we use on road trips to matches and during practice.  It is almost an indirect way of telling us to step up our golf game.

     I'm personally not the kind of person that constantly loves the attention, so here is a mini biography of me.  I was born in Point Pleasant, West Virginia to two wonderful parents. At a young age (or what I consider young) of 10, I started to play golf and by the next year I was playing competitively.  At these tournaments, I was constantly winning trophies so when I was 13 years old, I started to play summer tournaments across the state of West Virginia in the "Top Flite Junior Tour" headed in Parkersburg, West Virginia (it is now called the Callaway Junior Tour).  The next year I played in the West Virginia Junior Amateur and placed Tied for 6th out of 20+ golfers my age.  I continued to play well through those years until it came time for me to graduate high school and eventually play collegiate golf.  Now I am a freshman at Muskingum University and I am playing varsity for the golf team there.

      As part of this blog, I wanted a way for golfers and fans alike to leave comments about topics related to "getting some golf." For this post, the topic is pretty simple and basic: are more and more people picking up golf as a sport throughout the world?  Personally I feel that people are picking up a golf club now because of the media, the past and present professional golfers, and the game itself.  The First Tee has really impacted this through ads promoting positive attributes to the game: respect, character, responsibility, sportsmanship, etc.  So what do you think?

     Thanks for reading "GET SOME Golf!"  Please pass this along to your playing partners!