Jack’s First Golf Trophy!

Jack had his first golf tournament last Monday at Wesselman's and ended up with a 24 for 3 holes. Missy said he did a good job driving the ball off the tee, but would take 5-6 shots to get it on the green and 3-4 putts to get it in. Well, they didn't realize until the end that the first 3 finishers got trophies and Jack didn't get one! A boy named Zeke Neihouse got a 13 and got 1^st place, and his buddy Ethan Elkins got a 19 and got 3^rd place, but Jack was very confused when he didn't get one. He always got a trophy with his other sports (soccer and TBall), so Missy explained that not everyone gets a trophy in golf – you have to get one of the top 3 scores. Well, he was determined after that to practice and get better. Missy took him to Dick's Sporting Goods to get his birthday present a little early this year – a new set of clubs. His current set only included 3 clubs: a driver, a putter, and a 6-iron and they were too small for him anyway. His new set is for 6-9 year olds so he'll be able to use those for several years. He was very, very excited about his new clubs and asked me every day after work to go play, but we only made it out one time. He did a lot better though and was chipping and putting much better now that he knew how important it was.

Well, I was able to go with him yesterday at Tee Time. It was a hot day and was very crowded since it was a Saturday. They moved the tee boxes up a little for the 5-6 year olds so that probably helped a bit too. He started off with a very good hit and his ball landed on the green! The other 2 boys were close but not on the green. Jack didn't putt too well though and ended up with a 4. One other boy got a 3, so I was very proud of him for getting such a good score, but figured he'd still end up with an 18-19. Well, he hit his next shot very well too and chipped it right onto the green! Then he knocked it in with 2 putts! Now he had 2, 4's in a row and we were really getting excited! The other boy got a 4 too, so Jack was one down. The last hole was the longest and he hit a great 9 iron which landed about 3 feet from the green. He putted it from there and ended up with another 4!!! We were all really excited at this point. The other boy ended up with a 5 on the last hole so we knew he and Jack had tied. We were the first 5-6 y/o group to finish so we went to the clubhouse and turned in his score-sheet. Jack and Mason Auker were tied with 12's! It took quite a while for the other boys to turn in their sheets, and I was in agony when they did. We knew a 12 was a very good score, but we figured one of the other boys would do even better and get a 10 or 11. We watched the scorekeeper write the scores on the board and my heart sank a couple of times when he wrote what looked like a 10 but ended up being an 18! We were super-excited when they wrote the last score and Jack and Mason had tied for the lead! The boy keeping score said they had 2 options to settle the tie: a Western Draw or a chipping contest and he was going to do a chipping contest b/c it was more exciting! If he had done a Western Draw, Jack would have won b/c he got a 4 on the last hole and Mason had a 5! Well, Mason went first and chipped it about 5-6 feet from the hole. Jack went next and just barely hit it – not a good shot at all. It rolled up to the green and a few feet on the green, but Mason clearly won. It was pretty exciting and we all clapped and cheered for both boys. Then they announced the winners and read each boy's name and gave them their trophies. I don't think I've ever seen Jack so proud! He knew he had truly earned that trophy and not every kid got one. Hearing his name and seeing his proud smile was by far the best Father's Day present I got this year!