THE SUB PAR TRIO

 

Pam Harrell, Letty Watt, Terri Street, the Sub Par Trio

Angst
Anxiety
Tension
Expectations
Drama
All words to describe playing in a golf tournament when my game is up to the 90's (not good) !
All words to describe putting on a five minute skit in front of my peers.
All words to describe being a local chair person of a state women's golf championship.

May 20,21 were the due dates. Dawn and I were co-chairs for the Women's Oklahoma Golf Association's Senior Championship to be held those two days at the Trails Golf Course in Norman.

We were prepared, our ducks were lined up, even though they were everywhere on the golf course.

My two singing friends and I had prepared for the greatest debut in golf to be held this close to the Canadian River.

My golf game had not improved this spring, but I held high hopes that my game would show up for the tournament and allow me to win the Super Senior Championship ( remember this song...She had high hopes ) BUT

On Sunday, May 19 the  National Weather Service predicted that Monday would be a level 4 danger for tornadoes and dastardly storms, SO we postponed this thrilling championship until June 24-25, and of course, the rains didn't let up for a month.

ANXIETY
FRUSTRATIONS
TENSION
begin to build...

Another month goes by with preparations ready, lists and volunteers ready, The Sub Par Trio ready, but Not my golf game. The rains stopped, the sun came out, the temperatures were in the 80's, and we played our first round of golf on June 24.

Lynn Ballard, Lee Ann Fairlie, Dawn Stork

This year we added a featured called "The Tin Cup Challenge" a simply 50-60 yard chip shot over water in front of people watching. For a mere $10 a lady could take two chances of getting closest to the hole and winning money with half of the money going to our junior girls scholarship fund. You could either laugh or cry at the shots taken that day. We choose laughter and memories. 


With a touch of Tim Conway humor (click link to watch  Dorf on Golf with Tim Conway)  playing on the television in the grill after our first round of golf, and while we were piling our plates with food from the buffet we watched and laughed at some old golf humor, after all we are all Seniors.  With dinner nearly over, the golfers were restless, and the show was ready to go.  With Pam Harrell on the piano, Terri Street lead singer and comedian, and support provided by Letty Watt the show began.

As a tribute to Mabel Hotz, Hall of Fame Oklahoma lady golfer and mother of the Oklahoma Junior Girls State Championship (1950's, 1960's), we sang a rendition of "Oklahoma", and "Oh, What a Beautiful Day" combining her rendition and mine.

Imagine, in nearly perfect harmony as we sang "Oklahoma":

Oklahoma, where the women golfers love to play
And we sure have fun, beneath the sun,
Even though it rains most every day.....

Pam Harrell, Letty Watt

A creative refrain from "Oh, What a Beautiful Day";

Oh, what a difficult golf game, Oh, what a fabulous shot.
I sank a long putt on eleven, everything's going my way.......

Terri topped off the night with her lyrics, adapted from "It's Ruff Being a Dog" by Phyllis Wolfe:

Camera please......

From the last refrain:  But still it's...
Rough, rough, rough out on the course
When the Golfing gods turn mean.
Your ball goes in the bunker
And can just barely be seen.
Yes, it's rough, rough, rough, rough out on the course
When your round proves to be a test.
But either way -- a good or bad
This game is simply the Best!

At the end of day two we proved the lyrics and the poetry to be correct.

Fun
Fulfilling
Friendships
Gratifying
Relief
All words to describe a round of golf, when the score does not reflect who we are.
All words to describe the Tin Cup Challenge, and  a skit on golf filled with laughter and memories.
All words to describe the smiles and thanks from women golfers.

Judy Sapp and Cathy Scott

Tammy Higginbotham, Linda Maddox

Marna Raburn, Lee Ann Fairlie, Medalist and Senior Champion

Thanks to all of the staff at the Trails Golf Course, all of our volunteers, and especially to the ladies of WOGA for making this Senior Championship a success. 

Play Each Shot As If It Will Only Happen Once

Alexa Osborne and Letty Watt

This past week I had an opportunity to play some of my greatest golf shots and to enjoy and follow up on many awesome shots played by our youthful Kansas Fore State team. I am also fortunate to have the opportunity to play golf at Prairie Dunes Country Club (Hutchinson, KS) and to be acquainted with the cleverness of Perry Maxwell's golf course architecture. His par 3's can humble the best of players either with gaping bunkers lining the front and sides of the holes; lakes beckoning the golf ball to cool off; tall prairie grasses that offer permanent shelter to wayward golf shots; winds that blow the balls off course; or trickling creeks and out of bounds stakes defining the direction the ball must fly to reach the undulating greens.

My last hurrah at 2011 Fore State came on the par 3 hole 15 at Hardscrabble Country Club (a Perry Maxwell design). I was one down and Sidney's tee shot was sitting pin high on the green to the right. I inhaled the humid Arkansas air, smiled at the beauty of the hills, the trees, the lakes and green grasses then starred down the par 3. "Perry Maxwell," my focused words spoke, "you can't scare me." My tee shot took dead aim at the pin and dropped eight feet short of the hole leaving me a simple uphill putt to win the hole and go even. Sidney missed her birdie putt. With focus and confidence I stroked the ball toward the hole. My head stayed down listening for the rattle of the ball in the cup, that didn't come. My birdie putt strayed slightly to the left and sat there peeking at the empty cup. I thought I heard an old man's voice chuckle, "You didn't see that tiny touch of an uphill break did you?" "No, I didn't," I thought in reply, "but it was a hole well played." And then my 63 year old bones and back began to quiver with exhaustion. Hole 16 passed in a blurry tie.

Next, I found myself on 17 still playing and thinking I could win. After dunking my tee shot in the water to cool off, my next shot landed on the green pin high to the right. I needed to make the putt to tie. For one brief moment in time I tied the match on the 17th hole, but the putt had been hit with too much authority. I saw the blood drain from the young Oklahoma player's face, as she, too, thought I'd drained the putt. "Hit the HOLE, " I yelled. And it did, hitting the bottom of the cup and then bouncing out. In that hop the hole and the match were lost.

I could only smile, proud that I'd played as well as I could. She beamed with delight as we shook hands, and I congratulated her on the win. Her Oklahoma team eventually won Women's Fore State 2011 that day. Our Kansas team returned the trophy from last year's win and walked away standing tall, with pride, spirit, grace, and youthfulness, knowing we'd all done our best.

Twenty-four hours later I was sauntering through the field north of our house with Lucy, when a cool gentle breeze stirred a vivid memory.

The Women's Oklahoma Golf Association State Championship was held at Oakwood Country Club (a Perry Maxwell design) in Enid, Oklahoma in June 1967, and I was a competitor for the championship that week. In an early round of match play I played against an "old gray haired lady" who nearly beat me, a youthful strong determined 19 year old golfer. We tied our match at the end of 18 holes which meant we had to continue on until someone won the match. On the 19th hole of "sudden death" I finally chipped in to beat her, doing what she'd done to me all day--chipping and putting like a pro. She smiled and walked toward me with pride and grace that day. In her firm handshake of congratulations she let me know age was not a hindrance for a determined mind.

I could never image at age 19 that I would be standing in her shoes on the 17th hole at Hardscrabble Country Club at age 63 shaking the hand of a 19 year determined college student.

So to those who've gone before; the golf course designers, the dreamers, the club pros, the parents, the coaches, and especially the women amateurs and professional golfers who've given us their best, who've laid the groundwork for our programs and tournaments today, I bow my head in silence and say thank you. My hope is that through our continued dedication to the game of golf that some young girl golfer may write the sequel to this story in another forty to fifty years.

Picture of 2011 Kansas Fore State team--front row: Krista Peterson, Katy Nugent, Letty Watt, Lauren Falley, Jennifer Clark, Alexa Osborn; back row: Becky Tetrick, Hannah Martin, Kelsey Jensen, Michelle Woods, and Capt. Julie McKinnis.

Kansas Women's Golf Association
Women's Oklahoma Golf assocication
Missouri Women's Golf Association
Arkansas Women's Golf Association