Red River White Ball Shootout

I and the three guys I most regularly play with call ourselves The Bushwood Boys (for obvious reasons. If it's not obvious to you, don't read on. You won't like my sense of humor). As we only play every couple of months we usually pick a theme for the outing, such as "Football", "The Masters" or "American Lager". We played last weekend, and as it was the opening of the college football season we decided to have that be our theme. We quickly figured out that two of us are Oklahoma fans, and two are Texas fans, and it was very quickly game ON with the trashtalking.

That's Chris and I in the Crimson, and Doug and John in the burnt orange. The game of the day was best-ball skins.

THE WAGER

We don't like to play for money, so we had to come up with something a little more creative but still something that will spur us on. We decided that the losing team will have to wear the winning team's apparel the next time we play. If you know anything about the OU - Texas rivalry, you will know that this is a BIG deal.

THE COURSE

We played the Lakes course at Firewheel in Garland, TX. It is a tricky layout with lots of chances to lose balls. We've all played there before, and the course was in very good shape.

THE ROUND

While the Lacey Longhorns played very consistently, the Spackler Sooners started out a bit more up and down, but in this format that's not necessarily a bad thing. We drew first blood on the third with a birdie, a few more skins on five, and after nine holes OU were up by nine.

Driving to the 10:th tee Chris and I agreed that we had to win the next skin soon, to determine the match, or the pressure would mount exponentially with every hole. After a couple of tied holes we are able to wrap up the contest on the 12:th hole. We get a couple more on the 14:th, and now our goal is to keep a clean sheet.

We start talking out loud about this prospect on the 16:th tee, and all of a sudden the contest gets more heated. We all concentrate very hard on the last couple of holes, but neither of us is able to gain an advantage. Two well played pars split 18, and the final score is 14-0. We in red obviously think this score will be repeated in October.

THE LINE OF THE DAY

We've just made a mess of the 14 hole, and we're having to wait to hit our next tee shots. As the sound of empty beer cans and ball sleeves lands loudly in the trashcan Chris says "I don't know why we're not playing better". Obviously, you had to be there.

THE AFTERMATH

Of course, then OU goes and loses to BYU in the first game of the season, and our ability to rub it in goes out the window.