Photographs from the course, dispatches from recent rounds, and occasional commentary on the rules. More to come, as the schedule permits.
Dispatch · Abingdon, VA · 2004
Abingdon, Virginia, 2004. A freshman returns to the team van conspicuously soaked from the collar down. Pressed for details, he offers only that he had bent down to read a putt on the ninth green, and that the read had required commitment. The putt, for the record, did not fall. He did. You wanna try?
The tee →From the Archive · 2006
In the summer of 2006, Goat Hill hosted its inaugural — and, by informal agreement with the county, final — Men’s Member-Member. The dress code was interpreted loosely: vintage cycling shorts, no shirts, and a cigarette count that outpaced the stroke count by the third hole. No trophy survives. Several photographs do, and they remain sealed.
The commemorative tee →Commemorative · USA 250
There is a moment on a reachable par five — ball airborne on the second shot, outcome undecided — when someone in the group is obligated to say it: comin’ home, dude. For the nation’s 250th, we render the moment as it actually feels: a bald eagle, climbing, wings fully committed to the flagstick.
The tee →Dispatch · The Activity Bus
The activity bus rolls past the Wendy’s drive-thru, and from the back rows come three sharp reports — bang, bang, bang. The coach does not flinch. He has seen the scorecards. Three putts from six feet make exactly that sound, and everyone on the bus knows it.
The tee →Dispatch · WGC Pro Shop
Outside the WGC pro shop, a young man — mustard on his face, more of it on his shirt — addresses the assembled field with the gravity of an Augusta starter: “I got you guys a scorecard.” It remains the most generous act in club history.
The tee →Dispatch · The Activity Bus
Somewhere between the course and the Wendy’s, under sustained paper fire from fast-food straws, the coach — both hands on the wheel, eyes on the road — issues the immortal command: “Quit spittin’ them shootwads.” The order was clear. The words were not. The firing continued.
The tee →From the Archive · 2004
On paper, the Johnson Crank Shaft Semi-Annual Invitational was a golf tournament — History records only two anomalies: volleyball knee pads on every participant, and a quantity of beach towels on hand that no golf event has ever required. Officially, it was a golf tournament, but speculation persists.
The commemorative tee →.Crest · Salt Vegas Athletics
Every athletic department needs a mascot and a motto. NWHS chose the saber-toothed tiger — an animal extinct for roughly ten thousand years — and the phrase “For us, it’s family.” Neither choice was ever explained, but both were related, much like the town's several inhabitants.
The tee →