Minor Park Golf Course Maintenance: Trick or Treat Scramble

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is David Carlson, and I am the new golf course Superintendent here at Minor Park. I am not exactly "new" to Minor Park, as I have been the assistant Superintendent for the past 6 years here under our former Superintendent Matt Delventhal. I would like to thank Matt for his guidance and hard work at Minor Park over those 6 years. We wish him the best in his new sales position and look forward to seeing him around once in awhile. Thanks Matty D!
This past weekend we held our 3rd annual Trick or Treat Fall Fun Scramble. We had 21 teams play in the 3-man tournament. It was a great turnout considering the weather conditions were not ideal with a temperature of 48 degrees and a 10-15 mph chilly wind. We have added to the layout of this tournament over the past few years, and this year it was a big hit. I really enjoyed setting up the golf course for this event, because it is unlike any other typical day of course set-up. In some ways it is sort of like a "Superintendents Revenge" type of event for us. Although it takes quite a bit of extra time to set-up, it is well worth it due to the positive feedback we have received. We used pumpkins on every hole as tee markers. On some holes the tees were in different locations than normal. For example, on #7 we moved the tee box to the fairway to create a Risk/Reward shot where players had to decide to risk hitting their drive over the water from 220 yards away. The reward if you were able to clear the pond and land the ball on the green was having an eagle putt opportunity! Other "Tricky" holes included a hose around the cup to create a "putt putt" atmosphere on the green, hitting your tee shot while sitting on a hay bale, a tire covering your view of the hole, and even a tractor parked in front of a green blocking the approach shot. Some of our "Treat" holes had things like a 15 inch cup on a shortened par 5, six different holes on one green, and a boat serving as the hole where you had to make your pitch shot into the boat to hole out.
Our entire maintenance staff, as well as our Clubhouse staff, really enjoyed creating, setting up, and having this tournament. We look forward to growing it each year and adding new things each year to make it as fun for the golfers as it is for us. Any and all feedback is always welcome! I hope you will come out and join us next year for this fun event and check out the unique set-up of the golf course.