Dog Days of Summer Golf Tournament

Carol Mihal

It was a record hot summer at SaddleBrooke Ranch! With this as inspiration, one of our lady golfers, Jean Cheszek, created an eight week, Saturdays only, team golf tournament called “The Dog Days of Summer,” and boy oh boy, or rather, girl oh girl, it was a crazy fun tournament!

With 43 lady golfers signed up to play, six teams were created with seven or eight golfers per team with equalized handicaps. Each team had to determine their team name—we ended up with Muddy Paws, Bow Wow Babes, Chicas Calientes, Birdie Dogs, Par Tee Dogs, and Hottie Dogs. Three unbiased judges determined the best names, with Birdie Dogs taking first place (two points) and Bow Wow Babes getting second place (one point)! The competition had begun!

Every Saturday for eight weeks (July 25 through Sept. 12), a new team game would be played where teams would earn points based on their scoring that week. Teammates were mostly separated each week, until the final week when teammates played together.

Some of the games played were “2 Dogs & a Treat” (2 best net scores per hole, and a treat for a third birdie), a 2-week “Best Dog Ringer” game (net ringer per hole), and “Seeing Eye Dog” (or Blind Nine), and “Hot Diggity Dog” (best 3, 2, and 1 score on various holes). Extra points were awarded on par-3 holes for “Closer than a Collie” (within 1 putter length) which was extended to “Closer than a St. Bernard” (within 2 putter lengths)! Every Saturday evening Jean would send a recap of the day’s game, she’d highlight the hottest players on each team, and post an updated list of standings on the tournament.

On Sept. 4, all teams competed in a golf cart decorating competition! Everyone did an incredible job! Did I mention that this was fun? A large group of unbiased judges (mostly from the tennis club) did the judging, and all teams won points depending on where they ranked.

The final week of golf competition was Sept. 12, with a golf “scramble” and all teams playing with their teammates. After golf, all players gathered while social distancing, at the SBR Ranch House Patio, to wait for a final tally of the scoring.

With all results calculated, the team that was deemed to be Top Dog was the Chicas Calientes! They did a happy dance together to celebrate!

Everyone enjoyed this very special and extraordinarily fun tournament which Jean Cheszek created and coordinated. Each player happily contributed to a gift card for Jean to show our great appreciation, which was presented along with the reading of a poem written by Beth Chamberlin.