Mini Golf Masters Cape Cod

Author’s Note: A few weeks back- when Tiger Woods was mounting epic comebacks at The British Open and PGA Championship — I found myself staring in unexpected excitement at the leaderboard. As we all know, Tiger’s overdue comeback eventually fell short, most recently to Mr. Rock Steady Brooks Koepka. The excitement of climbing the leaderboard didn’t just stay with me watching those tournaments, but sparked a decades old memory of my own race to the top.

 
About 20 years ago, “Bogey Brother” Dan (a reference to our usual per-hole golf score) and I mimicked the chase for leaderboard supremacy, but on a sand bar rather than on a fairway. “Scoop golf” was the game; and we were both pretty good at the art of scooping (flinging) a paddleball off the sand towards a hole (with a flag) anywhere from 50 to 200 yards down and around the beach and/or sandbar as the tides dictated. The game enjoyed a strong following for two summers on Ridgevale Beach in Chatham, with the final tournament of the final season being most memorable.
 
The Ridgevale Scoop Golf Association (RSGA) Cup. First awarded in 1989, I won it in 1997 after winning 3/4 majors.

We all know the PGA Tour features four (or should I say “fore”) annual “major” tournaments (The Masters, The U.S. Open, The (British) Open and the PGA Championship). These are the events the scoop golf seasons mimicked, though we called them the Quarter Moon Open, Ridgevale Open, The Masters, and Farewell Tournament for reasons to be explained upon request. Additionally, professional golfers compete for the FedEx Cup, the trophy (and earnings) awarded to the winner of the tour. The scoop golf tour also had a cup dating back to 1989. Finally, another golf competition, the Ryder Cup, features the United States golfers squaring off against their European counterparts in the biennial match play tournament. We never played anyone from another country, but had that third season occurred, who knows. 

 
The 1997 Scoop Golf major tournament awards. Much to my wife’s chagrin, it’s times like these I’m happy I tend to save things!

Why all the background you may be asking; these are all important elements that describe a new competition on Cape Cod. Realizing summer was winding down, I felt the need for a dose of mini golf and another “lightbulb moment” occurred – to do a Mini Golf Masters Cape Cod!  

Other than catching a late afternoon or evening Cape Cod League Baseball game, the “mini golf then ice cream” combination is probably the favorite activity or night cap for most families – and many adults – during summer on the Cape. At last count, there are 20 mini golf courses on Cape Cod, including Martha’s Vineyard. Yarmouth, located on the mid-Cape, is “the home” of mini golf on Cape Cod, similar to Scotland being the home of golf. Admittedly, that is quite the comparison. Yet Yarmouth features four mini golf courses, three of which are consistently top picks or recommendations in every article or activity guide that mentions mini golf. So, yeah, it’s a big deal in the mini golf world.
The highest ranked mini golfers on Cape Cod!

This past Labor Day weekend seemed the ideal time to schedule the inaugral Mini Golf Masters Cape Cod. I first pitched the idea to “Frenemy” Matt (Frenemy Matt was mentioned in the cornhole boards post in June) and he was all in. Our better halves reluctunatntly agreed to tag along, though I’m sure the kid in them said heck yeah! After all, mini golf can be the great equalizer; but more likely because of the “ice cream to follow.” The scoring system was a point system, with the format a combination of stroke and match play. Like the scoop golf masters, this tournament would feature “majors.” The course selections were both nostolgic (Arnold’s in Eastham and Cape Escape in Orleans as they are the closest to where we live) as well as highly rated, such as Prirate’s Cove and Skull Island in Yarmouth.

Pirate’s Cove features two 18-hole courses: Captain’s and Blackbeard’s with pirate history on each hole.  We should have left Matt in the pillory.

The original idea was to pick a cloudy day and do it all at once. But Labor Day weather turned perfect, so golf was spread out over three days. On the first day, I did work in Yarmouth. Perhaps a little pirate runs through my blood, as I took care of business on Skull Island and Pirate’s Cove—Blackbeard course. I also just missed winning Pirate’s Cove – Captain’s course by a mere stroke. I also was on the winning side of team match play on every set of nine holes except one. After day one, I sat a top the leaderboard with 4 1/2 points, followed by Kate with 2 1/2 points, then Ellen and Matt with 1/2 point each. We added another Matt at Pirate’s Cove-Blackbeard and others were to join the following day.

The “log” and “bridge” hole at Arnold’s featured a delightful waterfall to soothe any tee box jitters.

But storm clouds approached as we headed east to the Outer Cape. First, the point system doubled and team match play ended. There was precedent for the points doubling in a recent golf tournament, as it gives everyone a chance to win even if they had a rough round or were just joining the competition. Since mini golf is meant to be fun, this must be the case. If you can hit into a waterfall, windmill or clown’s mouth, you should!

The shoddy leaderboard. We will do better next season.

On the second day, despite a field of seven, Matt owned Arnold’s in Eastham, winning the front, back and stroke play as well as just missing an even round by one stroke. The leaderboard was tied just like that at 4 1/2.

On the final day, I pulled into the parking lot of Cape Escape in Orleans with Jimmy Buffett playing on the golf course speakers. I smiled. This seemed like a sign from the mini golf gods as Matt hates Buffett (that’s not a typo). However, after a solid front 6 and up one stroke, the two level green of Hole 7, ironically named Chatham, sent my ball flying off a brick, off the course and the penalty shot ended up causing a 2 shot swing in favor of the bad guy. Front 9 lost with a bad bounce. It was suddenly 5 1/2 to 4 1/2 to 2 1/2.

As if the world turned upside down, another bad brick bounce happened on Hole 11 (Barnstable) and Matt gained another stroke leaving little room to make up three shots. I needed aces. With two holes to play, I cut the lead to 3, pretty much insurmountable…unless I aced and he had another “Matt Meltdown,” a playful term coined after his six at Pirate’s Cove-Captain’s course on the second hole. It was painfully comical to watch.
On Hole 17 (Martha’s Vineyard), I managed honors after winning the 16th and took a good long look at the break. The pace of my putt was near perfect, but the ball just grazed the right of the cup and missed. And on Hole 18 (Nantucket), a similar result; my ball came out of the waterfall and stopped a few inches from the left side of the hole. Another Matt win when points doubled and just like that, the inaugral mini golf masters was over.
The scorecards of the inaugural Mini Golf Masters Cape Cod.

Interestingly, after calculating all the scores for our shoddy leaderboard, I discovered an odd anomoly. I actually shot 4 strokes better than Matt. If not for the doubling of the points on the last two rounds (he won 4 points and another 4 points), those two round wins would have matched my two round wins (2 point each), leaving us tied at 4 1/2 points each! (The 1/2s were earned during team match play.) That would have been some way to kick off an inaugral competition. A tie! And what would a tie-break even look like? Play the last hole again? Play the course again? Play another, completely different course? Rock, Paper, Scissors? Hmm. How about using stroke play to break the tie? That would mean I would have won by 4 strokes. Hopefully there will be many more years of the Mini Golf Masters Cape Cod!

What Cape Cod mini golf courses should be part of the 2019 Mini Golf Masters Cape Cod?