Bar Golf Champion!!!

July 2nd, 2006 shall go down in history as the first annual Bar Golf Tournament held in Harrisonburg, VA. In recognition of Dave Moore turning 30 on July 6th, 2006 a tournament of wills and strong livers was held to determine who had the stamina to make it through 8 bars and over 9 hours of drinking. The official score card can be found on my website under spreadsheets. I may attempt to finish scoring as I was knocked out of commission sometime around the 6th bar.

The first tee was at Outback Steakhouse at 4 p.m., an old stomping ground for many of us, and the place where friendships/relationships were forged for most of us. The par was only 1 so it was easily achieved, however Kenny Close made a bold move to start the day off with a long drive using his Liquid Cocaine 3 wood. Brian Cassidy and Steve Luttrell were not to be outdone and quickly followed suit. The leader board read pretty evenly with most of us getting 1 under par.

Following Outback the group move north to Hams, previously The Biltmore, to face a new challenge... no bathroom breaks. Most participants felt the pinch of not being able to use the restroom almost instantly. This, however, was easily overcome as the rules clearly state that bathroom breaks are permitted when not using your gender specific rooms. Katie Mullqueen, Steve Luttrell, David Moore, Brian Cassidy, and Curtis Lupton made a strategic play to use the opposite sex bathroom and have an additional drink to put them at one under par for the hole.

Moving east the 14 some made their way to The Pub, previously Alstons, where a "rain" delay kept the group from making any progress. All attempts to Tee off from the Pub were thwarted so an auxiliary hole was established and the move was made to go and tee off from Jalisco's. There everyone enjoyed a much needed bathroom break, chips, salsa, and cole slaw?? Katie and Curtis made a push to try and subtract some strokes from their score by doing some challenges, but in the end Katie was the only one able to push ahead as all golfers wrapped their head in napkins countering Curtis' challenge.

Now needing to travel by golf cart across town to BW3s the group speedily made their way to the fourth hole. There all participants worked diligently to achieve par 2 on this long dog leg left hole. B52 challenges were taken by several players and a quick departure was made to downtown Harrisonburg for a long Par 3 at Dave's Taverna.

Here at Dave's it was clear that conservative play was showing to be the best strategy as the weary and drunk group was beginning to feel the strain of such a long day. Many of us were falling behind in pace, but others were make a strong push to finish the night and make it to the last green. In the hazy memory of this commentator and participant, I can not say with clear conviction what happened there. I believe I had 2 beers but I can't say for sure. I can't say for sure either if a challenge was taken or not. It may require the entire groups collective memory to piece together what happend.

Regardless of what happened at Dave's we pressed onward to the Artful Dodger and made short work of a well needed Par 1. Now approaching 10:30 p.m and 6.5 hours of play time I had begun to lose track of what most people were doing and was concentrating on not falling over or losing my stomach. Past the Dodger we moved to Calhoun's were I used the opportunity to drink water and regain some composure.

Needless to say I did not regain my composure and retired that evening well over par for the day at the last green, Finnigan's Cove. I think there is some debate as to who actually succeeded and won the tournament. It is in my opinion that either Brian Cassidy or Kenny Close won, but I really can't say for sure. I do have to say though it was impressive to see so many people participate and make it to the end whether or not they achieved par or not. Final play time ended around 12:45 a.m., adding up to approximately 9 hours of offical playing time.