THE SUN IS shining, the taxes are paid, temperatures are slowly inching upward and the North Olympic Peninsula golf season has started in earnest.
Demo days, commercial leagues, niners, 18-hole groups, benefit tournaments, all these are avenues available to play our favorite leisure sport.
The calendar is packed; let’s get to the events.
Port Ludlow demo days
Vito DeSantis, director of golf at Port Ludlow Golf Club, checked in with information on two upcoming demo days out at his course.
Nike Golf and Callaway will cross the Hood Canal Bridge to show off their 2011 lines at an appearance Friday.
Ping, Cleveland and Adams Golf will visit with their newest wares on Wednesday, April 27.
Demo hours for both days are from approximately 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Golfers who purchase $150 or more in equipment during either demo day will receive a free round of golf at Port Ludlow.
For more information, phone 360-437-0272.
DECA, then aerating
Sequim’s SkyRidge Golf Course will host the Port Angeles High School DECA marketing club’s third DECA Golf Scramble on Saturday.
The four-person scramble will begin with a 9:30 a.m. shotgun start.
Fees are $200 for a team or $50 per individual. The fee is $20 for high school students with an ASB card.
The tournament includes 18 holes of golf, range balls, prizes from local businesses and a mulligan table.
Golf carts are also available for $12.
DECA is a student-led organization that allows students to travel to conferences and competitions to demonstrate and expand their knowledge in the fields of marketing, business and entrepreneurship.
Proceeds from the tournament will go toward traveling competition expenses for Port Angeles DECA students.
To play in the DECA tournament, call SkyRidge at 360-683-3673.
If you can’t play, but would like to donate to DECA, contact Lora Brabant, Port Angeles DECA advisor and marketing teacher, at lbrabant@portangelesschools.org.
SkyRidge will go through the task of aerating or “punching” its greens on Monday.
The course will be closed Monday but will reopen on Tuesday morning with reduced green fees for the next several days.
I wrote about why courses undertake this process last year and here (tiny.cc/meyxs) is a USGA video on the process, if you want more information.
SunLand demos set
SunLand Golf & Country Club of Sequim will host its own demo days with Ping visiting from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday and Cobra in the Valley from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 30.
The ESPN Best Ball Challenge Sectional Qualifier also will be held at SunLand on April 30.
The two-player best ball event will include gross-net and senior-net divisions.
Cost is $52 per player.
Participants will receive 12 Callaway IZ golf balls and a one-year subscription to Golf Magazine.
A minimum of five teams will advance to the regional qualifier.
Foursomes that pay one extra entry will enter ESPN’s Triple Play contest, giving them three partners rather than one.
Players also will receive an extra dozen Callaway IZ balls.
For more information on the contest, visit www.espngolf.com.
The course is still offering its $25 winter rate on the weekends in April, a steal of a deal right there.
For more information on playing in the SunLand event, phone Tyler Sweet at 360-683- 6800.
Relay For Life tourney
Port Townsend Golf Club will host a four-person pick your team Relay For Life benefit tournament on April 30.
The tournament will begin with a 9 a.m. shotgun start.
Cost is $45 per player, with a $15 greens fee for nonmembers.
The price includes golf, lunch, a prize fund and a raffle entry.
Proceeds support the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life program.
Port Townsend also hosts all-day skins contests for 18 holes on Saturdays and nine holes on Thursdays.
Cost to enter the game is $10 plus green fees on Saturdays and reduced greens fees on Thursdays.
For more information on anything Port Townsend golf-related, phone 360-385-4547.
Lessons at Discovery
New PGA pro Mark Wurtz has started his spring tune-up clinics and will continue them through early May at Port Townsend’s Discovery Bay Golf Club.
The clinics are divided into both beginner and intermediate level with men’s and women’s sessions.
Each clinic involves two two-hour sessions, with a maximum of eight participants in each session.
Cost is $40 per person per clinic. Balls and equipment (if needed) are provided by Discovery Bay Golf Club.
Clinics will be held Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The first session will be devoted to developing short-game skills, with the second emphasizing the fundamentals of the golf swing.
If you’re interested in anything happening at Discovery Bay, phone the clubhouse at 360-385-0704.
Chimacum golfers
Better late than never, I present a look at the Chimacum High School boys golf team.
Through last week Chimacum was off to a hot start on the year, with a 4-1 overall record and a perfect mark in Nisqually League play.
Chimacum is led by two-time state participant Mason Moug, a senior.
Moug consistently shoots in the mid to upper 70s for 18 and does have the game to get to par or below par.
Overall, the Cowboys are youthful with sophomores Nathan Browning, Cole Lovekamp, Kevin Miller and freshman Riley Downs competing on varsity.
Chimacum High School will host the Port Ludlow Invitational on Tuesday.
The 10-team tournament will feature most of the teams on the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas competing in a Stableford format.
Chimacum head coach Mitch Black, in his 35th year at the helm of the team, will get some help in putting on the event from the Port Ludlow staff.
The public is welcome to come and watch play.
A shotgun start is set for 1:30 p.m.
A not so sweet 16
Pity poor Kevin Na.
The PGA Tour player ran afoul of what appeared to be a stand of mesquite trees — which are brush and thorny bushes — while playing the ninth hole at TPC San Antonio during the opening round of the Valero Texas Open last week.
He ended up carding a 16, the worse score on a par-4 since the PGA began modern record-keeping in 1983.
A deeper explanation of Na’s predicament can be found at tinyurl.com/3vs3djh.
You can follow a long shot-for-shot with him at tinyurl.com/5rttrxt.
Na was on a wireless microphone during the round, so his conversation with his caddie and the PGA Tour rules official is captured.
After finally making it back to the fairway, Na broke into an embarrassed gallows-humor like smile.
His caddie, looking none too pleased because his shot at a paycheck dwindled with each useless stroke, wanted to know how to figure out a total for the hole.
Thankfully, the Golf Channel tape was there for scorecard purposes and for “Kevin Na will forever be known as the guy who carded a 16” purposes.
Na was able to get three more birdies on his back nine to post the most memorable 80 in recent years on the tour.
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Michael Carman is the golf columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. He can be reached at 360-417-3527 or at pdngolf@gmail.com.