Alternate Shot Golf

One of the few unfortunate parts of the PGA Tour golf season is that it’s spread out over the course of 11 months, where people get really excited for only four or five of those weeks. There’s always a long waiting period between the major tournaments, and an even longer wait during the fall and early spring. I guess that’s what football is for.

If your TV viewing strayed from the football laden channels last weekend, it might have spent some time watching late season golf in the form of the President’s Cup, a biannual match play competition between the United States and a team of international players not from Europe. If you watched at all, you likely didn’t stay long because the anti-climactic event was constantly halted by thunderstorms.

So it’s not very likely you saw much of the President’s Cup, but on the chance that you did, you witnessed my favorite type of golf game: the alternate shot. It provides a dynamic unlike any other two-man golf game, but at its core, is so similar to the golf we play every single day as individuals.

Alternate shot is played just like it sounds. Twosome teammates alternate shots as if they are one lone golfer. Player A hits the tee shots on all the odd-numbered holes and Player B does the same on the evens.

Why do I love it so much? Well, one reason is that it pairs the ever-smiling and even-tempered Matt Kuchar with an aging, pressing Tiger Woods. That duo went 3-1 in Dublin, Ohio, good enough to bring a wide smile to Woods’ always-stern face when they’re dropping birdies like a badminton expert.

More importantly, there’s no safety net like there is in a scramble. If you want to shoot a good score, you can’t bring along a hack because they’re going to be taking half the shots. Your long-driving, many-times-errant buddy is useless when you can’t predict which fairway (or fairway-lining house) they’re going to hit. Same goes for that friend of yours who can’t quite get out of the sand trap. You’ll probably end up joining them in there.

There’s also no inflation of scores as seen in a scramble. Every time you break 80, you’ve definitely earned it. Technically, you could set up a handicap with your teammate if this kind of game catches on with your foursome.

But while those reasons might make the alternate shot seem difficult, that team aspect is what makes it great, especially if competing against another twosome. That errant buddy or sand slave might be on the opposing squad, eternally keeping your team in the game, no matter what. Two golf games are morphed into one and each hole brings a new challenge; one you might normally never see yourself in.

When 18 is finished, depending of course on how it went, whoever let the team down buys an obligatory drink for his teammate. After that you can go watch football again.