How I'm (Stupidly) Spending My Saturday Morning

This is one of those things that I said "yes" to, but immediately started regretting.  As an early Father's Day outing, my dad asked if I would play in a golf tournament at Southern Hills.  He's a member up there so we've played the course countless times and have even entered and won (at least finished in the money) a few handicapped tournaments.  It's a beautiful track... but very tedious, long and can give you a headache on most days.  Whatever... always good to spend time with pops.

Not so fast...

1. It's at 9:30am so we're leaving at 7:15am.  I'm one of the worst morning people on the planet (other than my girlfriend).
2. It's a full handicapped 2-man Best Ball format.  People always confuse "best ball" with "scramble." I don't blame them because the names aren't intuitive... but "scramble" is what we play in DPT Golf.  Everyone hits, you pick the best shot and hit from there.  "Best ball" is really "best score."  Everyone plays their own ball... you put the lowest score on the card.  So I'll actually have my own personal score for the round.
3. It's from the tips.

So issue #3 shouldn't really be a big deal, until you realize that Southern Hills is 7,557 yards with elevations from 60-250 feet. Whenever I play there I always laugh at how far back (and down) the tips are from the blue tees. So how long is 7,557 yards? Let's look at a handful of the most famous courses on the PGA Tour this year:

Congressional County Club (US Open) - 7,574
Atlanta Athletic Club (PGA Championship) - 7,467
Augusta National (The Masters) - 7,435
Firestone CC - 7,400
Bay Hill - 7,381
Innisbrook (Copperhead, here in Tampa) - 7,340
TPC Doral (Blue Monster) - 7,266
TPC Scottsdale - 7,216
TPC Sawgrass - 7,215
Royal St. George (British Open) - 7,106
Pebble Beach - 6,816

So of that list, which includes all four Majors this year, only the US Open (being played this weekend) is longer. And yes, I realize "longer" does not always mean "harder."  The slope tells you the difficulty of a course, and I'll post about that next time.  But "longer" is an issue for me since I've developed the yips over the past few weeks and can't hit a drive more than 150 yards.

Here are some course highlights:
#3 - Par 3 - 238 yards - Massive green with crazy ridges in it.  Anywhere you land is 4-putt zone.
#6 - Par 4 - 478 yards - Tee shot is all up-hill. I rarely get there in two from the blues.
#7 - Par 5 - 618 yards - Tee shot is probably uphill 75 feet.  Second shot goes downhill over 100 feet.
#11 - Par 4 - 491 yards - Probably a 200 yard carry over a hazard and tee boxes to find the fairway. No way I finish this hole.
#14 - Par 4 - 507 yards - Now this is just stupid.
#18 - Par 4 - 481 yards - Tiny elevated green which is impossible to hit with the 3-wood I'll be using on my 3rd shot.

So anyway, there is no "max" per hole in this tournament.  I might have to pick up a few times, but we'll see.  Start taking bets now on what I shoot.  I'm also pretty sure I can get anyone from DPT up there for $35 this summer.  We don't have to play the tips, so just let me know.