It’s a tradition unlike any other.
Move over Masters. It’s time for the 23rd annual Robert Trent Jones Shootout.
Yes. Our group’s tradition is probably a little different than Augusta, but it’s a tradition none-the-less. This week marks the 23rd straight year that my buddies and I head to Alabama to “compete” in what we have named the RTJ Shootout.
I am going to provide a bit of a play-by-play of today’s opening round in tomorrow’s LPJ and then will wrap it all up on Monday with the final results of this year’s event.
For those who have never heard of the Robert Trent Jones courses in Alabama, they are really great tracks, varying in levels of difficulty.
The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is a collection of championship caliber golf courses, designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., distributed across the state of Alabama, as part of investments by the Retirement Systems of Alabama. The Trail started with 378 holes at eight sites throughout the state, but has grown to 468 holes at eleven sites.
Our adventure to RTJ started as three guys playing a couple of days at Magnolia Grove in Mobile back in July of 1999 has turned into an annual trek to The Yellowhammer State for a hodgepodge of normally 16 hackers. The first three years we played for fun before turning into more of a competition with money and traveling trophy up for grabs in 2002. This year’s field includes 14 of us duffers, ranging in age from mid-30s to mid-60s.
We will play four rounds of golf in four days, including two rounds at the Crossings in Mobile and one round each at Azalea and Dogwood courses in Fairhope. We handicap our field based on scores from the past three years, using the top four rounds from those three years as a “guide.” The Charter Membership Committee comprised of Scott Walker, Mitch Spillers and myself massage those numbers to create what we feel is a fair playing field for everyone (but the defending champion … more to come on that).
We play for money but even more we play for Clinchy, a traveling trophy of a bronze golfer on a wooden base. We nicknamed him Clinchy years ago because he is in full swing and his gluteus maximus is clinched in his back swing. Over the years, Clinchy lost his club … must have thrown it in the lake after a bad shot.
The champion’s named is engraved on a small plaque on the base Clinchy each year along with the year, the winning scores, and the site of that year’s event. We have room for 32 plaques on the base, and this year we will add the 23rd John Hancock to the list.
This is more than just four rounds of golf with some buddies. It’s that on steroids to be honest.
There is an entry fee each year, and we pay the top three places each day and the top five places at the end of four rounds of golf. The winner of Thursday’s round is the Master’s Champion. The winner of Friday the US Open Champion. The winner of Saturday’s round is The Open Champion. And Sunday’s victor is the British Open Champion.
We hold a Calcutta (authored by Bob Burns) the night before the tournament starts which increases the pot (this is chump change to be honest; the IRS won’t be coming after us). If you aren’t familiar with a Calcutta, Google it. We started this three years ago, and it’s really been a fun addition to our trip.
One of the newer aspects of our competition is the Falcon Flight (authored by Brandon Norris). Following 36 holes of golf, the top 10 move on to the championship flight while the bottom four or five or six (depending on the year) compete against each other over the final 36 holes in the Falcon Flight. This allows the golfers who may not be in the running for a top 5 finish to still have something to compete for over the final two days.
Sunday also includes POD play (authored by yours truly). This was another side competition added in 2011 where PODS of four competitors based on handicaps play against each other over the final 18 holes. The best four handicap golfers are in POD1, followed by the next four in POD2, then the next four and so on. This is just another motivator for every competitor going into the final day, regardless of where you may sit in the overall standings.
In addition to the individual competition, we have a number of side team competitions. The Rolly Cup — named in honor of the late Reverend Rolly Walker — is our main team competition. The Rolly Cup began back in 2011, and most year’s it includes two teams of either 7 or 8 golfers (depending on how many are on the trip that year).
Mitch Spillers and myself have served as the team captains each year (Scott Walker has been the third team captain on year’s where we had 15 participants and went with three 5-person teams). Each of the first three rounds pits members of each team against each other (predetermined). We use stroke play to determine the winners of each match and after three days, whichever team won the majority of the 21 match-ups is the Rolly Cup Champions.
This year we are incorporating what we are calling the LIV Golf Competition (authored by Brandon Norris), pitting seven two-man teams determined by random drawing. Once again stroke play is involved, and following the first two days (36 holes) the top four teams will advance to Saturday’s round pitting Team 1 vs. Team 4 and Team 2 vs. Team 3. The winners of those two matches will then face off Sunday for the inaugural LIV Golf Championship match.
So how do we keep up with all of this? There is a lot of post-round math utilized and Microsoft Excel is my best friend. I am the keeper of the scores and results with help from my 318 roommates Brandon Norris, Ben Haddox and Andy Yepson.
I can tell you who won what event each year. How?
We have a 100-plus page full color media guide that is spiral bound and updated each year. My love for numbers and keeping a historical perspective on things led me to start keeping a very straight forward record of the year-by-year results 23 years ago.
Kyle Roberts took it over from me after a few years and created a little more enjoyable version before Scott Walker somehow became the publisher of it, turning it into something that you would have to see to believe. The media guide includes bios on each competitor with all of their historical results, including titles, scoring average, money earnings, POD wins, Rolly Cup records, etc.
The cover of the media guide (see below) each year includes a photo of the previous year’s champion holding Clinchy with a message from said champion on the inside back cover.
If you know of someone who competes in the RTJ, ask them to see their RTJ Shootout media guide. It’s a perfect illustration of how ridiculously fun and quirky we have made this trip over the past two-plus decades.
As the defending champion (my friends will give me a hard time for including that fact in this column), I have very little chance to win this year. We have never had a repeat champion. Why? We basically cut the defending champions handicap by 40 to 50 percent the following year, and no one has ever been able to overcome that challenge.
We tee off this morning at 9 a.m. on the Azalea Course in Fairhope. It’s the start of the individual competition and it’s the start of both the Rolly Cup play and the LIV Challenge. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s LPJ for an update of Day 1 of the 2024 RTJ Shootout.
It may not be the Masters, but it is a tradition unlike any other.
