From marathon playoffs to different trophies, the Club Championship is always one of the most anticipated events of the summer. I spent 4 years at a private club just north of Boston and looking back at some of the highlights from those tournaments brought back some good memories.

We would alternate format every year between stroke play and match play for both the men’s and women’s championship as some players might be better suited for match play and vice versa. Our women’s bracket would be set to 16 after the qualifying round on Friday and in the first round of matches a few years back we had a 24 hole marathon match that stretched over a two day span. It was a back and forth match throughout and once we finished the 23rd hole, we made the decision to call it due to darkness. The two came back the next morning and the match ended on the first hole they played.

Each year we would try to change up the trophies that the winners would take home with them to remember such a special occasion and over the years we had some cool items. One of the fan favorites was the WWE style belt for both the men’s and women’s champions. We were able to customize a section of it with our club logo which was a nice added touch. For the match play years, once the tournament was completed, the winner would receive a custom wooden filled out bracket so they could reminisce on the path to the championship.

We had one member on the men’s side who was a multiple time Club Champion and was always eager to hit the age to be eligible for the Senior Club Championship so he could try to win both in the same year. We would often mess with him saying we are going to push the age back 5 years once he got close to keep this from happening but he eventually was eligible for both and sure enough came out victorious. It was a cool feat although the rest of the field in the senior championship was not thrilled!

The Club Championship was always one of my favorite events of the year as someone would have bragging rights for the next 12 month. It was always fun to see who could handle the pressure of a multiple day tournament and really see some competitiveness come out.