Swinging into Spring
Aaron Lykken, Manager – Academic Services & Technologies
Last Sunday TMMBA students, staff, and faculty gathered on the golf course for the 6th annual TMMBA Bettin Cup golf tournament. The tournament was started by a TMMBA student and was soon coined “the Bettin Cup” after Leadership lecturer and avid golfer, Pat Bettin. It should be noted that my use of the word tournament is used loosely, as this is more of a social outing than an intense and serious sports spectacle. More than half of the participants are relatively new golfers without much experience on the course, so this is where teams and the scramble format (each player takes a try at your best hit ball) comes into play.
Students arrived bright and early on Sunday morning for registration, meeting with their team, and warming up at the driving range. I was thoroughly impressed by the turnout this year, with almost half of the student population pushing aside their books and picking up their clubs to join in on a day of golf. They weren’t disappointed either, I couldn’t have scripted a better Spring day, with clear skies all day long and a high approaching 70 F!
After directions from myself and the course tournament director, our carts departed from the clubhouse and each team embarked on their mission to beat the course. The beauty of the tournament is not so much that you’re playing golf but it offers one of the single best networking/social opportunities in the program! While many wouldn’t consider this their primary reason for signing up, it turns out that playing on a team together is an absolutely fantastic way to bond with classmates. Personally I know that I’ve made some great connections with students who have teamed up with me in the past. While some of it can be attributed to being isolated for 5+ hours on a golf cart, I consider a large part of it to be the shared team experience of trying to beat the course and the classic commonality of the love/hate relationship with golf (doing good one moment, terrible the next). I was quite pleased with my team as I felt it was balanced well, with everyone contributing consistently each hole, which is important for both a balanced golf attack but also so that everyone feels a part of the team effort. My team started out the first 9 with a mix of bogeys and pars but really picked it up on the back 9, finishing with a respectable 4 over par.
After wrapping up hole #18, a very difficult par-3 surrounded by a lake, my team shook hands and joined the rest of the finishing teams at the clubhouse for our post tournament awards banquet. The group enjoyed a well-deserved Hawaiian luau buffet and later celebrated the accomplishments of the winners of the various competitions on the course such as the longest drive, closest to pin, lowest score, etc. The day was easily one of the best tournaments we’ve had, and as always one of my favorite events, only to be beaten by the TMMBA Alumni Golf Classic in August.
Check out the photos here.
Fore!!!
