Greetings Golfers,

The summer edition of MINNESOTA GOLFER magazine arrived the other day. The cover was “ SEIZE THE SUMMER: Golf, Gaming and More Near Moose Lake”.

My Father-in-Law had a cabin up in Moose Lake and later retired there full time. So one summer while visiting, they talked me into playing in the Moose Lake Shortstop. Years ago, golf “shortstops” were a big deal and held at small town golf courses all over Minnesota.

Back then (way back then), I was young and cocky and thought winning the Moose Lake Shortstop would be a walk-in-the-park. Wrong. The locals had a lot of very good players, and other good players came over from The Range and Duluth. I was in for a big surprise.

The format was typical – play 18 holes on Saturday which would qualify you for your matchplay flight on Sunday. What amazed me was the Calcutta – held after the steak dinner on Saturday night. Those were the years of cigarette smoking and serious drinking. I could barely see through the haze as the emcee auctioned off the Championship flight. Some misguided, not-sober woman bought me for $2,000 … that was serious money.

The locals were fun and friendly and took me on the tour from the clubhouse to the Muni and then to a bar on Sand Lake. One of the golfers owned the bar so he kept it open all night as we imbibed and shot pool and partook in assorted craziness. Remember, I was young then.

Shortly after I got back to the cabin, I had to go to the course for my 6:30am match. They were only 9 hole matches, but on no sleep they were exhausting. If you kept winning, you would play in the final matches later in the afternoon. It was usually hot (August) and yours truly could barely walk. Adrenaline can only do so much.

Though most years I played in those late afternoon matches, I never won the Moose Lake Shortstop. Some of the losses were painful … but the memories are delightful. I was just up there for the 4th of July and ran into some old friends. In fact, I still see some of the guys around town and wish that we play golf.

Those were great times. I’m glad the MINNESOTA GOLFER magazine featured The Moose on its cover. They still host the shortstop every August … though it wasn’t mentioned in the article, I highly recommend it!

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
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