This tournament is always a nice change of pace because priorities for the condition of the course are much different than most male dominated events.  Nobody is expecting or wants greens to be rolling 12 on the stimp meter.  They don't expect the course to be so dry, it is near death, making playing conditions more difficult.  They want an enjoyable round on a well kept and well decorated course.

I learned this lesson the hard way during my first Ladies Invitational.  I double cut and rolled the greens and spent more time on creating tough conditions than polishing the place for all the guests.  Next time around, I understood what was expected.  We focused on presentation and tried to make a few special spots throughout the course.  The members really are the ones who deserve the credit, spending many hours decorating the course to match the event's theme.

This year, the tournament followed a nautical theme with small sailboats as tee markers, the proshop looking like some kind of fancy golf marina, and even hand-sewn flags strung onto the flagsticks. 


I really wanted to get a few sailboats to float in the lakes and maybe one to park on the driving range tee, but I never got it done.  However, we were able to make our own with halfway decent results.