Pumpkin Cup: Day 1, Star Fort Team - 5, Woodfin Ridge Team - 3

Star Fort Team Members Marie Pate (left)
& Ruth Glasl (right)  trying to grab the Pumpkin

Let me give you a little background on The Pumpkin Cup.  It's a 2-day, match play event.  The 2013 Pumpkin Cup is the 4th playing of the event.  Day 1 we play Captain's Choice in 2-women teams and Day 2 we play Best Ball, again in 2-women teams.  I've started lobbying for an expansion of the format to include a 9-hole singles match, but that's something for the future.

Pumpkin Cup Worries: My New Putter

Star Fort Pumpkin Cup 2012 Team

I've been deeply worried, in that secret, unspoken fashion that can disrupt my sleep and distract my attention from Hillary's comments on Washington dysfunction, about the wisdom of acquiring a new putter and trying to make friends with it 6 weeks before the Pumpkin Cup, which is an annual golf highlight in my life, right up there with my biennial matches with Wes.

Pumpkin Cup: Pre-Tournament Tensions

As the Pumpkin Cup approaches, tensions are building.  There's mild bickering and political maneuvering around the format: 2 18-hole matches vs 4 9-hole matches.  Will there or won't there be an alternate shots format?  And the ultimate point of contention: If we do singles matches, who will play Sandra, who's the closest to a scratch golfer?

Pumpkin Cup Fever

Barb @ Pumpkin Cup Planning Lunch

Some women just can't get enough golf!

Four years ago some women at Woodfin Ridge Golf Club decided they wanted one last golf tournament before everybody drifts away from the golf course and gets busy with Thanksgiving and Christmas.  They talked to some friends at Star Fort, who thought one final tournament was a fine idea.

Match Play: It's Not Over 'Til It's Over

For me, match play is fundamentally different from stroke play.  In stroke play, 2 bad holes can tilt the contest.  In match play, there are still 16 holes to be played, and they're all equally weighted.  And that's the essence of why I love match play.

The approaching Solheim Cup is probably (alongside the Ryder Cup) probably the most well-known match play tournament in golf, but match play is a format that easily engages golfers at all skill levels.  Still, the Solheim makes my heart beat faster.  At a deep and basic level, because I, too, have felt it, I understand and identify with the fierce rivalry that so engages Team USA and Team Europe in this biennial competition.

But match play isn't limited to the Solheim and Ryder Cups.  The format can frame golf rivalries and competitions at all levels of player skill.