Ladies and gentlemen,

Buckle up. I’ve got a BIG one for you today. You may not have known, but I got to play in my first golf tournament last weekend. A “friendly” one you could say, though not without its jousts.

16 guys with Nashville ties came together for a 3-round, multi-format tournament across our favorite Nashville public courses.

Thursday night was draft night. On the menu were some of the juiciest pork chops I’ve ever eaten, some roasted carrots, a nice little salad, and a bunch of other grub from resident chef and draft night host, Owen McCallum.

We split up into two teams, Big Dawgs versus Harpeth Thrills. Here were the rosters:

TEAM BIG DAWGS

Garrison Price
Ross Brown
Owen McCallum
Walker Tuten
Jack Singley
Chandler Reagan
Dean Dahlsten
Luke Mangan

TEAM HARPETH THRILLS

Sam Tuten
Will Patterson
Christian Barrett (Friday) / Austin Cain (Sat/Sun)
Logan Lawson
Will Keeler
Mac McGuffy
Conner Sibley
Josh Wehner

I was one of the last picks for the big dawgs, and I was thankful to be on their team — not because I thought we were the better golfers (I did), but because I knew these guys a little better. For vibes alone, I was happy to be where I was. Did it pan out? Read on…

Let me preface by saying that I write this from the perspective of a Big Dawg team member, and I may write with a LITTLE bias, though I hope to capture the sentiment of the collective group.

Shall we? Let’s begin.

We got started with a Friday afternoon shamble — Scramble off the tee, then take the best ball from there.

It was match play, so each tee time had a 2v2 going. The pairings were as follows:

Big Dawgs on left, Harpeth Thrills on right.

Group 1: Ross Brown/Dean Dahlsten VS. Will Patterson/Conner Sibley
Group 2: Walker Tuten/Chandler Reagan VS. Mac McGuffy/Logan Lawson
Group 3: Garrison Price/Luke Mangan VS. Will Keeler/Christian Barrett
Group 4: Owen McCallum/Jack Singley VS. Sam Tuten/Josh Wehner

I don’t have all the information, and there’s always more to every match than meets the eye, but here’s how things ended after day 1.

Willy P and Conner Sibley played ball out there. Apparently were 7-under through 9 and 9-under through 14, which is about where things ended for Ross and Dean. 1 point to Harpeth Thrills.

Sounds like McGuffy and Lawson were handing it to the big dawgs most of the round, but Walk and Chan fought back to even things up on 17, and kept things even for a push on 18 and a point split for the round. 0.5 points for each team.

Garrison and I felt like we had had it the whole time, but found ourselves down two holes after 13. Clawed our way back to even it up on the 16th. We pushed 17 with two big pars from me and my opposition, Will Keeler.

We used Garrison’s ball off the tee on 18, from which he gave himself a birdie putt with a beautiful wedge in. I hit mine into a tree, which fell about 30 yards short of the pin, just off the green. Lucky for us, neither Christian or Keeler found the green. I chipped to about 3 feet for par (praise God for the best up and down of my life), which all but sealed it unless they could make a major putt. They did not, and Garrison and I both knocked in par putts for good measure. 1 point to Big Dawgs.

It seems Jack and Owen were down and out. Down 2 with 3 to go I believe. Tuten and Wehner (Weens) playing great. But the big dawgs won 2 holes in a row to even things up just before stepping onto the 18th tee box.

What dreams are made of, in case you were wondering.

Sam and Josh give themselves a couple long (but makable) putts for Birdie. Jack chunks his approach in untimely fashion, while we do our best to keep his spirits up (it didn’t work). Owen sends his approach just a few feet long of the green, giving him the choice to chip or putt. He chirps a bit, announcing that he’s not even bringing his putter out, alluding to his assumed hole-out from 20 feet. He opts for his wedge… to the Big Dawg’s demise.

Jack, being out of position, taps in for bogey, leaving it to Owen to make par and push. Owen needed to place the ball about 10 feet from the cup and let it roll, but instead, he chips the ball to about hole high, and the ball doesn’t stop before rolling another 15 feet past the hole. He scoots it up there, but can’t find the hole for par. He taps in for bogey.

Josh gets in for bogey, so it’s up to Sam. Par wins it. Sam rolls his birdie putt up the hill, but leaves it about 5 feet short — no gimme to win the match. With everyone watching, and the deciding day-1 point on the line, Sam knocks it in.

Harpeth Thrills get the point and go up 1 after day 1.

Group 1: Ross Brown/Dean Dahlston VS. Will Patterson/Conner Sibley
Group 2: Walker Tuten/Chandler Reagan VS. Mac McGuffy/Logan Lawson
Group 3: Garrison Price/Luke Mangan VS. Will Keeler/Christian Barrett
Group 4: Owen McCallum/Jack Singley VS. Sam Tuten/Josh Wehner

We took our talents west of the city to Greystone Golf Club — gorgeous place. Rolling hills, rock formations, mountains in the distance. Classic Tennessee beauty.

With best ball waterfall, you take the best score of your team, but if your best score is the same as the other team’s best score, you then compare the scores from the other guys. So every stroke matters. Here’s who matched up:

Group 1: Walker/Dean VS. Sam/Mac
Group 2: Jack/Luke VS. Austin/Conner
Group 3: Chandler/Owen VS. Logan/Weens
Group 4: Garrison/Ross VS. Willy P/ Will Keeler

I feel like I know a little less about this round than I did about the first. It seems Sam and Mac had their way despite the fact that Walker and Dean didn’t play too bad. First point of the day goes to Harpeth Thrills.

Jack and I trailed by as much as 4 holes, went dormie after 14, but won 15, 16, and 17 (with a gutsy 20+ foot birdie putt from Jack) to bring it within 1 and give ourselves a chance to push the entire round.

Jack shot an 89, I shot a 90. Neither played too poorly, but Austin Cain pulled some great stuff out of his bag and shot an 85. They took us on the final hole to win by 2. Another point to Harpeth Thrills.

This is where things got a bit off the rails…

Chandler and Owen were up 3 with 4 remaining if I remember correctly. Then Logan and Weens just win, win, win on 15-17 to knot it up before the 18th hole. Logan got an extra stroke on 18 due to the handicaps they were playing, and gave himself a par putt, playing like a birdie putt. He was close to 30 feet out, and just missed to the right of the hole.

The mulligan: each player had one mulligan they could use on any stroke throughout the round. As things stood, they were going to push the hole, but Logan had his mulligan in that back pocket. He saved it for the perfect time.

He lines back up for the putt, absolutely smokes it into the back of the cup. I’m telling you, had it missed the cup, he may have had an 8 footer coming back. DIDN’T MATTER. SUNK. Harpeth Thrills win the hole as his 4 (playing 3) beat out Owen’s 4. Harpeth Thrills +3 on the day.

Weens (a 15 handicap mind you) shot a 78 on the day. Something smells a liiiiiittle fishy if you ask me. I MEAN NO HARM, WEENS. I MEAN NO HARM.

Final Match of the day: Garrison and Ross had the Wills most of the round, but in similar fashion to some of these others, I believe it got knotted up just before 18. I think everyone popped on this hole but Ross.

Garrison went OB and had to drop just out of the woods in the left rough. No problem, sent his 3-wood to about 15 feet. Ross gave himself a birdie putt, which he sunk from about 20 feet out — GUTSY. He needed it too, because Willy P knocked in a big time par putt that actually played as a birdie.

Unfortunately for the thrills, Keeler found the green a little late, and knocked in for double bogey, which was bested by Garrison’s sneaky bogey. 1 point to the Big Dawgs.

Group 1: Walker/Dean VS. Sam/Mac
Group 2: Jack/Luke VS. Austin/Conner
Group 3: Chandler/Owen VS. Logan/Weens
Group 4: Garrison/Ross VS. Willy P/Will Keeler

Final tally after 2 rounds:

Big Dawgs: 2.5
Harpeth Thrills: 5.5

Need 8.5 points to win, with 8 points available in the final round.

It all came down to this. COULD THE BIG DAWGS BE THE BIG DAWGS THEY SAID THEY WERE?? Matchups were as follows, with the winners highlighted:

Match 1: Owen McCallum VS. Will Patterson
Match 2: Dean Dahlston VS. Mac McGuffy
Match 3: Jack Singley VS. Logan Lawson
Match 4: Walker Tuten VS. Will Keeler
Match 5: Chandler Reagan VS. Conner Sibley
Match 6: Ross Brown VS. Sam Tuten
Match 7: Garrison Price VS. Austin Cain
Match 8: Luke Mangan VS. Josh Wehner

I should simply find the tallest bridge or mountain or building, and drop my putter right off. Bye bye mr. putter. So long and good riddance!

Let it be known that Captain Garrison had some choice words for Captain Sam for electing not to face off in the final. A sign of weakness, a sign of fear Garrison might argue. Alas, it paid off for them.

Ross vs. Sam was the only match left undecided when a lightening delay ended our round short. Though it sounds like Sam was out of position off the tee, and Ross is that guy (Big Dawg bias coming out my b), we will consider it a push for the purposes of this recap.

As you can see, with the Big Dawgs on the left, Harpeth Thrills on the right, the Big Dawgs were not in fact who we said we were, who we thought we were, or who we really believed we could be.

Or maybe… just maybe… the Harpeth Thrills really just had the dawg in them that we thought we had in us... and it pains me to say it.

This is the 4th annual Muni Masters, so some of these guys have some good data at this point.

TEAM BIG DAWGS

Garrison Price: 2-1 this week (4-8 overall)
Ross Brown: 1.5-1.5 this week (2.5-2.5 overall)
Owen McCallum: 0-3 this week (4-5 total)
Walker Tuten: 1.5-1.5 this week (5.5-3.5 total)
Jack Singley: 1-2 this week (8-3 total)
Chandler Reagan: 1.5-1.5 this week (4.5-4.5 total)
Dean Dahlston: 0-3 this week (1.5-4.5 total)
Luke Mangan: 1-2 this week (1-2 total)

TEAM HARPETH THRILLS

Sam Tuten: 2.5-0.5 this week (6.5-5.5 total)
Will Patterson: 2-1 this week (5-4 total)
Christian Barrett: 0-1 this week (0-1 total)
Austin Cain: 2-0 this week (5-1 total)
Logan Lawson: 1.5-1.5 this week (6.5-5.5 total)
Will Keeler: 0-3 this week (3-6 total)
Mac McGuffy: 2.5-0.5 this week (5.5-3.5 total)
Conner Sibley: 2-1 this week (4-4 total)
Josh Wehner: 3-0 this week (4-2 total)

Most Valuable Player: Josh Wehner
Most Disappointing Player: Nah I’m kidding guys I wouldn’t do that……….. but seriously a lot of Big Dawgs disappointed, me included.

Let it also be known (just for the record and for something to bring up years down the line to ruffle feathers) — Big Dawgs had a few fits about Austin Cain’s and Josh Wehner’s handicaps. They played VERY well for 14 and 15 handicaps… almost as if… they shouldn’t have been 14 and 15 handicaps…

NEITHER HERE NOR THERE, NO EXCUSES, JUST HAD TO BE SAID.

Also nothing against Austin and Josh, I literally love them. Good work, Thrills.

So I feel like I should mention some of the other fun we had.

Burgers at Tennessee Brew Works blew my socks off, but Will Patterson basically said… ehhh, my smashburgers are better.

To which Walker Tuten responded, “I’ve had your burgers. I’ll take TBW every day of the week.”

To which Will responded, “NO NO NO YOU HAVEN’T HAD MY SMASHBURGER THAT WAS A FROZEN COSTCO PATTY YOU’VE NEVER HAD MY SMASHBURGERS I PROMISE.”

Which was all really fun for everyone.

In Town golf/social club — this is about as boujee as it gets when it comes to your hybrid work/social/food/drink/golf spot. 10ish trackman simulators, full kitchen, full bar, tons of lounge space. FANTASTIC VIBE all around.

Special thank you to LC Wallace for hosting us.

Skinny Dennis — not the whole crew, but a good crew went out to hear some classic country tunes and get a little jig on. Nothing wrong with 8 men in one corner of the dance floor getting loose. Only one of us had our significant other in attendance, so it was really just our motley crew stomping around in a circle. Sue us!

Midnight Oil Post Muni Masters — I had to get on the road, so I missed this, but it sounds like the guys and their brides went for some pizza. ALL GOOD STUFF THIS WEEKEND.

Congratulations to Harpeth Thrills and all their members for a job well done. Truly a spanking I’m sure I’ll be remembering for longer than I would hope.

All 16 of us share in the hope that Christ was glorified through fierce + friendly competition in community with one another, enjoying His creation, and rejoicing in His goodness. Didn’t see that coming did you, huh?

Less about the golf, more about the guys and our souls. Still about the golf a little bit though.

Next year is year 5. ALREADY ITCHING TO GET BACK.

Cheers,

Luke Mangan
On Golf