Lakewood Country Club’s annual “Toughman Tournament” is back this year by popular demand. According to Lakewood’s head golf pro Curt Pritchard, many golfers were asking about the tournament and mentioning what a unique twist it was on the game of golf, so it will return for 2015.

On Saturday, Dec. 12 at 10 a.m., the event will get underway. The event features a four man team in captain’s choice or super-ball format, much like most golf tournaments around here.

The difference is, for this event, pin placements and course conditions will be set up in the most difficult way possible.

“Our crew always does a great job of making sure this place is playing very difficult,” said Pritchard. “The guys normally have the greens pretty quick, the cold and windy weather normally helps us out, and the big thing is the pin positions. On a normal day or for a normal tournament, these pins would be out of the question. They are put in such ridiculous places, but that’s the fun of this tournament.”

Pins may be placed on a slope where nothing around the hole is level. The most notable is always the pin on the par four 11th hole. The pin is always placed in the back-left part of the green, rarely more than two paces of the green. This leaves golfers putting the ball off the green, and down the huge hill off of the back of the green.

“The 11th green is crazy anyways,” said Pritchard. “You’ll see people have trouble putting on that green on a normal day because the grain and the undulation are going different ways. During the Toughman, people have been on the green in two shots, and making seven or eight on the hole.”

Typically, winners of a super-ball tournament will shoot something in the 50s. The past couple of years’ winners of this tourney have shot 69, so there is no doubt in the difference of difficulty.

For more information on this event, contact the pro shop at Lakewood Country Club. Participants can sign up on the door of the pro shop at LCC, or they can call the pro shop at 910-525-4424.

By Adam Capps

[email protected]

The tough pin on the ninth hole at Lakewood, just inches from the edge of the green. Pins are put in the hardest locations for Lakewood’s “Toughman Tournament.”
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_tough-man.jpgThe tough pin on the ninth hole at Lakewood, just inches from the edge of the green. Pins are put in the hardest locations for Lakewood’s “Toughman Tournament.”