THE COURSE
SHORT
& SWEET
I
Oak Creek's par-3 event prior to
the Masters was a huge success
rvine is a long way from Augusta, Georgia, but last month, Oak Creek brought
a slice of Augusta National to its course:
a par-3 tournament on the Wednesday before the Masters. And though it began as
TO
a salute to the Masters' own par-3 tourBOOK YOUR
nament, the unexpected success of
Oak Creek's means it will now have its OWN PAR-3 EVENT,
CALL (949) 653own annual tradition.
5304.
A total of 65 participants
"It was a tip of the cap to the Maspaid $65 ($55 for Players Club
ters," said Rob Tanaka, Director of Golf Opmembers) to play the front nine, teeing off
erations. "It was something we came up
with that we thought would be fun and dif- at 4:30 p.m. No hole was longer than 120
yards.
ferent. Our expectations really weren't that
The feedback was so positive that the
high. We only announced it a couple of
course is considering staging other par-3
weeks ahead, but we sold out. The interest
really snowballed. And now, we're going to events in the future, along with its Wednesday before the Masters event.
do it every year."
As with all the holes on the front nine, the
par-4 seventh was converted to a par 3.
Tanaka also thinks that the format is
something businesses may want to consider.
"I think a par-3 event would be ideal for a
small corporate outing," he said. "Our first
one only took about 90 minutes, it evens the
playing field since you don't have to drive
the ball, and it's more collegial, since golfers
aren't looking for lost balls they can spend
more time with each other as a group."
CLICK FOR A VIRTUAL COURSE TOUR • CLICK FOR INFORMATION ON GROUP OUTINGS
