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The golf ball trophy.

In the early 1990s Rob Simpson and I started playing golf at the Burnie golf course. Very poorly. One of us had an idea that we should play a 9-hole match-play for a trophy. So we drilled a hole in a near-new Titleist ball and screwed in an eyelet and chain. We swapped the ball over from bag to bag as each of us won a match. Simo gave golf away after a few years.
In the early 2000s, with Tim still in his teens, my son and I began playing match-play for the resurrected trophy ball. If the match is drawn, the ball remains on the bag of the holder. Either of us must win a match to take the ball off the other’s bag.
Over the years Tim has had to surrender some strokes to his Dad to make the match-play competitive. It started with three. Before each game it is Tim’s prerogative to select which three holes I received an extra shot on. After a time, it went out to four. And then we decided that if either of us won eight consecutive matches a single shot would be added or subtracted from the strokes conceded.
In 2020, Tim surrenders six shots to me. He no longer nominates the holes I receive those shots on, the holes are 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 9th regardless of front or back 9 or which golf course. This is not an absolute rule though; Tim reserves the option to nominate any holes as long as it’s before the first tee shot.
Rick.