I love playoffs. I think every sport should have a playoff once the regular season is over. In golf, the PGA Tour has had some success with FedEx Cup playoffs and now the Champions Tour is following suit with the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs. The first event was here in SoCal, the Powershares QQQ Championship at Sherwood Country Club.
I have never been to or played at Sherwood but was eager to with memories of the "Showdown at Sherwood" stuck in my head (that great match between Tiger and Duval in their prime). I haven't had a chance to play it in person yet (which I hope to one day) but I figured a stroll around the course seeing some high end golf is just what the doctor ordered.
The Tourney:
First off, Powershares and Sherwood CC did a great job putting on this tournament. The volunteers were extremely friendly and there was a really laid back vibe to the whole proceedings. Sherwood is not the most walkable course with significant elevation gains and losses but the tournament put food and drink stations in the right areas and all the spectators had a good time.
The Course:
Sherwood is schizophrenic but in a charming way. The front side for the most part is flat and follows various parts of a lake set amongst old oak trees.
Don't let the front side fool you, there is no bombing the ball here as there are various washes and streams that bisect the fairway in multiple areas.
The backside has a crazy amount of elevation gain and losses, none felt more so than the par 3s. It seems that every par 3 on both the front and backside, you are hitting over a ravine to a green you would be lucky to get on in the best of conditions.
The par 4s and par 5s are no bargain either with forced carries for your tee shots and oak trips devilishly placed to catch an errant tee ball.
There are also a tremendous amount of rocks on the course which become boulder-sized starting on 9
Bonus Points:
Any time you get to hang out with Wayne Gretzky (member of Sherwood) to watch golf and to go into the pro shop and see Dustin Johnson's US Open trophy and bag, well you sir get bonus points!
Also bonus points should be added for the sweet tourney merchandise at Sherwood. Often tourney schwag isn't awesome but this time it was. My only regret is that I didn't pull the trigger on getting a Sherwood archer hat with the orange Powershares tourney logo on the side. Still thinking bout that hat as I write this ;).
Overall, the inaugural Powershares QQQ Championship got off to a great start and is being held at the fascinating Sherwood course. I will definitely be back again.
For more info on the tourney check out this link! http://www.pgatour.com/champions/tournaments/powershares-qqq-championship.html
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