Darian Morsette, one of the lead coordinators of the tournament, had these words to say about the event:

“This is one of the stops. As MHA tourism, we promote the whole area. We promote all the segments, businesses, golf courses, sporting events, cultural dances. We’re encouraging visitors to come enjoy our area. It helps economically, too.”

From what this reporter can tell, the event was a rousing success. I got to the club house in the early afternoon and had the good fortune to run into Mr. Morsette himself, overlooking the burgeoning scene and beaming with pride at his handiwork come to life.

Besides the local crowd, this tournament attracted people from Minnesota, Montana, and other neighboring regions; “Twenty-five teams of four, we got a lot of people here,” was Mr. Morsette’s evaluation of the roster. As a reporter, I did my best to cover the entire event and capture only the best moments in photo so, after speaking to Darian, I hopped in a cart and sped off to find the action.

From the clubhouse I drove to the nearest par three directly south and watched golfers tee off and putt down the green. The teams must have been playing under Best Ball rules, as I witnessed each golfer swing, and only the best shot was recorded. Then each golfer would recover their ball and reconvene at the best ball’s resting position.

After snapping some photographs from this vantage point, I drove under that new road built for commercial semis, over to a par four just north of the new driving range where another big cluster of golfers were waiting for their turn to tee off. As each team finished their tee and peeled away to make room for the next batch, I snapped pictures and attempted to track each ball that went sailing, with a success rate of a little under fifty percent.

Everyone was in good spirits to varying degree as the sun shone overhead, and although wait times could get exacerbated by slow-progressing teams in the front, they couldn’t extinguish the fire of competition nor dampen the electric camaraderie.

From that par four, I drove east across the green to that tee off box that everyone knows about. That one particular tee box overlooking the pond, where so many balls (including mine on various occasions) have disappeared to never be seen again. There was no one at that tee box so I drove down to the trail’s low point, around the pond, to find at least three teams of women golfers teeing off and enjoying every minute of the day. So much so that, if I were not so strong of character and possessed of professional muster, I may have been swept up in the festivities myself. Luckily for you, the reader, I escaped mostly unscathed.

Darian Morsette and MHA/TAT Recreation have won a substantial victory with their first annual golf tournament. At least one hundred participants came this year, but who can say what will come in the following years: two hundred, three hundred in attendance. Surely, we will determine once and for all just how many can fit at the Edgewater Golf Course at New Town, North Dakota.