Tally Whacker - In the beginning

Tally Whacker had its modest beginning in 1985, when 8 guys decided it would be fun to get together and go away to play golf and poker for the weekend. To make sure they were truly "getting away", the group decided to play at Alderbrook Golf and Country Club near Union on the Hood Canal. They all stayed at the Alderbrook Inn, ate at the Alderbrook Inn, and played cards in one of the Inn's banquet rooms (which was very generously donated). It was not long until the group began to grow - first to 12, then to 16, and it has continued on from there...

In the early days, someone was selected to bring new decks of cards, another person booked all the rooms, another might have to bring snacks, and another some "beverages". Since they were not allowed to bring coolers onto the course, they used to leave the back of a couple of vehicles open in the parking lot - stuffed with ice-cold drinks so the players could swing through the parking lot at the turn and re-supply their carts and bags after the first hard-fought nine holes.

At the end of the rounds on Sunday, they would meet in the club house and award all the prizes. Despite having played and played throughout the weekend, for some it was just not enough. After the tournament was over, the true zealots would head off to Gold Mountain Golf Complex, which offered a massive putting green. There they would putt for quarters until it became too dark to see; all the time consuming liquids which made it ever more difficult to hit a straight putt!

It wasn't until 1989 that they actually named the tournament the Tally Whacker and decided that a perpetual trophy was necessary. Prior to 1989, they had given out small trophies to the winning teams, and many prizes to the winners; but they did not have the world-class Grand Tally Whacker trophy that has existed for the past 17 years.

It was also about this time that fines became a trademark of the Tally Whacker. Players could be fined for anything from saying the wrong thing, to being 30 seconds late on the putting green, to forgetting to fulfill one of the requirements, to ...whatever... The money from the fines was used to feed the players after their round on Sunday, so the money always went to a good cause. The fines still exist today and, of course, they are heavier now than they used to be. All the money still goes to refreshments on Sunday, but everyone seems to want to eat and drink more.

Also around 1989, they began to build 5 or 6 hole putting courses to add to the activities. Each player had a chance to win prizes based on the number of putts required to navigate this course. Over the years, many obstacles have been used to run up the score. Some of the lasting themes have been the Lincoln Log hole, the Mariners hole, the Pig hole, the Plumbing hole, and the Lucky hole.

This led to the creation of the Grand Putter Whacker trophy which has been awarded since the early nineties. Unfortunately, at one point the winner of the trophy did not bring it back and, after some searching, it was decided that another trophy was necessary. One of our many supportive players stepped up to the plate and purchased the new trophy which has been awarded perpetually for many years.

	It took me seventeen years to get 3,000 hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course. - Babe Ruth