The Official Website of
The Southern Pines Invitational
and The Turtle.

Welcome to the Twenty Fifth Annual Golf Trip.

Our Silver Anniversary promises to be better than ever, with a special commemorative dinner planned for the Pine Needles Wine Cellar on Thursday evening. Other Anniversary activities may occur if anyone decides to do them. For an account of how it all began, go here.

In addition to being the Silver Anniversary, this year marks perhaps the start of a generational transition. Since the beginning, the organizers have hoped that the legacy of the Golf Trip would live on well past their time here, and be passed on to the next generation of Turtle hunters. Two of the charter members have begun that legacy, and will be teamed up with their sons in this year’s event. Abe “The Ghost” Wood will replace Nathan “The Assassin” Nash as partner to his dad, Michael “The Chairman” Wood. Carlton “The Gipper” Logue will stand in for Michael “The Hoser” Moser as Greg “The Loguemeister” Logue’s partner.

It is unlikely that The Ghost is ready to take over as Calcutta Chairman. The Gipper would be hard pressed to wrest the task of Tournament Director from the Loguemeister, at least for a few years. Nonetheless, with their early start as apprentices, it won’t be long until these youngsters are ready to transition into those duties. Kind of makes you feel old, doesn’t it? Now if we could just find a young web designer, statistician, photographer, archivist, and Orb editor.....

Returning this year seeking to reclaim the Turtle and the Templeton Cup will be Danny “Depot Stove” Pressley. After successfully completing the rehab stint that caused him to miss last year’s event, The Stove should be ready to go as Dennis “Wilford Brimley” McClane’s partner.

Mike “Grizzly Adams” King will be back to defend his 2014 Turtle in Absentia. His partner is the ever-steady Richard “The Envy” Matlock. Mark “Q-Ball” Kimmet, will be seeking his third Turtle in four years. His partner Randy “Cool Breeze” Gibson hopes to complete all four rounds after withdrawing last year due to the birth of a grandchild. The rest of the field consists of the old favorites, whose profiles may be viewed here on the updated player page.

Links to the essential tournament information are here: Initial Quotas Chart; Tournament Invitation; Tournament Rules; Calcutta Invitation; Calcutta Rules; Room Assignments; and Tee Times and Pairings.

After twenty five years, here’s to the start of the second generation of the Golf Trip.

--C. D.-- 4/5/2015