Solstice Survival golf tourneys: Boston vs. Philly

I have now completed the second of eight GolfStyles Solstice Survival tournaments, this time at Ravens Claw Golf Club in the Philadelphia suburb of Pottstown. The 54-hole, stroke play event had 116 players and was completed in about 13 hours. The cool weather made the event run more smoothly - when I arrived at 3:30 in the morning to set up for registration, it was about 45 degrees. I don’t think it ever got over 75 on June 14, which is weird weather for this time of the year.

Here’s my observation, based solely on the 250 or so people I’ve encountered since I ventured to this area of the country: Boston guys are a different breed than Philly guys.

At the first Solstice Survival at the International, it was like pandemonium at the sign-in. Guys were loud, laughing, cracking beers before 6 a.m. They treated the ultra-long golf marathon as a vacation day, and they were raring to party when it was all said and done.

In Philadelphia, it was a lot more low key. The players came in, ate breakfast, headed to their hole assignments and played it like it was a tournament. We put three kegs on the course during the event, and at both, all three were drained. But it had more of an effect in Boston. Things never seemed to wild or inebriated in Philadelphia. For whatever that’s worth.

Finally, one last thing. I’ve been in Baltimore, Washington D.C., Boston and Philadelphia in the last week and I have never heard so many freakin’ Billy Joel songs in all my life. You know when you’re in an unfamiliar place and you don’t know any of the radio stations, so you just scan? Every 10 minutes, another Billy Joel song. Yesterday at Raven’s Claw in the clubhouse, I heard at least four Billy Joel songs. I like “The Stranger” and a couple other early albums, but I draw the line at “Uptown Girl.”