The Shire's Bullroarer Golf Tournament

Growing food and eating it occupied most of their time.
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Chef
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"Old Took's great-grand-uncle Bullroarer ... was so huge (for a hobbit) that he could ride a horse. He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of the Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfimbul's head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit-hole, and in this way the battle was won and the game of Golf invented at the same moment." - The Hobbit, "An Unexpected Party"

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Nestled in the hills of Tuckborough, one of the more recent descendent of Bullroarer Took, Sandy, put it upon himself to reopen the golf course that Bullroarer's nephews used to play the game on. He got a little clever with the golf course, building snags and traps in hidden parts of the old course that rounded about many of the town's nearby hills. He then opened up a little stand just outside of the town where hobbits could sign up to play on the old-forgotten, 9-hole course.

If one were to look at the sign-up sheet he made, it stated:
"Name?
Preferred golf club type?
Please bring your own golf balls.
How well do you think you can play the game?"

This may seem a little unorthodox to most hobbits. However, he thought it did the trick!


Our Rules of the Game:
1. We will restart the first round of the golf game by this coming Saturday, October 2nd. (I live in the US). Please repost your last golf posts from the archive by this Saturday, and then continue to roleplay as a hobbit if you are not a hobbit on the Plaza.

2. Every hole will be introduced with a post that will talk about the weather, the landscape ahead of you, and the level of difficulty of the hole. As the game gets going, please post about your efforts to play the hole. Results of your efforts at each hole will be addressed by the following Saturday, at the latest.
3. Once you get your ball into the rabbit hole, you will be told your current score for the hole and for the course. You will then be sent on to the next hole. I will try to do this all in one post for everyone.
4. Have fun!

High Lord of Imladris
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Granny Appie Smith

Granny had heard that Sandy was up to something near the Bullroarers and she was going to find out what it was. After all she had some of her favourite Apple trees in that area, with their tart firm green apples that most people weren't terribly fond of (and honestly Granny wasn't fond of them either for eating they were terrible for eating but PIE making.... or crisps? Or tarts? Yes they were the best and she worked hard to make sure that her apple supply was safe. She shuffled down the road with her heavy wooden club headed cane, one tiny shuffling step at a time her back bent permanently from age and making far too many pies. When she saw a little stand she wrinkled up her nose in distaste, she was about to give him a piece of her mind about selling out her apples from under her when nobody else ever used them only to find that it was.

She was about to start yelling at Sandy when she started to read the paper. "GOLF?" Her hand shook with a mighty tremble that seemed to shake her entire body her bright eyes peering at Sandy from where he stood to the piece of paper with the quill to fill it out.

"I"VE NOT PLAYED GOLF IN NEAR 4 DECADES" She said rather loudly since she was basically as deaf as a stone, an unfortunate thing on a golf course if a shot went wayward but she was not going to be deterred. She picked up the quill and attempted to write down the required information.

Name? Appie Smith
Preferred golf club type? heavy
Please bring your own golf balls.
How well do you think you can play the game the old way right properly, this new fangled way who knows.

She looked at Sandy and licked her lips and handed in the ink smeared paper - it wasn't actually legible at all

"SONNY WHERE AM I SUPPOSE TO GET A PROPER GOBLIN HEAD?" She asked. She wasn't some young spring chicken that could go trotting out past Oatbarton and find a goblin to play golf with. "DO YOU HAVE GOBLINS ABOUT THAT I CAN GET A PROPER BALL?" She asked very very loudly.

Chef
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Sandy (NPC) had been going about from rabbit hole to rabbit hole when he noticed an elderly hobbit (Appie Smith) approaching the sign-up table he had set up next to two large apple trees. Sandy feared that the lady had some sort of admonishment to give him - perhaps about his table placement or the fact that he was doing this at all - and so he went up to her with his head hanging low. However, when he went up to her, he noticed that she had written on the sign-on sheet everything he had requested! This gave the hobbit a bit of a surprise before he made eye contact with her.

"Good morning, Ms. Smith!" he said in a suddenly high-pitched tone. He must have been a little nervous. Her screaming into his ear probably also contributed to his nervous response. "I would be delighted to have you try out the grounds today. I will admit you have a good point about where to get goblin heads for the Golf game. But I was thinking everyone really just needs a good-sized toy ball, not an actual goblin head. As a matter of fact, I make take care of the ball situation myself and go get them myself here in a few."

He then took the chair from behind his table and offered it to the lady. "If you would like to sit down for a bit, you may. Especially if I am going to head back to my sister-in-law's house to find a good number of sturdy, toy balls. I won't be long."

Orc Chieftain
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Elanor Starsley

As punishment for attempting to push a fellow hobbit lass off of a cliff because the boy she had a crush on was more interested in her than Elanor herself (who was much too young to be thinking of boys, but she did anyway), the young lass's Elders suggest she give the game of golf a try to pent up her frustrations there.

"But I've never played before!" Elanor complained, trying to weasel her way out of this particular "punishment". The young lass wasn't much a fan of any type of game, mostly because she was so obsessed with this older Hobbit boy that had absolutely no interest in her whatsoever (and wouldn't even known she existed if she hadn't pulled the stunt she did. Because of this, he refused to even talk to her, at least until she learned to "grow up" and handle rejection like an adult, rather than the premature child that she was, which caused young Elanor to vow revenge on him and any young lass that he even looked at).

"There's no better time to learn than now," one of her Elders explained (her parents often asked others in the neighborhood if they could help discipline young Elanor, since sometimes she was even too much for them to handle. After all, she was able to escape Krampus when he was after the naughty children in the neighborhood, so her parents were at a loss with how to try to discipline her next. Perhaps taking up a sport would be a better way to vent out her frustrations over the boy she had a crush on rejecting her, which didn't surprise Elanor's parents, since they found the boy to be much too old for their mischievous young Hobbit lass).

Elanor was told to seek out a relative of old Bullroarer Took, who was said to invent the game, to ask if he would mind if she joined in. "His name is Sandy," They told her, as they described what he looked like so that it saved Elanor the trouble of asking everyone else that was participating who this Sandy was and what he looked like.

"Do you mind if I join in?" young Elanor asked when she found Sandy, following her Elders description to the letter.

Name? Elanor Starsley
Preferred golf club type? The easiest, obviously, since Elanor's new to the game
Please bring your own golf balls. Ok.
How well do you think you can play the game? I guess we'll find out, won't we?
Last edited by Lady of Shadow on Tue Sep 28, 2021 4:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Arien
Arien
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Silas Hardwick

Silas loved games. Alas, he knew nothing about golf whatsoever. He had the vague idea that it involved hitting something, with something else… but not much more than that. Still, he would do the best he could with what he had; and what he had was a croquet mallet, salvaged from the Mathom House, and three good apples. He envisioned the apples being tapped very gently, bruising just enough to be sweet and edible; (after all, no hobbit would actually waste food). Thusly armed, he strode out happily to the field where the course had been set up.

“Dear me,” he thought to himself, alarmed, as he read the sheet, crinkling it in his long clever fingers. “These are quite the requirements…”

Name: Silas Hardwick
Preferred Golf Club Type: Open to all, I love inclusive clubs
Please bring your own golf balls: uhhh ok
How well do you think you can play: I’ll do my best sir, as always
cave anserem
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Black Númenórean
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Daisy was not normally a sneaky little lass, but being Tom’s younger sister did mean that sometimes his mischievous streak influenced her. Fortunately for her parents, so far she had not absorbed any of his brattiness; she did, however, sneak out to play in the meadows just a bit too far from home sometimes. Other times, she would get into her big sister Pearl’s stash of freshly-baked cookies and eat them all, falling asleep with her belly full amid a pile of crumbs on the kitchen floor. On this particular day, she had skipped out to play early in the morning before the sun had fully risen, kicking her favorite round leather ball around in circles through Bywater, laughing as she rushed through the morning dew on the grass and tumbling down hills with delight as the ball rolled on just out of her reach. In this manner, she made her way to Tookborough.

She was surprised to find herself near a small group of hobbits (New friends! she thought), who had gathered around a stand of some sort. One of them (Granny Appie Smith) was shouting rather loudly about something called “golf.” Daisy tilted her head curiously, picked up her ball, and approached the stand.

“Hullo!” she squeaked to them all. Older friends! she thought with enthusiasm. Tom was always trying to hang around bigger kids to make himself look tough and get into their tweenish troublemaking, and now it was her turn to make some more mature friends! She thought she recognized one of them (Silas) as a friend of Pearl’s.

“What’s golf? Is this a club I can join??” She addressed her questions to the gentlehobbit (Sandy) who was fielding the loud lady’s questions. Her eyes shone with eager delight. She stood on her toes to fill out the form as she’d seen the others do, spelling things as best she could.

Name: Daisy BrckHous
Preferred Golf Club Type: A fun one
Please bring your own golf balls: Yes plees
How well do you think you can play: Vary good
she/her | Esta tierra no es mía, soy de la nocheósfera.

New Soul
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~Violet Took~

Usually gossip ran round the Shire quicker than even the Messenger Service, but for once Violet didn't need to hear the news second-hand, instead her quick eyes caught sight of Sandy repairing the golf course on one of her rambles across the hills surrounding Tuckborough. Inquisitive and impatient as always she had been watching over the progress of the repairs with an eagle-eye, her nose almost pressed against the windows of the Great Smials when she couldn't be outside inspecting the work. Whilst everyone in the family, and even the Shire, knew the story of how her great-however many times-uncle had invented the game of golf, Violet couldn't remember the last time anyone had actually played on the course, and she was eager to try it for herself.

Of course one couldn't play without equipment; and though by the time she'd rifled through the many mathoms in the Smials she was covered in dust, and desperate for both her second breakfast and lunch nothing could dim her smile of triumph as she unearthed a trumpet full of golf balls. Frowning slightly at the look of the very dented trumpet, her bright blue eyes darted around for something a little more practical to carry the golf balls in, eventually settling on a small basket that would have just enough room for the golf balls and her elevenses snack. Almost buzzing with excitement she made her way to the kitchens, wanting to make sure everything was clean and ready for when they were allowed to play.

Her mother might laugh at her thirst for adventure, or shake her head lovingly at 'Vi's Ventures' as they were called in the family, but Violet knew one day, when she was past her tweens and the idea wouldn't cause her parents to combust, she would explore beyond the Shire. Today though, she'd settle for a little bit of excitement in the Shire, and as the day dawned bright and sunny the hobbit lass had a spring in her step as she made her way towards the small crowd growing about the stand.

Sandy was already surrounded by several Hobbits, and though none of the other faces were familiar, that didn't stop Violet greeting everyone with a sunny smile and a friendly "Hello!" as she waited her turn to get to the stand. As soon as there was space she juggled the basket into one hand, picking up the pen to scrawl her answers.

Name? Violet
Preferred golf club type? One that works.
Please bring your own golf balls. Ok.
How well do you think you can play the game? I'll try my best!

Balrog
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Golf. What was golf? Jorgy found a flier for it on his way back from the Market and puzzled over the myriad possibilities. Golf. Was it like gold, but maybe goofier? No, that didn’t make any sense. Not a lot of things in Jorgy’s mind made sense in the real world though. It had something to do with sticks and balls, that much he could figure out. It must be some kind of sportsball. Jorgy liked to watch sportsball events even if he had no idea what the rules were, how the scoring worked, or what the point was, but he was always fascinated and cheered enthusiastically whenever something happened. The latter had gotten him a few odd looks from the opposing teams (or his own team, again he didn’t understand the rules to any of the games). Yet none of that dampened his overenthusiastic fervor for sportsball. Golf was an odd name for sportsball, that was for sure, but so was football, cricket, Calvinball, and squash so who was he to judge? According to the flier, there was going to be a golf tournament and he could join in! What fun! He would have to learn a little about golf before joining but he was very confident that… he’d have a good time at least.

The day arrived and Jorgy was off on a hop, a skip, and a jump to the specified location from the flier (let’s not talk about the first place Jorgy visited because he misread the flier in his over eagerness). He was not the first to arrive, he’d never been the first to arrive anywhere in the world, and there were even some people he knew! It was Silas! And Daisy! Well this was going to be a very fun day! Jorgy beamed as widely as was hobbitly possible.

Name?: Jorgy Underash
Preferred golf club type?: I’ve never been a part of a club before, are there fees?
Please bring your own golf balls. Well, this will be interesting
How well do you think you can play the game?: umm, very?
Strange Fruit got holes in the flesh but it ain't gonn' spoil cause it never was fresh

Chef
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By the time Sandy Took had returned from his sister-in-law's house with a wheelbarrow full of toy balls and wood mallets, he was surprised to see a small crowd of hobbits near his sign-up table. They were all catching up with each other and talking about what the term "golf" actually meant. He did a little skip for joy in the air before he rolled the wheelbarrow over to the side of the table, and then he gave a grand wave to everyone just before he scanned his eyes over the sign-up sheet.

"Good morning, lads and little miss Daisy!" he said with a grin, as he attempted to give everyone a shake of his right hand. "I am so sorry I have not made your acquaintances yet until today. My name is Sandy. So, which one of you is Silas, and which of you is Jorgy? I have decided to help with the golf club and balls situation, so please take however many you may need from my wheelbarrow here."

He gestured to the wheelbarrow, and then he did another little skip of excitement before he asked if Daisy would like to be on his shoulders for a little bit. "The game will start not too long from now. So what do you think of today's weather? It seems a little cloudy today. I am sure hoping it just stays that way ..."

Chef
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(OOC: @Lady of Shadow , if you could repost how you signed up for the golf tournament before posting your first try at the golf game, that would be fantastic!)

Start of the Tournament
Just as Sandy's sister-in-law, Istya, rounds the corner toward the field with one bag of assorted pastries - and another full wheelbarrow of cabbage heads - Sandy gives the crowd a sudden, perfunctory wave. He then waves the group to follow him toward a slight rise of a hill and then to glance down the hill on its lefthand side to take notice of the first rabbit hole. "Please grab a snack from my sister-in-law, Istya, here. We don't want you going hungry! Then, once you are ready, please go ahead and start the game." He then gave Appie a broad smile. "And as you can see, madame, I think my sister-in-law understood your predicament. Otherwise, she would not have brought this wheelbarrow. So, everyone, please take as many cabbages as you need for the game today. If they stink like goblin head, at least you can more easily imagine Bullroarer's first game."

Sandy stomped his foot on the ground at the opposite end of the hill from the hole, and under his foot was a yellow marker. This marker was to show everyone where they were meant to start the game.


Hole One
PAR: 4.
Setting: The hill is only as tall as one and a half Gondorian men, and its slopes are nice and easy. However, the hill is rather broad - a length-wise stretch of eight Gondorian men starts at the tee-off point and then ends at the left edge of the hill (where the rabbit hole can be seen down below, twenty feet from the hill). Surrounding the hill on all sides are high grass and a sliver of a brook behind it, so watch out for the water trap.
Conditions: A little windy, but not too bad. Mostly cloudy.

You have until Saturday, October 30, to post your "first round" of golf attempts at this hole.

Orc Chieftain
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OOC: I already did, since the post I have in this thread is the original sign up post. Perhaps you skiimmed past it? :shrug:
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Chef
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(OOC: I see it now! However, I saw in the archive that you posted another time after Sandy brought over the wheelbarrow of golfing goodies. I was debating whether or not we should continue reposting our old posts before moving along with the game, and when I decided just to go ahead and move forward, I wanted to make sure I didn't lose you.)

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