Tin Cup Weekend – 20 years and counting
It started with a question 21 years ago from my brother-in-law – “What do you guys do for a regular mates weekend away? You guys are all about to start getting married – you better make sure you have a weekend away locked in your calendar before you get married and your opportunity is lost!”
At the time, I had no idea what he really meant that our opportunity would be lost, but he assured me that getting a boys weekend away into the busy calendars of newly married couples with young kids would be very difficult if not impossible.
We took his advice and started a golf weekend tradition which took its tentative first steps under the name “Tin Cup” with 6 willing contestants in the NSW Hunter Valley in February 1999.
After the first year was deemed a success, the format continued into 2000 in the NSW Southern Highlands with the competition expanding to 8 participants.
As word spread about Tin Cup across a selection of mates from both schools and universities, the decision was taken in 2002 to expand again to 12 players and take the competition interstate to the bright lights of the Queensland Gold Coast.
As they say, success breeds success and in 2004 expansion to 16 players went ahead.
Since then, the competition and mateship has gone from strength to strength with the 16 participants producing 47 kids and the next generation of Tin Cup “Father & Son” beginning to become a real consideration.
Many new initiatives have been introduced to the weekend over the years including a dedicated website containing all of the history, stats and photos from every year of competition, a proper handicap system, team uniforms for each year and a dedicated Tin Cup bank account and credit card.
However, the most effective addition has been the addition of the Jenny Craig sun visor – awarded to the person who has put on the most weight since the year before. This was introduced as an incentive to avoid the group gaining too much weight as middle-age took hold and it’s been pleasing to see the total combined weight of the group stay within 1% of the first time we weighed in during 2006.
After Tin Cup 19, we looked forward to celebrating the milestone of 20 years by taking the weekend overseas for the first time. We booked in to visit Queenstown on New Zealand’s South Island which turned out to be the perfect location with top ranked golf courses, incredible scenery, great food and plenty of nightlife.
In the 20 years of Tin Cups, we have visited:
- Hunter Valley, NSW (x4)
- Blue Mountains, NSW (x2)
- Kangaroo Valley, NSW (x3)
- Nelson Bay, NSW (x3)
- Central West, NSW (x2)
- Central Coast, NSW
- Coffs Harbour, NSW
- Gold Coast, QLD
- Sunshine Coast, QLD
- Southern Highlands, NSW
- Queenstown, New Zealand
So many stories (lots of which I couldn’t possibly share here) but enough fun and friendship that all of us continually prioritise the weekend amongst busy family and career commitments.
In hindsight my brother-in-law’s question was absolutely spot on and I thank him for asking it all those years ago.