Area I recreation adviser Jay Underwood is helping Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers organize a night golf scramble at the Camp Casey Golf Course. (Seth Robson / S&S)
CAMP CASEY, South Korea — Night-vision goggles, chemical light sticks and glowing golf balls are some of the tools soldiers will use when they hit the links in a night golf tournament here April 16.
Area I recreation adviser Jay Underwood, who is helping the Camps Casey and Hovey Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers (BOSS) Council organize the tournament, said the idea was hatched after a successful daytime BOSS tournament in November.
The light sticks and glow-in-the-dark golf balls will be used on every hole, but night-vision goggles will be allowed on just one of the course’s nine holes, he said.
November’s tournament drew 21 four-man teams.
This one has been limited to 14 teams because of the logistics of having so many people playing golf in the dark, Underwood said.
Soldiers from all over Area I will compete, he said.
“We made it so it would not get taken over by officers and NCOs. You have to have an E-5 or less on your team. It is a good way for a first sergeant to reward soldiers,” Underwood said.
Teams can include active duty, retired military, Department of Defense civilians and South Korean base employees, but each team must include one BOSS soldier.
Underwood said the course’s normally strict rules will be relaxed for night golfing. Participants can move the ball one club length in any direction, except closer to the hole, in case of a bad shot.
Beginners will be allowed to put the ball on a tee while on the fairway, and the highest score for any hole will be limited to a double bogey, or two strokes over par for the hole.
“Our BOSS Council came up with the ideal approach of conducting a golf tournament using a scramble format with relaxed rules, giving the novice and the experienced player a level playing field,” Underwood said.
Other events at the tournament, which begins at 7 p.m., include a long-drive competition, a chipping and putting contest and a barbecue.
Underwood said the tournament is a sign that golf is becoming more popular with troops at Camp Casey.
“We want to promote golf and have fun with golf,” he said.
