Scorecard Box

Consider the lowly scorecard box as it stands silent sentinel against the forgetfulness of golfers.

My local course, Green Oaks, has its box next to the first tee. More often, however, boxes are positioned near the second hole. That is when most people realize they don’t have something on which to record the score for the first hole.

Some boxes are quite fancy. I wish I had thought to take photos of the ones that looked like small homes or elaborate birdhouses. Others are just re-purposed mailboxes. The one at my home course looks like a cross between a mailbox and a birdhouse.

It matters little to me if I forget the scorecard on my home course. After countlesss rounds, it is as familiar to me as my classroom. On most occasions I don’t even use a card, keeping score in my head in relation to par.

When I wander afield, though, adding yet another new course to my “collection,” I find I really need a scorecard. Uncovering a new course hole-by-hole becomes a lot easier when I can take a look at where the current hole stands in relation to the others. The best scorecards have a map of the course. Second tier scorecards have little drawings of the holes above the column for par, yardage and scores. But even the most basic — the ones with just numbers — help.

It is at those “away games” that I really appreciate the scorecard box. For reasons that I do not fully grok, I forget more than my share of scorecards when I’m on the road.