The first King’s Putter was organized by the Emperor himself Tommy Nacarrato, a mainstay of the early gca period. Some of the No. Cal. Guys had teed it up together and it seemed like a good idea to get together with the So. Cal guys for a friendly Ryder Cup style match. No strokes were given just a report of holes won and the outcome was quite close with No.Cal victorious. Tom Huckaby and Ed Getka herded the northern group. As the only San Diego resident I hosted a bbq on Saturday night; 28 of the 32 participants came to the house; quite intimidating inviting 31 strangers over! A good time was had by all as we had 3kegs of beer; 2homebrews and Ballast Points award winning Calico Amber. We also had a big wine drinking contingent wihich quickly consumed the 4 bottles I had purchased, Gib Papazian brought several Zins and a request was made late in the evening to break into the wine cellar for a few more bottles. As I remember we went through 60 chicken wings, 3 Tri tips, 3 pork loins and 3 corned beefs! It was natural for the north to host the next Event and we have been rotating from south to north ever since. There was no Event in 2007 as Tommy was trying to negotiate a reasonable rate at La Purisima and 2 other courses; we couldn’t get the right price so there was no Event that year. We’ve had as many as 40 and as few as 8 participants.
After the success of the KP other areas started their own regional competitions: the Dixie Cup in the South run by Mike Whitaker, the Buda Cup in the UK, the Midwest Mashie and the Summer Ball. In answer to your earlier question I have attended all but 2 KP’s; I was out of town for the Stevenson’s Ranch outing and the Memorial Day date for Truckee didn’t fit my schedule.
We are running out of attractive public venues on the West Coast, you need an attractive venue to stir up participation. Of course if a generous member were to offer a private venue we would have no trouble getting folks to come. Traditionally we play on the weekend with side trips attached on either side. For instance I’ve played Alldara in Wa., Royal Colwood and Victoria in BC and Santa Maria CC as add ones.