My participation last week in a golf tournament to benefit the Pitt County Girls Softball League brought about two possibilities: I might have been a better player before I started using golf clubs. And my name might be added to some tournament blacklist.

Prior to 1993, I had played only one round of golf in my life. I was 12 when Jimmy DeSilvey invited me out for nine holes at the Moose Lodge par-three course in Johnson City, Tenn.

I lost all of Jimmy's balls and mistreated one of his clubs. He never invited me to play golf again.

The game did not interest me again until the 1980s, which were good years to work in the health care industry, even for low-level employees.

I worked my way through college as a medical supply technician at Johnson City Medical Center Hospital. From a central supply room, I provided the nursing and medical staff with everything from IV bags to bedpans.

Some nights were busier than others, but I almost always managed to squeeze in a round or two of golf.

The supply room housed about eight supply carts with removable, rubber-tipped steel rods. The rods were remarkably similar in size and weight to a 2-iron.

I devised a supply-room golf game using a one-inch roll of adhesive tape for a ball. By the time I left that job, I could, with deft precision, chip multiple rolls of tape across the room and onto a linen cart shelf.

Right now, a retired managed-care strategist is reading this and saying, "I knew we were right!"

Not long after the hospital years, a friend invited me to play a round of golf. I told him about the only nine holes I had ever played, but he brought me along anyway.

My friend gave me an old set of lady's clubs to use. I think he thought I would hit them like an old lady.

He was amazed at my fluid swing and confidence off the tee. I cited a combination of natural ability and years of hospital work.

But it was not all good. Who knew that years of chipping with a 2-iron could ruin the slightest hope for a decent short game?

Any natural ability I might have developed during Ronald Reagan's presidency has now faded. It's mostly because I average about two rounds of golf per year. I don't even own a pair of golf shoes.

I'm explaining all this because our team, sponsored by Abbott Dees, apparently won last week's tournament at Brook Valley Country Club. They had to track us down a day later to shock us with that information.

The unlikely outcome is due in part to the very high handicaps three of us, including Dees and I, signed up with — and in large part to Tom Baines, the one good golfer who played on our team.

Tom is a longtime, respected member of eastern North Carolina's golfing community.

He knows bad play when he sees it.

Tom saw me nearly bean a man lingering at what should have been a perfectly safe distance from the 18th hole.

And he saw me lose more balls than Jimmy DeSilvey ever carried to the Moose Lodge in a week.

The tournament format was superball, meaning each player shoots from the best previous shot.

Truthfully, we relied on Tom's previous best shot for the whole round.

There's a term for golfers who understate their skills in order to win tournaments. Now, we must again rely on Tom to convince area golfers he was not teamed with any "sandbaggers."

It would be just awful if we genuinely terrible golfers got a bad reputation for winning.

Mark Rutledge can be contacted at mrutledge@coxnc.com