Every year in September, our family hosts the Watts Invitational.

Our friends tell us they look forward to our modest golf tournament more than any other event. A couple miles east of Carthage, where the paved road ends, my family sets up a par 3, nine-hole course around 10 acres of pasture.

This course is carefully trimmed by my grandpa’s bush hog, and approximately 45 cattle. I always advise everybody to avoid the occasional rocks and “steaming divots.”

Imagine this if you can. Each hole is about 60 yards. The target, which is normally a green, is a bucket. If you hit the ball directly into the bucket, it’s “an ace,” or a hole-in-one.

Players can tee up the ball anywhere on the course. Now the greens are set up like this: there’s two circles painted on the ground, around the bucket.

Inside the bigger circle is a two putt, and inside the small circle is a one putt. Therefore, if you hit your second shot into the big circle, you’ve made a par. All golfers know, of course, you want to try to make the birdie shot into the small circle.

Now, I haven’t mentioned the best part. Before everyone starts the tournament, we load up a cooler with a variety of everyone’s choice of beverage, which is delicately strapped onto the back of a four-wheeler.

The beverage cart circulates the participants until the tournament is over, which is when darkness falls. My older brother has a blast distributing what’s in the cooler.

Darkness only signals the relocation of the party to the Watts house.

We reload our coolie-holders and eat mass amounts of food everyone brought. There’s usually two tables of chips and dip and amazing desserts. This year, Linda brought this incredible cheese dip, which lasted a whole two minutes.

At this point, a big circle of lawn chairs and coolers forms in our driveway and doesn’t diminish until the wee hours of the morning.

I hardly ever see any of the attendees the day after the event, which is a good thing. It means the hosts accomplished another successful Watts Invitational.