Lost Balls Invitational If you're gonna suck ... suck fast!
2024 Champion
Brian Ciarlo
2024 Schedule
Sep 4- 8
Southern Pines, NC
- Mid-South
- Mid Pines
- Southern Pines
- Talamore
A typical golf tournament measures stats like total pars, most birdies, sand saves and greens in regulation. The LBI measures shotguns per 9 holes, most mind numbing hangover and total rounds forfeited due to vomiting…and god give you strength if you finish last of the riders traveling in the RV.
If you’re wondering how the tournament came to be this way, it’s simple. It started as a bachelor party. In 2005, 20 meat eating, beer swilling, average golf playing men descended upon Myrtle for a bachelor party celebration. That party set the tone that golf, while an integral part of the trip, was not to be taken too seriously. That good times, good friends and (mostly) responsible* drinking were more important than how you played. Its evolution now boasts a tradition of alcohol fueled buffoonery, hot wing inspired gastronomy and golfing mediocrity that won’t soon be ceased.
We have played 17 years and the LBI is a rite of passage for some and a yearly guy-trip for many others. The LBI evolved into a 72 hole stroke play tournament, which has seen 55 golfers play on 43 courses in and around Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Southern Pines, NC. In its 17-year history, the LBI has crowned 8 different winners and awarded $22,193 in prizes. To be fair, perhaps "mediocrity" is an unfair word. After all, there have been some truly memorable golfing moments including Damon "Eagle Guy" Mikoy's eagle and Jason Lich and Rob Weinig's Aces.
Each year we make the journey in search of golfing excellence. We search amongst the fairways, greens, bunkers…and all too often in the hazards, woods, the environmentally protected areas and even once in a while we venture, squinty-eyed into private residencies where angry looking homeowners staring at us while we attempt to punch out from under their deck.
We are golfers with various handicaps, experience, and skill, playing some of the most enjoyable courses on the east coast. We fight through shanks, hooks, slices, yips, hangovers, rage fits, snakes and gators all to capture golf's most celebrated prize; The Myrtle Cup. Matt Moden & Brian Ciarlo have won the Myrtle Cup thrice but the older gentleman holds the distinction of being the thinnest golfer on the East Coast.
Tradition lies at the heart of the Lost Balls Invitational. Some of these traditions have been there from the beginning; congregating at the Hoot, shot gunning beers on the tee box or inconspicuously ripping off your shirt for a shirtless par 3. Perhaps the grandest tradition was born in 2008 when seven visionaries asked the question, "How can we turn a 7-hour drive down I-95 into a two-day beer guzzling adventure." Thus, in 2008 the RV tradition was born, and with it the annual "camping" expedition at the Enfield KOA. Stakes were raised in 2009 with the subsequent visit to the Waffle House Chili-Cheese Omelette / Hash-brown throw-down....and of course, the cleaning out of the RV shitter by the last place golfer.
Gathered together back in 2005, none of those at the bachelor party could have envisioned what would lie ahead (most of them could barely envision what happened the night before). A tournament celebrating golf and friendships; beer and bourbon; hot wings and subs; clubs and caddies.
This is the Lost Balls Invitational, welcome to our tournament.
