Annual 'horse race' at the gate

In a spectacle that is uniquely McCook, more than two dozen professional golfers and several hundred fans descend upon Heritage Hills the first Friday in June for the Mullen Pro-Am golfing "Horse Race."

It's quite a sight. Starting in clusters on Hole 1 and Hole 10, the golfers compete to see who will survive in the do-or-die, win-or-else format.

With only the lowest scoring golfers advancing, most of the field falls out in the first three holes of elimination. Then -- starting on the 13th tee -- only seven golfers remain. After that, with the tension and excitement building, the highest scoring golfer is eliminated on each hole, until --finally -- on the 18th tee, only two golfers are left: one who will emerge as the trophy-winning champion and other who will be the runner-up.

Tonight's the night for this year's golfing Horse Race. If you read this in time, it would be worth your while to drive out to Heritage Hills for the dramatic and panoramic action. No one we've talked to has ever seen anything like it.

Not only are there groups of golfers hitting the ball in lickety-split fashion, but there are hundreds of golf fans -- on foot and in motorized golf cars -- following the action from hole-to-hole.

"You have to remember," says Ken Wellman, chairman of the Heritage Hills board, "that some of the golfers are playing in front of the largest crowds of their lives." It's nothing to compare to the PGA tour -- especially when Tiger is playing -- but it's a goodly number when compared to the regional events in which most of the Mullen pros compete.

One of the most impressive sight comes from the highest point on the course -- the back of the 14th green. From there, you can see the six remaining golfers struggling to survive the competition, while scores of fans are gathered around, observing the golf action from the comfort of their carts, or at standing vantage points around the green.

The Horse Race is free ... for the golfers and for the fans. But the experience is priceless, adding yet another enhancement to the Good Life on the Golden Plains.