When Shayne Bennett and his buddies didn’t qualify in their first attempt to get in the Georgia State Parks Golf Club, his wife encouraged him to try again. And since there was one more qualifier on the schedule, he rounded the gang up and signed up again.

This time it worked. And, taking advantage of that mulligan, the team of Shayne Bennett, Kevin Dye, Billy Bryant and Todd Yeargi won the inaugural Georgia State Parks Golf Cup at the Arrowhead Pointe Golf Course in Elberton.

The team did not qualify in its first attempt at Highland Walk, but tried again in the final qualifier at Arrowhead Pointe and earned a spot in the championship. Two weeks later they won the overall championship, played in a scramble format, with a 17-under 55.

Fourteen other teams who qualified at one of the eight Georgia State Parks courses were also in the field. The first-year event proved quite popular, with most of the qualifiers sold out.

“We putted well,” Bennett said. “Kevin could have putted with his eyes closed and it would have gone in. It was just one of those days where everything went right.”

The foursome of Jon Floyd, Ben Floyd, Jonathan Pirkle and Patrick Edwards won a tiebreaker over the team of Ryan Haugh, Michael Dudzinski, Nate Carter and Dalton Bradley after both shot 58s.

The members of the winning group play a lot of golf together, but rarely play at Arrowhead Pointe. Bennett, Dye and Bryant are members at Elberton County Club and Yeargin belongs to Cateechee Golf Club in Hartwell. They can normally be found playing in a regular Saturday group.

“It was really an honor to win the first one,” Bennett said. “It was something I wasn’t sure we could do, but somehow we were able to win it.”

The winners received a golf weekend at Brasstown Valley Resort.

All the results can be found at http://www.gastatepark.org