Celebrating 15 years of great golf and friendly rivalry

The annual Cordillera Cup is our take on the Ryder Cup, and much like the Ryder Cup, the results have been a little lop-sided since its inception in 2007.  The Cordillera Cup is a battle between Team Hill (captained by David Hill) and Team Northington (captained by Mac Northington). David and Mac have been buddies for over 50 years as they were fraternity brothers at the University of Texas. In the late 90s, they went into business together here at Cordillera Ranch.

Most great clubs have some sort of Ryder Cup competition — sometimes it’s one half of the locker room against the other, odd member numbers vs even member numbers, or where I grew up, it was juniors vs seniors. For us, Hill vs Northington fit the bill. It’s a friendly competition with nothing on the line other than bragging rights — but to those who compete, the bragging rights are priceless. New Club members are randomly assigned to a team and returning players stay on the team they’ve played for in the past.

All in all, the Cordillera Cup is a weekend event full of spirited camaraderie, great food, serious golf, not-so-serious wagering and perhaps a prank or two.

The 2021 Cordillera Cup was played on October 2 and 3 with 96 members competing on two 48-person teams. In the 14 years leading up to this year’s event, Team Northington had a commanding lead (11-3), but there’s been a shift in the trend as Team Hill won last year and managed to back it up with another victory this year. The record now stands at 11-4. “Let’s really keep the spotlight focused on the last four years… it’s 3-1 Hill team during that span!” quipped Charlie Hill, co-captain of Team Hill.

It was a close race on Day 1 as Team Northington took an early lead of 9.5 to 14.5 in the best ball competition and Team Hill battled back in the afternoon alternate-shot match to leave Team Northington a 1-point lead going into singles matches on Sunday. The low handicappers traded blows as Team Hill and Team Northington split the first 12 matches, then Team Northington won a few but Team Hill came strong through the middle of the pack by winning 11 out of the next 13 matches. Team Hill clinched the victory by blowing out Team Northington in the singles matches with a point tally of 29.5 to 18.5.

This was a win to remember for Team Hill as it was their first back-to-back win in cup history and Team Northington will be reminded of it every time they walk past the Champions Gallery.