Senior Bar Golf tees off April 20 this year

Senior Bar Golf night, where UNC seniors and their caddies visit Chapel Hill bars and try drink specials, tees off on April 20.

UNC senior vice president Rich Burris helped sell $5 wristbands to participants in the Pit. Burris said this is one of the most popular events of the year for seniors.

“We sold about 900 to 1,000 tickets per day,” he said. “And we sold out in about 35 minutes ­— we were hoping to sell them from 11 to 1.”

Seniors who were unable to purchase a wristband in time can still go to the participating bars, but they must pay a cover. Burris said the event might sell more wristbands in the coming days to allow as many seniors as possible to participate.

“This is definitely one of the bigger events we have, because we have 12 bars, and we’re looking to add one or two more in the next couple days, because there was still a line when we were selling tickets,” Burris said.

The event has been an annual tradition since 2009. Participants track the drinks they’ve had at various bars, or “holes,” using a scorecard. Different drinks have different negative point values, and seniors compete to have the lowest scores at the end of the night, just like in golf.

Pantana Bob’s manager Corey Davis said the wristbands get seniors in the door on bar golf night. This makes the event, which lasts from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., potentially lucrative for the most popular bars.

“It’s pretty much all senior bar golfers that night that we get our business from. It’s a huge event for the University and the seniors, and there’s always good turnout,” said Daniel Austin, manager at the Carolina Coffee Shop.

Samantha Riley, a bar manager at Four Corners, expects the restaurant to be packed for bar golf.

“We usually are moving tables because it gets so crowded,” she said.

Davis said that the number of customers at Pantana Bob’s tends to vary.

“You can get that big rush of a crowd, and that’s great, that brings in some good profits,” Davis said. “And sometimes it can be like where you only get a few people, and it’s like just an extra day.”

While the money from drink sales go to the bars, wristband proceeds stay within the student body.

“All of it actually goes back into the senior class to pay off some of the debts from events earlier in the year,” Burris said.

He said some of expenses that the money will cover includes senior T-shirts, which the UNC General Alumni Association helped pay for, and senior pictures.

Davis said one of the most popular drinks on bar golf night at Pantana Bob’s is the Scooby Snacks shot, which scores a “birdie” on a scorecard.

Austin said the Carolina Coffee Shop has been involved in bar golf for the past five years, and they have several drink specials they offer to the golfers.

“We’ll do $4 LITs, $3 wells and probably $4 drafts,” Austin said.

Riley said Four Corners is offering special drink deals for bar golfers, including $3 Cape Cods, $4 Long Island iced teas, and $5 car bombs, which are respectively rated “par,” “birdie,” and “eagle” on the bar golf scorecard.

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