Welcome to The Grappa Invitational

Our Story

Our regular golf trip to Hilton Head started in 1995 with three best friends in Virginia ... Mike Webb, Chuck Mugler, and Jeff Parker. In 2000, Jeff invited some great guys from Sweden (he met them while there on business) to join us, and the event in its current form was born.

If you are wondering about the name ... in 1998, following a trip to Italy, Mr. Parker introduced Chuck and Mike to Grappa ... a traditional Italian after dinner drink. They both found it to be just as foul as Jeff did, so it was incorporated as a punishment for the worst total score for each day of the event.

If you'd like more details on our humble beginnings and what's happened over the last 30 years, visit the History page.

The Golf

Since the beginning there has always been a trophy for the player with the lowest total score over the entire week. When the Swedes got involved in 2000 it created a tournament field with a wide range of handicaps, so the net-score competition became the main focus of the individual competition. We have always maintained, however, that there should still be an award for the best golfer of the week. So, since 2000 the Grappa Invitational Grand Champion (lowest gross score for the week) and the Grappa Invitational Amateur Champion (lowest net) have been crowned at the end of the week. To follow the scores during this year's event visit the Leaderboards page.

Even more exciting are the Grappa Cup Matches, with a variety of formats pitting Team USA against Team Sweden throughout the week. The Grappa Cup is awarded to the winning team at the end of the week. For more information visit the Grappa Cup page.

Original members of Team Sweden, Andreas, Krille, and Anders showing off the Grappa Cup in 2002

Location, Location, Location

When Mike Webb and Jeff Parker visited Hilton Head way back in 1993 they fell in love with the place. Over the years we have tried other locations only a couple of times, but have always come back to Hilton Head Island. It was, is, and will always be the home of the Grappa Invitational.