Paul Lovas apparently wanted to put the Jinks on me.

“Mike and I have played all kinds of sports together, and I know he has a knack for talking a lot,” said Lovas, moments after he played alongside his brother-in-law, Mike, and nephew, Nick, during Week 7 of “Can You Beat Biggy?” on the Falls Course of Settler’s Mill Adventure Golf in Beach Haven on July 27.

“Mike has the gift of gab, and I was hoping he’d be a little bit of a distraction for you. And with Nick involved, knowing how much they would talk at each other, I figured twice the Jinks would be more helpful.”

Of course, roping in Mike wasn’t too difficult.

“Paul called me and tried to pretend this was some big, challenging event and you called me out,” he said. “After I agreed to do it, Paul basically said I was the first one he thought to get involved. So, Paul really just wanted me to come along. I don’t play much mini golf.”

And then Nick joined the fray – Paul had asked two days before the match if the younger Jinks could be added to the mix.

FINE START: Paul Lovas strokes his tee shot on the first hole of the Falls Course at Settler’s Mill Adventure Golf in Beach Haven.

“We were practicing for a disc golf event in Voorhees, and he brought it up and asked if I wanted in,” Nick recalled. “I like to compete, so I said, ‘OK, let’s do it!’ Of course, he had to get your permission first. But that’s how it all came together.”

Nearly two weeks prior, the Lovas and Jinks families competed in the Celebrate Cecily – Putt Against the Pros Tournament, and Paul was fortunate enough to tie Clark Harris and me, ultimately taking home the “Celebrate Cecily” trophy, which now occupies a space by the mantle inside the Lovas household.

But this time around, we weren’t playing at Island Golf, but rather a much more challenging course with longer fairways and a lot of dips, dives, twists, turns, wiggles and contours. Personally, it’s not my favorite course on the Island, and I was hoping it would level the playing field to some degree, not knowing whether any of them had played it much.

It turned out to be the right choice, for the most part. Through the first four holes, I had a one-stroke advantage over Paul and two over Mike…