At our club, we have three 9 hole courses; Seminole, Choctaw and Cherokee.  They all have their share of good holes and “not so good” holes.  Our nine holer group played Seminole on Tuesday.  It was a most enjoyable day, but it was a little too hot for May 1st.   The first hole has a creek, and the creek loves to jump up and catch golf balls.  If you get over the creek, you are congratulated by your friends.  The next hole is a par 3, but not a pretty one, as the creek that was on the first hole winds around and is on the right side of this hole.  Aiming straight is your best bet, but your golf ball does not always know that.  Leaving this hole, we go to a long hole that seems to never end.  It also has a creek; they are everywhere.  By the time we are through with this hole, we are wondering how much longer until lunch.  

The next hole is nice, but tricky and if you stay straight, you will most assuredly have a good score on this one.  Moving to #5, we have another creek to hit over, and it is another one that loves to capture golf balls.  We don’t generally go too far with the retriever as snakes might be lurking, and not many of us want to be surprised by one of those.  The next hole is a par three, but guess what is on the left side of it?  The winding creek moves along to aggregate and torment the golfers.  Landing in the sand on the right is more fun than going in that creek.  The next hole #7 is a dog leg to the right, but not really a bad hole, if you keep it straight until you have to turn to the right a bit. 

The next hole is my favorite one of all.  I aim for the cart path and if you hit it just right, you will see your golf ball bouncing merrily down the path as far as it can go, and then it takes a sudden left to the fairway.  It is up to you, after this advantage, to get it on the green away from another creek and the sand.  The last hole is, what else, another creek to go over.  Just try to aim for the cartpath and hope that the ball hits it and takes a great bounce for the fairway and not into the creek.  You do not want to get in the sand that is in front and to the right of the green.  It is not a pretty lie, and if you are in that sand, you might as well hit the opposite direction of the green.  Going up that high sand bank is a hard task.  All that work deserves a nice lunch in the grill and I am usually ready for it.

Our golf group had our “Kick Off Coffee” today, and we had 40 plus members to sign up.   Some were new members and some were returning members.  Our golf pro came and gave us pointers, and our golf teacher gave us some drills, more on that later.  The officers were announced and gave a brief message.  Our new members stood up and we were glad to recognize them.  Everyone seemed very excited to begin the season.  It was a little chilly today, but some members played golf after the coffee.

A few of the returning members took the new members to the locker room to explain our procedure on play day.  On the bulletin board each week, there is a sheet with the names of the girls, who played that day with a space to put your score for each hole, and then a place for the total score.   Then we post our scores in the computer.  Posting your own score is a good drill for everyone, and it great to be self- reliant.  The members that are able, go to eat either in the dining room or the grill.  It will be a fun season.  I would love to hear about golf.

The Niners, my golf group, is getting ready for our March “Kick Off” Coffee.  We start the season with a coffee on the first Tuesday in March.  We sign in and pay our money to join for the season.  It is a fun time to see our friends and make new ones.  We have name tags so we can remember names and meet the new people.  Our pro will come and talk to us to give us tips and reminders of the rules.

We are giving out sheets with a list of what the procedures are on our play day.  There are a few things that new members need to know and we hope the list will help them.  We are now going to post our own scores in the computer.  We have had someone do that for us, but now each member will be responsible for their own posting.

We mailed out 85 postcards to the 2011 members and to interested prospects, to let them know about the coffee.  It should be interesting to see how many golfers show up.  If it is a pretty day, there might be a few who go out and play.  Our official day to begin playing is Tuesday, March 13.  It should be a fun season and I am looking forward to it.  I would love to hear how other groups get organized.

A husband reluctantly agreed to play in the couples’ alternate shot 
Tournament at his club.

He teed off on the first hole, a par four, and blistered a drive 300 yards down
the middle of the fairway. Upon reaching the ball, the husband said
to his wife, “Just hit it toward the green, anywhere around there will
be fine.”

The wife proceeded to shank the ball deep into the woods. Undaunted,
the husband said “That’s OK, Sweetheart” and spent the full five
minutes looking for the ball. He found it just in time, but in a horrible
position. He played the shot of his life to get the ball within two feet
of the hole. He told his wife to knock the ball in.

His wife then proceeded to knock the ball off the green and into a bunker.
Still maintaining composure, the husband summoned all of his skill and
holed the shot from the bunker.

He took the ball out of the hole and, while walking off the green, put his arm
around his wife and calmly said, “Honey, that was a bogey five and that’s
OK, but I think we can do better on the next hole”.

To which she replied, “What are you talking about, only 2 of those shots were mine.”

My Niner golf group had our Championship Tournament last Thursday.  The first day of the tournament was a week ago.  We weren’t able to have the second day of the tournament the next day, due to inclement weather.  Luckily, Thursday was a nice day.

It is fun playing with friends and enjoying each other’s great shots.  We have 3 different 9 hole courses.  The courses have “nice holes” and “not so nice holes.”  There is one hole that looks like it is 10 miles long.  It is one of those golf holes that you think you will never finish.  My friend said, “do you think we will ever get to the green?”  We laughed.  It did not look like we would, but finally we did.  We pick up after we get to 10 with normal play, but with the Championship Tournament, you play until you sink your putt.  I got an 11 on that long hole.  I was glad to move to the next one.

The next hole is number 5 and is a dog leg and not a bad hole, unless you go in the dreaded woods, which is easy to do.  The next hole, number 6, is also one of those, “not so nice holes.”  It is full of sand and a creek, that has been known to house snakes.  If you can get to the 3rd shot, you have to hit in between the creek and the woods.  You kind of want to just close your eyes and hope the ball goes straight.

We finished the round and had a winner and a medalist.  They will receive their prizes at our Holiday Party in December.  The prizes are golf throws with the Niners Champion Winner monogrammed on it.  It looks great and they will love it.  I would love to hear about your golf group and see any pictures.  I look forward to golf each week, playing with my wonderful friends.

Here is a golf poem that my husband found, and I am not sure who the author is:

In My Hand I Hold A Ball,
White And Dimpled, And Rather Small.
Oh, How Bland It Does Appear,
This Harmless Looking Little Sphere.
By Its Size I Could Not Guess
The Awesome Strength It Does Possess.

But Since I Fell Beneath Its Spell,
I’ve Wandered Through The Fires Of Hell.

My Life Has Not Been Quite The Same
Since I Chose To Play This Stupid Game.

It Rules My Mind For Hours On End;
A Fortune It Has Made Me Spend.

It Has Made Me Curse And Made Me Cry,
And Hate Myself And Want To Die.
It Promises Me A Thing Called Par,
If I Hit It Straight And Far.

To Master Such A Tiny Ball,
Should Not Be Very Hard At All.
But My Desires The Ball Refuses,
And Does Exactly As It Chooses.

It Hooks And Slices, Dribbles And Dies,
And Disappears Before My Eyes.
Often It Will Have A Whim,
To Hit A Tree Or Take A Swim.

With Miles Of Grass On Which To Land,
It Finds A Tiny Patch Of Sand.
Then Has Me Offering Up My Soul,
If Only It Would Find The Hole.

It’s Made Me Whimper Like A Pup,
And Swear That I Will Give It Up.

And Take To Drink To Ease My Sorrow,
But The Ball Knows … I’ll Be Back Tomorrow.

The Marshalls at the club, where I play golf, are always driving around making sure everyone is keeping up and moving right along.  If there are some gaps between holes, they ask everyone to speed up the play a bit.  We always tell them that we are not the problem.  We say that it is either the group in front of us or the group behind us, and could possibly be the men.  He tells us he knows that, but pleads with us to move faster.  We comply and move right along.  Someone might lose their ball, and we look in the woods for it.  We know we can’t take much time searching because the Marshall might think we are the slow culprits, which, of course, we aren’t.

The Marshalls do not have an easy job.  It is not easy telling golfers to hurry up and move.  They have to give wet towels to golfers when the hot summer is broiling everyone.  They must go retrieve a golf cart that have decided to just sit there.   They have to listen to endless stories and excuses as to why the golfer drove on the fairway, when it is “golf path only”.  I don’t know how they survive golfers’ laments.

We might be talking, laughing and having such fun and the Marshall will be driving up and we say, “look out, here comes the Marshall.”  We try to hurry and move on.  Marshalls add fun and excitement to our rounds of golf.  We are happy and are lucky that our club has such nice Marshalls; they are to be commended.

I would love to hear about yours, and if you have a picture, I will post it.