Golf

“and none of that happened”

As November rolls into New England and another season of golf comes to an end (unless you are the type of golfer that dons multiple layers of clothing until they looked like the kid brother from “A Christmas Story” before braving the weather to hit a little ball with a crooked stick) I reflect on the state of my game, which isn’t that great and can be more or less summed up by two holes, both par 3’s.

The first par 3 that I’m going to describe is the 12th hole of the private course where my son is the assistant pro, which is the only reason that I am allowed to play there. The hole isn’t long, varying from 120 to 160 yards, guarded by a low rock wall and a sand trap. I’ve played the hole many times and have used an 8 iron, 7, 6, 5, 4 hybrid to varying degrees of failure and one or two successes. this day for reasons I don’t recall, I chose my 5 wood, which should be way to much club for this shot, but having had success shaping this particular club from left to right, I decided to hit a big high fade, with the intention of landing the ball within ten feet of the hole…and none of that happened…except for where the ball ended up…seven feet from the hole. What did happen was, I hit the ground about 3 inches behind the ball with the 5 wood, the club bounced up, off the ground, hit the top of the ball, which went about 80 yards, then the ball bounced up in the air, landed on the top of the rock wall, bounced over the sand trap, came to rest on the green, seven feet from the hole…and I made the putt.

The second par 3 that I’m going to describe is also on a private course, this one in Rhode Island, with several hole with water views, a beautiful property that I was allows to play because I tagged along with my son, his boss the head pro and a member of the course where both worked.

Hole number 5, 165 yards, all over water. My son hit first and actually hit the flag on the fly, with the ball ending up just off the green, his boss hit it in the water, the other member of our foursome hit it on the green, now it was my turn. I selected my 3 wood, which was too much club for the distance, but I intended to hit a big fade that should land the ball on or near the green…and none of that happened. What did happen was that I half skulled the ball, which never got more that four feet high and splashed into the pond just short of land…or so we thought.

After dutifully going to the “drop area” and hitting my ball onto the green, one of our group noticed a ball barely past the weeds that border the pond in front of the green, my original tee-shot. I chipped the ball above the back to front sloping green and later watched the ten foot down hill putt drip into the left side of the cup for a par.

The remainder of the round had it’s ups and downs, I was able to pull a couple more rabbits out of hats and finished with an 88, not great, but better than it could have been, yet not as good as my son’s 73, but then again, he’s a golf pro, how he got to be one is another story for another month !!