Golf At Last!

Jon began speaking to me about getting out and golfing years ago, but having no clubs we had never really made an effort. Well, a short while ago, my next door neighbor required my help emptying a storage shed that she was responsible for. She explained that everything was being given to the Goodwill, and that I should take anything I thought I might be able to use. As luck would have it, a perfectly suitable set of golf clubs was inside the shed, patiently waiting to get back to fairway.

After throwing out some odds and ends discovered in the bulging pockets (two left golf shoes and a half dozen worn out golf gloves among them) the golf bag and clubs were ready for service. Jon and I invited Brent to come along for the experiment, but he was unable to make it. He sounded very interested though, and I hadn't given him much notice, so I expect we'll have him with us next round.

As noted by my father, the best beginner course in the area is the River Oaks Golf Course, so that's where we went. The day was much hotter than I'd prepared for, and I soon found myself wishing I had slapped on some sunblock. Despite this though, the course was entirely empty, so we took our time. Having had some golf lessons and having played alongside my father, I found myself trying to impart some rough sketches on swing technique to Jon. This sport is truly one of the strangest thanks to a required set of movements that is so alien to the normal person as to almost be absurd. Much to my surprise (and likely his) Jon was able to hit the ball consistently straight, so we're off to a good start.

We always teed off from the beginner tee. Each hole had three different areas to tee off from. Each one was colored either blue, red, or white. If you look below on the scorecard image, you'll see the bluebird, eagle, and pelican images; they correspond directly to the colors. We couldn't really figure out the reasoning behind the animal choices for beginner, intermediate, and expert. Bluebird being the beginner makes some sense, but how did the eagle come in second to the pelican? Jon thought it might have something to do with the quasi-fact that pelican nearly rhymes with mulligan. I felt this made even less sense but decided to drop the issue. Having had another day to think about the bird-ranking system, I'm starting to believe that the birds are rated on how many golf balls they could theoretically carry in their beaks.

I should also add that the water hazards were surprisingly successful in coaxing our golf balls to take a dip. We probably lost three golf balls just teeing off at hole 5. We also both took a trip to the desert having each landed in one bunker (at least I think Jon did early on - I know I did for sure). Luckily the pockets of the golf bag we had were bulging with golf balls when I got it, so neither of us worried much about losing a ball or three. The image up top shows an aerial shot of the course; you start south of the parking lot and work your way around clockwise from there.

Below I've inserted an image of our scorecard for the six holes. As Jon kept repeating, we have lots of room to improve.