Tales From The Bunker

These poor guys are up at 5:00 AM cutting grass, raking bunkers and generally getting the course ready for another day of amateurs trying to destroy the grounds. Without them there would be no golf.

However why are there always certain workers who pay to no attention to the golfers who pay their salaries?

They drive their carts by full speed as you are hitting. If they are working around the greens they briefly stop and wave you up but do not move. If your ball heads in their direction they do not move.

Have you ever felt like they are stalking you for several holes? Are they laughing at how bad you are or do thy simply enjoy making you nervous.

But the worst, the absolute worst, is when you are playing at the end of the day and they follow you around and start the sprinklers as soon as you are done with a hole. That would be ok but why do they always jump ahead and start the sprinklers on holes you have not played?  Even though you plan your strategy to avoid the sprinklers you always hit into them. First you have to time the sprinkler head, then run and hit your ball and get out before the sprinkler head comes around to nail you. Success rate of getting nailed….100%.

Let me restate that 95% of the maintenance workers are great. The other 5% hopefully do not know where I live.

As always, keep ‘em in the fairway.

Tags: Blogging by admin
6 Comments »

Recently while we were playing golf we had a very disturbing incident on the course.

We were being waved up on a par three by the group ahead of us. The first three players in our foursome hit safely on the green. The last person to hit pushed his tee shot a bit to the right. As we all do, the players ahead of us were each watching our shots. The wayward shot hit one of the players directly on the forehead as he was looking up. He dropped to the ground like a rock.  

We raced up to the green while his partners were attending to him. Your first thought is that he is dead, foolish as that may be.  By the time we reached him he was sitting up and looked completely embarrassed.  His forehead was red and starting to swell. He immediately apologized to us for losing sight of the ball! As a precautionary measure they took him back to the clubhouse and presumably to the hospital. We are not sure as we never saw them again.

Now when I am in a group that is standing on a green while the group behind is being waved up, if I lose sight of the ball I look down at the ground for protection. I really do not want to lose an eye or worse on the course.

Have any of our readers experienced any disturbing incidents on the golf course? Let’s hear from you!

Tags: Blogging by admin
No Comments »

Today marks the one year anniversary of the death of Becky’s father Bill Gooch. We would like to take a minute to share with you our thoughts on his life.

Bill holding our son David

Bill was a loving husband to his wife Edith and a proud father of three daughters; Pam, Becky and Missy. He was a dedicated educator who influenced countless students at both the high school and college level. He was tough but fair with his students and taught them countless lessons about both Industrial Arts and life. An avid outdoorsman, he loved camping and fishing with his family.

But he also loved golf and urged his wife to take up the game so they could enjoy it together even in their later years.  Edie agreed and they spent many happy times on the golf course.

He was convinced Becky was the daughter that was the next generation golfer in the family and continually suggested she take up the game. His reasoning was that we could enjoy playing together as we got older just as he had done. Fortunately he lived long enough to see Becky follow his advice and take up the game. As he predicted we thoroughly enjoy playing golf together and plan on continuing as long as our heath allows us.

There is always a hole in your heart when you lose a parent but Bill lived a long and fulfilling life. That is all anyone can ask. 

Every time Becky and I play golf we know he is smiling in heaven.

Tags: Blogging by admin
2 Comments »