..............our club is open!

Restaurant/Dining Room opened on Wednesday and the course Thursday. Beautiful day for southern Ontario in early April - sunny, 55-58*, wafting breeze from time to time. I didn't play but a ton of green fee players were out. Alas - not to last. Rained sideways all day Friday and, while it didn't rain today, it was 35* and blowing so hard it was hard to walk upright. BUT, that wind will dry up the usual wet spots on the course!

The sad news is that my employment situation has changed. I've been cut back to an assignment-by-assignment basis. It's paying the bills but doesn't leave room for extras.....like $2,750. for club dues. On the other hand, good news is that the club manager offered me a package of 12 green fees for $450. (That's about a $300 saving on the going rate for public play at our semi....). I'm confident things are going to change for the positive and I'll be able to renew and the manager said he'd pro-rate whatever is left of the season at that time and then rebate any unused tickets from the package. Gawd - ya can't ask for more than that..............and he volunteered it based on the fact I've been, in his words, a "fixture" for over ten years.
I'm truly humbled and grateful. I guess it really does pay to be polite, stay out of the politics, and treat well those who go out of their way to serve you. Although .............. I can't imagine behaving otherwise ............. but some A-holes do.
Have a GREAT season everybody!
Chuck

That is good news for your club and for you, and proves that YES, the things that we do are observed! Well done and I'm glad the offer was made to you! Well deserved!

Good news/bad news on a couple fronts. Nice of the manager to make an effort to keep his regulars

Chuck, sorry to hear about the cut back in assignments but you will get through that I am sure !!!

On the club,,,,, "Great News" , shows how the club is and has recognized a great member !!!!!

Chuck,
Sounds like they're really working with you.
Nice to see that civility has not suffered along with everything else.
Hang in there and it'll get better.

Later,

Good to hear you will be able to get some golf in around the edges this season. I'm in the same boat. I'm only working part-time and golf is always a dent in the wallet...even if a guy (myself) plays at some of the "lesser venues" at times , to save money.

I practice at all the best courses on the front range. Unfortunately , i only play there during an occasional twilight round. The problem with "twilight golf" is ........it can be hacker heavon at times and more and more people have discovered it. It is usually a first class ticket to every slow play problem in the book. My last time out ( last season) ; after paying my reduced fee and shouldering my weapons , i watched as "the husband" hit FIVE shots off the first tee.......all short and right.... and then went up to "instruct" his lovely wife.........who couldn't make contact with a beachball ...much less that little white thing she was trying so hard to smack.
The first hole is a 535 yard par five and i figured they would be blugeoning it until dark , so it was back into the proshop to try to wrangle a start off the 10th tee. No luck there , but the guy ( who knows i'm a range rat) said " Why don't you just walk over and start on the middle of the 5th hole (a long par four just beyond the practice area) if it's clear."
I thanked him a little too profusely and started off , clubs clacking , in that little half trot you have to do with a bag of golf clubs across you shoulders . The hole was clear. I dropped a shiny white ball on perfect turf and clanked a 175 yard shot to a collection area right of the green. It didn't matter ; i was off and running , a twilight golfer with nothing but an uninterrupted sea of green fairway laid before me , bathed in the late evening glow.
After a perfect chunk and run to three feet , i rolled the putt into the center of the hole for a triumphant par ...of sorts.

Needless to say ; my twilight reverie was rudely brought to a screeching halt two holes later when i ran into the ubiquitous twilight beer swilling foursome driving their carts back and forth across the seventh fairway in search of errant teeballs. This hardy breed appears to follow an ages old tradition of only hitting one shot at a time before speeding off to find the next ball , usually on the opposite side of the course. There must be a rule that you cannot be more than six feet from the cart at all times when playing a shot. I felt a vague sense of pride as i watched them follow their beer bellied creed with such care and devotion.

I followed them up the wide regions of this 547 yard par five ( a hole i had once reached in two shots.....it remains the longest par five i have ever reached in two......or is it the ONLY par five i have ever reached ?? ) trying not to intrude on their latest group ball search. I had hit a perfunctory drive (all my drives are perfunctory these days) and was waiting patiently by my ball in the fairway. One member started wildly waving me through as if i were driving a firetruck , and needed to get past them to save a burning school on the green. I hit a perfunctory five wood that was only good because it settled somewhere in the wide fairway ahead. I again started off in that weird shuffling run that is required of those that carry their clubs at twilight. The big guy who had waved me through with so much gusto yelled something like " You don't have to run , we can wait. " but it sounded more like "hurry the f*** up you skinny pr**k" to my playing through at twilight ears. I managed a thin eight iron from a strangely burrowed fairway lie and hurried up to the green to put that fire out. A par...i moved on in the soft twilight in search of a bigger challenge to my obviously superior game.


Excerpt from : Twilight Golf in America : A Modern Day Study of Implications. by JJ Beck with a forward by "That guy on the practice range who never speaks to anyone and never seems to play golf on the course."


Good to hear from you Chuck. Sorry for this strange excerpt thing. It semed like a good idea at the time.
JJ

LMAO JJ,,,, !!! I am sure it wasnt funny to you though !!! Those are tough times,,,

Nice diatribe and exortation of the perils of twilight golf.
I liked it. :-}

Later,

They are everywhere

BUT...................still fun to get out!