GOLF?? Me??!!

Okay. Since some have asked. Okay only one person. Me? Golf? Yup.

Why? Good question. When I was in Arizona for spring training I entered a drawing for a free round of golf. I actually entered twice. Once with my name and once with my brother's. Won both times. Could not figure out how to pass for William Brown so did not claim that one. Bill does not golf nor want to. Both notifications were by cell phone while my brother and I were heading home.

Anyway, I decided to claim the one for Columbia Point Golf Course in Richland. Then I proceeded once home to tell my good friend Vince about it and invite him to help me use it. Well, sure did I know how to golf? Of course I knew "how" but did I have any experience? No.
So, I did the only thing possible. Signed up for a series of lessons from the club pro at the Whidbey Golf and Country Club. Six weeks later and five lessons later and one nine hole round with Vince, he and I headed over to Eastern Washington. We decided to play three rounds. One at Sun Willows in Pasco. One in Richland at Columbia Point (the freebee). And one at Canyon Lakes in Kennewick.

Was it hot there? Sure. It is Eastern Washington. 84° or so on Monday when we arrived for our 1:46 tee time at Sun Willows. Greens were kind of slow. Did I play well? Come on?? What do you think?

We stayed at Vinces brother's house in Pasco. Nice guy. Nice Wife and we ate well and drank too much wine. Had a good time though.

Tuesday morning we head off to Richland. 10:02 tee time. We got paired with a fellow who had his non playing wife driving the cart. Yes a cart. I'd be dead if I had to walk all that in that heat with a bag on my back. He was from the South. Nice guy though fairly good golfer. Greens had been sanded (means they lay sand on them to keep the grass a certain way or something) and were a tad slow. Same answer as before.

Finished about 2 something. Went back to Vince's brother's house. Got cleaned up (shower to get rid of sweat and salt) went out to dinner at their fav Italian place. Authentic Italian by Italians from Rome. Really good. More wine.

Wednesday morning 10:10 tee time. Paired with a fellow and his wife. She needs lessons as much as I do to teach her to keep her head down. Anyway, greens were better. Interesting course. Some tees looked way down on fairways and then when on fairway you looked up at green. Lots of slopes on rough. I hate slope lies. Did I play well? Yeah sure....

After we finished about three we headed home but not after a stop at Vince's brother's fav vineyard. Bought a couple bottles of wine. Stopped in North Bend for dinner. Home about 10pm.

Analysis of playing. Learned a lot. Need to practice chipping and putting. Also need to stay out of the sand traps. This was impossible at Columbia Point. Lots and lots and lots and lots of bunkers there.

I would say about 80% of my drives were okay. One actually was about 180 yards. 20% were, well, atrocious. Hook, Slice, Fade, Draw, Dribble...whatever you call them, they were bad. My fairway shots depended on the lie. If it was on a side slope...well forget it.

On the 18th at Columbia Point, I was lying 120 yds from the pin. I was going to be cautious and go left around the water hazard that was about 90 yds away. Vince convinced me to go for the glory. The game was on the line. So I took out my trusty 5 iron and would you believe it? I hit a shot that landed just behind the pin. I think I got a bogey on that one. Lousy putting.

Out of 54 holes, I think I parred two. On several holes I was on the green in three but eighty putted. Slight exageration maybe. All in all I had a lot of fun. Vince was not too happy with his game on Wednesday, but hey it was hot.

Was it worth it? Sure. Got to spend time with a good friend and lots of sunshine. Lots of laughs. At least I was laughing. Will I play more golf? Sure. Just not sure how much. Vince has loaned me an older set of clubs. He loaned me a pair of older shoes too but I needed to buy my own to fit so my feet would not be pinched.

All in all, my "free" round of golf cost me about $360. It was well worth it. Did we take photos? No. Why? Too busy playing golf.

There you have it.