All Golfed Out

You probably already know that I’ve been playing golf the past few weeks after three years of not playing at all and three or four years before that of playing two or three times on our Upper Peninsula trip. I played ten rounds through Tuesday although the Country Club computer only had me for nine scores. The member-guest tournament was this past weekend and I played 18 holes Friday, 27 holes on Saturday and 18 holes on Sunday so I’m all golfed out. I’ve gotten the bug to start playing again, so I’ll continue throughout the rest of this season and will decide whether or not to join the Country Club for next year this winter.

I played with Robert, my step-son, as my guest. He’s a -0- handicap and I’m a 22, so we played in a flight where most of the guys were around 10 handicappers. Most of them were good, steady golfers and then there was me. I had thought before the weekend started that I would be intimidated by better opponents, but I wasn’t. On Friday we played with a couple of Robert’s friends and they all played a game I haven’t seen before. When you watch golf on television and see professionals that hit the ball 300 yards or more, you think it must be an exaggeration, but these guys did the same thing. If I really got a hold of the ball, my drives would go slightly less than 200 yards, so I was always the first to hit my second shot. I’ll spare you the shot-by-shot description of all 63 holes but suffice it to say, I proved my 22 handicap was earned with some really bad shots. We had lots of fun and I saw people I hadn’t seen or talked to in years, so it was a success.

While I was gone from the lake for three days, a mole moved in and had a blast in the side yard. It’s been so dry out there I couldn’t imagine there were any worms or grubs near the surface but the tunnels were everywhere. I’d make my standard summer comment like “this means war”, but the moles keep winning the battles, so I give up. Well, not entirely. I’ll still set the traps and spray with all the “sure fired mole chasers” you can buy on the market that never work. Apparently my neighbors have the stuff that does work and you know they won’t tell me ‘cuz they don’t want me chasing the critters back into their yards. When it comes to moles, neighbors aren’t always neighborly.

I still haven’t trapped the woodchuck that has set up camp in our decorative rock garden. He has always been bold, but since I set the trap with apples, we haven’t seen him around. A part of me is hoping he got hit by a car and won’t be back, but the animal lover side of me hopes he just doesn’t like us as much as the neighbors and now I can be the one who isn’t neighborly. Maybe the reason he left so suddenly is that a raccoon died in the trap while I was in Florida two winters ago and was less than fresh by the time I got home. The smell of death can be a good deterrent. Hey! If I trap a mole and just leave it in the ground, maybe the others will move out. Wait a minute! That will make the yard stink and maybe that isn’t a good way to try and sell a house. Never mind!

Just (Not A Threat To Tiger Woods) Jack

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