Some Good Eggs

On Tuesday, after a stressful morning due to some work-related agita, I met up with Debbie Harry at a local golf course for an afternoon round. It had rained a lot lately, so the ground felt the way I felt, like a scraggly, beaten-down mess. The sky was overcast, and we played under the constant threat of rain. I tried to shake my mood, but like the gray clouds, it hung around and wouldn’t blow over.

A couple holes in, we joined up with an OMG ahead of us. He was having a hard time keeping up with the two younger guys he’d been paired with, so he decided to join us instead. He was a nice OMG, with kind advice and golf anecdotes, although one time he prefaced a long putt by saying to himself, “Rotsa ruck.” I think he was trying to be funny, and given his age, I assume he was genuinely unaware that the phrase is considered offensive to some folks of Asian heritage, like myself. So I let it slide, especially since he parceled out “Nice shot!” and other compliments to Debbie Harry and me with parity. Deep down, I knew he was a good egg.

He left after nine holes, saying that’s about all he had energy for. Debbie Harry and continued on to play the back nine. My driving held up for the most part and I had two long runners going as far as 193 and 219, though I think there was a helping wind. After shooting 50 on the front nine, I didn’t think I could break my course record of 91, so my new goal was to break 100. I might have made it if I hadn’t landed in a bunker full of wet sand on the 18^th resulting in a quintuple bogey (aka bacon and egg) on the par 5. I took two shots out of one bunker, only to land in another bunker. I spent so much time in those sand pits, I felt like an astronaut exploring craters on the moon.

So the high point turned out to be back at the turn. The OMG left after the 9^th hole, but 10 minutes later, he came riding back, holding up a yellow ball. “I found that lost ball of yours,” he said to Debbie Harry. And she thanked him, surprised. Then he reached back into his cart and handed me this:

“I noticed you were playing Top Flite, and I don’t think that’s a very good ball, so I wanted you to have some of these.” I thanked him, also in surprise. Yup, he was a good egg.