Taking It All In

Over Memorial Day weekend, the county courses moved up the start of twilight rates to 2pm instead of 4pm, so hubby and I headed over to Fox Hollow. Temps were pushing 90 and we were walking, but we had plenty of water on hand.

At the putting practice area, there were two guys pushing balls around. I’ll call them the Burner Boys because even though they were in their late 40s, they both had full sets of TaylorMade Burner clubs. They shared our tee time, so we knew they'd be paired with us. They were trading putting tips that sounded fairly expert, so I was somewhat surprised when one Burner Boy’s tee shot on the first hole skidded straight down into the rough and stopped short of the fairway. 

To be honest, Burner Boy’s worm burner put me instantly at ease. Since the Burner Boys were riding, it meant I wouldn’t have to hurry to get to wherever my tee shot landed, as long as I could hit farther than 50 yards, which I was pretty sure I could. Actually my driving held up all day, and I was feeling pretty confident until I began to develop some short game issues.

On the fourth hole, Worm Burner yelled something to the other Burner Boy in the middle of my approach shot, and I flinched and landed in the bunker. I cursed, loudly, not directly at Worm Burner but in his general direction, so he might wonder for just a second whether he had helped cause my error, even though I know it’s silly to blame other people for making noise on a golf course. This isn’t the U.S. Open, after all, and not everyone has read Golf Etiquette 101. I also felt guilty about cursing. When other people curse on the golf course, it makes me uncomfortable, so I assume my cursing makes others uncomfortable. I resolved to try and control it, even though in the heat of the moment it seems so innately uncontrollable. After all, my parents are both short-tempered, and it’s no coincidence that the only words I know in their native language are curse words.

But I promised myself to end the profanity. One of the hallmarks of adulthood is choosing to learn new things you were never exposed to in childhood, and unlearning old things that you were.

It helped that neither of the Burner Boys cursed, no matter how poorly they played. Their chitchat was of the laid-back, self-effacing variety, e.g. “Well, I guess hitting the ball would have been a good idea.” And when I said, “I must have done okay on that hole because I didn’t curse,” the Burner Boys guffawed in appreciation. 

Worm Burner performed far worse than the other Burner Boy and I really have to admire that he never lost his good humor the whole time. After all, the character of a person is not measured by how he behaves when things are going well, but when things are sucking big time.

Plus, these guys were just glad to be outside. On one hole, they even noticed two deer huddled in the shade, blissfully munching on the grass. 

Toward the end of the round, we were all standing on the green, and the better Burner Boy paused, lifted his putter, spread his arms wide, took a deep breath and looked around, surveying the landscape and enjoying the slight breeze. “Come on now, guys, isn’t this wonderful? I’m just taking it all in.”

“It is wonderful,” I agreed.

It was even more wonderful that I managed to shoot a 97 despite a few three- and four-putts. Hubby didn’t keep score but he was happy because I promised we’d go get burgers at Five Guys for dinner.

Later it occurred to me that there were three different races represented among our foursome that day, and it brought forth the realization that while this country I live in may not be perfect, much appreciation is due to those who have died protecting the ideals of liberty that occasionally culminate in the harmonious enjoyment of such earthly heavens such as golf courses, regardless of race, color, or creed.  

On the other hand, I do wonder whether there might be more peace in the world if future conflicts were fought with golf clubs instead of guns. In my experience, golfers somehow seem to inspire their fellow players to channel aggression in a positive, non-violent way. It’s just the nature of the game.