An Unexpected Prize

So I won another closest-to-the-pin contest. The woman's league I joined hasn't started playing yet, so a fellow member of that league, whom I'll call Miss J, invited me to play with her. Miss J is in her mid-thirties, so she's younger than most women in the league, and she has the larger-than-life personality of a diva but without the ego. Anyway, Miss J texted me and asked if I wanted to join her for golf with "a group she plays with weekly." Turns out, that "group" was another league, a men's league of mostly firefighters and policemen to be exact. Miss J belongs to four different leagues and she is the only woman in this men's league. But she said they are looking for more women to join.

When I showed up at the golf course and saw the 20 or so guys that we'd be playing with, I thought to myself, this could be interesting. There was excitement and confusion in the air, as the day's pairings hadn't been made and people were still hustling to put money down on the day's bets. Miss J said we should each put in $5 for the closest-to-the-pin contest. One of the CTP holes was for a set of headcovers autographed by a famous football player. The other CTP hole was for money.

Miss J and I were paired with two of the seniors so our tees wouldn't be so far apart. They sent us out first, even though Miss J and I were walking with pull-carts. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but my first shot off the tee was long and straight. I actually made par on the first hole, which I've only one two other times at that course. Unfortunately, the rest of the front 9 was riddled with doubles and triples, mainly due to my short game and the fact that Miss J and I talked incessantly. But when you're playing with a new gal you've never played with before, the getting-to-know-you chitchat is a necessary evil. None of our foursome landed the green on Hole 8, the first CTP hole, but that was for the headcovers so we didn't mind.

After the turn, I had some butter cookies and got my groove back and started making pars again. Hole 14 was the second CTP hole, the one for the money. It was a par 3 over water, and I'd played it many, many times. As I walked up to the tee, I joked, "Time for my hole in one!" I bent over to set my ball on the tee and got a head rush when I stood up. I took deep breaths till I wasn't seeing stars anymore. Then I aimed and took my swing. It was a perfect, pure shot. It landed in front of the hole, about 12 inches away.

In the end, I took the prize for closest-to-the-pin on that hole, which was $46 in cash. Add that to the fact that I shot 5 over on the back 9, which is the lowest back 9 I'd ever shot on that course. Oh, and I joined that men's league too. In total, the joys of the day were quite unexpected; the best kind.