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…but not quite. It is Monday October 31st, Halloween, today, which means we will be getting numerous trick-or-treaters ringing our door bell. Hopefully Paladin, our dog, will not scare them too much. The weather today is supposed to go up to the mid 60’s. Who would have figured that my weekend “golf ritual” almost got snowed out? On Friday the forecast was for a mix of snow and rain starting around noon. As much as I wanted to golf in the morning, I thought it best to take care of our yard work before anything else. Using the grass catcher bag on my lawnmower, I collected another 5 yard refuse bags. Am I glad I though of using that bag, otherwise it would have taken the whole day. All the while hoping that I would finish before it began to rain.

The rain missed us, although the Boston area got some snow in the mix. Luckily for me we are west of there. By the time I finished the yard work I was too tired to go to play golf (not something I admit to easily). No problem, a slight readjustment of our plans, and we went on Sunday instead.

Come Sunday morning, I had some things that I wanted to complete before going out to golf. I hadn’t decided yet if I want to go to the driving range or play the 9 holes at Lancaster. Luckily for me, they are small enough so that one does not have to book a tee time in advance, you just show up, pay, sign in and play. But before that I had to take care of my obligations:

• Had to help an acquaintance list an item for sale (a beautiful chess set) on eBay – done.
• Needed to install the evaluation version of Microsoft SQL server on my computer – done
• Had a pile of letters and bills to go over, shred the ones with sensitive information like pre-approval letters that we did not ask for and male sure all the bills are paid on time. – Lucky for me, my wife volunteered for this so I got the other items completed at the same time.
• Eat breakfast with my wife – done
• Finish up some questions for an SQL class – done

We finished all these around 11:00 AM. OK, time to go and play. My wife and I got to the Lancaster Golf Center at 11:45. I made my decision – I would take a small bucket of balls o their driving range, warm up and then continue on to play 9 holes.

The warming up helped a little, but not enough. I played a fair game, based on what I did in the past. With two plays that stood out. One was my bogey on the 7th hole. I teed off from about 107 Yards, the ball went straight for a pleasant change and landed less than a yard off of the green. I had a real chance at getting my first par hole, but of course I screwed that up – making it a bogey. That is the first time I was disappointed at getting a bogey.

The second one was in the middle of the 9th hole. I think it is a 97 yard hole. I screwed up my tee, only hitting that ball about 30 yards. Not so impressive, but my next shot was. Using my pitching wedge, I hit the ball, going straight and landing on the green, rolling in a straight line for the flag in the hole. It stopped short about 3 yards.

It seems that almost everyone has stories similar to those two shots and that is what keeps me coming back. The fact that I can fell myself getting better and getting shots that even a pro would be proud of. Obviously they would not be too proud of all the ones I missed, but who’s counting?

…but not quite. It is Monday October 31st, Halloween, today, which means we will be getting numerous trick-or-treaters ringing our door bell. Hopefully Paladin, our dog, will not scare them too much. The weather today is supposed to go up to the mid 60’s. Who would have figured that my weekend “golf ritual” almost got snowed out? On Friday the forecast was for a mix of snow and rain starting around noon. As much as I wanted to golf in the morning, I thought it best to take care of our yard work before anything else. Using the grass catcher bag on my lawnmower, I collected another 5 yard refuse bags. Am I glad I though of using that bag, otherwise it would have taken the whole day. All the while hoping that I would finish before it began to rain.

The rain missed us, although the Boston area got some snow in the mix. Luckily for me we are west of there. By the time I finished the yard work I was too tired to go to play golf (not something I admit to easily). No problem, a slight readjustment of our plans, and we went on Sunday instead.

Come Sunday morning, I had some things that I wanted to complete before going out to golf. I hadn’t decided yet if I want to go to the driving range or play the 9 holes at Lancaster. Luckily for me, they are small enough so that one does not have to book a tee time in advance, you just show up, pay, sign in and play. But before that I had to take care of my obligations:

• Had to help an acquaintance list an item for sale (a beautiful chess set) on eBay – done.
• Needed to install the evaluation version of Microsoft SQL server on my computer – done
• Had a pile of letters and bills to go over, shred the ones with sensitive information like pre-approval letters that we did not ask for and male sure all the bills are paid on time. – Lucky for me, my wife volunteered for this so I got the other items completed at the same time.
• Eat breakfast with my wife – done
• Finish up some questions for an SQL class – done

We finished all these around 11:00 AM. OK, time to go and play. My wife and I got to the Lancaster Golf Center at 11:45. I made my decision – I would take a small bucket of balls o their driving range, warm up and then continue on to play 9 holes.

The warming up helped a little, but not enough. I played a fair game, based on what I did in the past. With two plays that stood out. One was my bogey on the 7th hole. I teed off from about 107 Yards, the ball went straight for a pleasant change and landed less than a yard off of the green. I had a real chance at getting my first par hole, but of course I screwed that up – making it a bogey. That is the first time I was disappointed at getting a bogey.

The second one was in the middle of the 9th hole. I think it is a 97 yard hole. I screwed up my tee, only hitting that ball about 30 yards. Not so impressive, but my next shot was. Using my pitching wedge, I hit the ball, going straight and landing on the green, rolling in a straight line for the flag in the hole. It stopped short about 3 yards.

It seems that almost everyone has stories similar to those two shots and that is what keeps me coming back. The fact that I can fell myself getting better and getting shots that even a pro would be proud of. Obviously they would not be too proud of all the ones I missed, but who’s counting?