play day

Having gotten up way too early today, I’ve been dragging around all day.  The girls went with a girlfriend and her parents to some gigantic Halloween haunts in Indianapolis.  I got up in time to shower and look presentable before the family came to pick my girls up, then started in on some housework.  BY 10 AM, I crashed on the couch for a short nap.  Gracie crashed on the loveseat in the same room.  For the most part, she is my shadow.

 

Someone broke his hand in karate class shortly after we returned from vacation at the end of July.  No, he wasn’t breaking boards or concrete blocks, or some other dumb stunt like that (people always ask).  He blocked a kick with the palm of his hand.  We wear gloves with pads on the tops of our hands, but he blocked in a less than ideal way.  He’s been very unhappy all this time because he hasn’t been able to play golf or tennis.  He played tennis this week, and today we got out to play a round of golf on a beautiful sunny day, though a bit windy.  The course was nearly deserted (the way I like it), probably because most men were glued to the TV watching the Ryder Cup or a football game.  It was a fun round of golf and I hit some really good shots, but my putter was not my friend today. 

My most awesome shot of the day was my drive on the #5 hole.  It’s a short par 4 from the red tees, about 240 yards.  The fairway is narrow and mostly sloping, with woods on the right, big trees on the left, and six nasty rough knolls guarding the green.  If you land in or on one of those suckers, you probably won’t see that ball again.  I’m right handed and like to play a bit of a draw on my drives, but I can’t draw on this hole without hitting trees.  I had wind at my back and considered laying up, but decided to just go for the green.  What luck!  I hit the ball dead straight and it rolled between the knolls and stopped about 5 feet from the green.  I hit a decent chip shot, but still two-putted for par.  Oh well.  It was fun.

Sandy Creek #5 from front of the red tee box - narrow fairway

 

Someone played the front pretty well and then his game went to hell on the back.  Just like a typical man, he pouted and started hitting stupid shots.  I’ve seen it happen to lots of men...it’s how they play the game.  They start swinging harder, throwing their clubs around, trying to make stupid shots – you get the idea.  I played with a man once who stood in a deep, narrow ditch and took at least 7 or 8 strokes trying to hit out - virtually no chance of success.  Finally he layed out (one stroke penalty), but then hit the ball right back in again.  He gave me the match and walked off the course.

I left work one night last week and found my tire was flat.  Dang!  But fortunately, I had nowhere I had to be and one of the guys coming out behind me pulled a pump out of his trunk and re-inflated my tire.  I drove straight over to a garage to get it plugged but they were closed, so I left my van there for them to fix the next day.  The next morning, I drove to work in the car we bought for the girls to drive.  They bought a cheap little plastic solar-powered flower thingy to set on the dashboard.  I had little appreciation for it at first, but it grew on me.  It’s sort of a happy thing to have a cheerful sunflower dancing in your face.