| Doing my part for charity, I bought four green fees | | | | teeing off after rushing to the tee. Add to that the |
| from the silent auction at a fundraiser that had been | | | | first couple of foursomes playing in the club |
| donated by an exclusive, private country club. I | | | | tournament watching you tee off. None of our drives |
| should have known the day was going to be a bit | | | | were very good. None of our second shots were |
| different when I called to book a tee time. The voice | | | | very good. We hacked our way up the fairway, with |
| on the phone asked for my name of course, then | | | | one of our carts chugging and sputtering. The friend |
| asked for it again, then asked me to spell it - then | | | | who was driving it paid no attention at first, thinking |
| silence - another voice asked me for my name - | | | | it was just cold, or the choke needed adjusting, and |
| more silence - then asked if I was a member. I guess | | | | nursed it along. But it died, in the middle of the |
| they never get any calls from anyone who is not in | | | | fairway, halfway to the hole. |
| the computer. No, I am not, I responded and | | | | We pushed the dead cart to the side and waved on |
| explained that I had purchased the right to play a | | | | the tournament. No one in our group had a phone |
| round at a charity auction. No problem - | | | | with them, but one of the passing golf tournament |
| arrangements were made. | | | | players had one and called the clubhouse. We were |
| The course is about a half hour drive from my | | | | assured that another cart would be dispatched |
| house, so the other three in the foursome agreed to | | | | immediately. After waving the next group on, one of |
| meet at my place at noon. Lot's of time to make our | | | | our foursome got impatient and decided to jog up to |
| 1:30 tee time and possibly have a bite of lunch | | | | the clubhouse. He came back with a cart after the |
| before starting. Traffic was brutal with road | | | | third foursome in the golf tournament passed. |
| construction, accidents, you name it, and at 1:15 we | | | | Apparently, forgetting we were on the tenth hole, |
| were still a ways a way. I called to see if we could | | | | the clubhouse was looking for us with the |
| get a later time and was told that a tournament was | | | | replacement cart on the first hole. |
| booked for the afternoon and ours was the last time | | | | Having a good laugh, we decided the hole was a |
| out. But they were running a little late, so we should | | | | write-off, agreed on double pars all round, and |
| try to make it. | | | | resumed play on the next hole. By this time we |
| We got there at about 1:40. Being a private club, | | | | noticed that there was no one else behind us waiting |
| there were no signs anywhere, so we scurried in | | | | to tee off, and by the time we got to the next tee, |
| four directions to find the pro-shop. We got our time | | | | the group ahead was well on their way. There were |
| and our carts and were told we had two minutes to | | | | only three foursomes in the tournament that had |
| get something to eat. Of course, the snack bar had | | | | booked the course for the afternoon, and they had |
| no cash for change, since members sign for | | | | all passed us. We had this exclusive country club |
| everything, so we counted out the quarters dug out | | | | course all to ourselves for the rest of the round, |
| of our golf bag pockets and scrounged up enough | | | | which turned out to be one of the most relaxing |
| for a hot dog and a beer each. We headed out to | | | | rounds we had all summer. One thing about golf, you |
| start at the 10th hole. | | | | just never know what's around the next sharp |
| As any golfer knows, there is nothing worse than | | | | dogleg turn. |