The Irony of Generalizations

In the last few days I have blogged repeatedly about the many hazards of the golf course here at the Sun Peaks Resort. However, despite recent interactions with various wildlife on the course, actually playing the course today proved to be quite entertaining, and not as varied as I would have expected given the previous generalizations regarding the additional golf hazards provided by the mountains of Canada.

SPF and I went out and shot the first 9 holes of the course. It was his first time golfing. And yes, you guessed it, just like every other sport that he tries, he was inherently good. However, like my sister said to me when she tied my score the last time we golfed (also her first time) it was undoubtedly because I am a good teacher that my opponents/family and friends always beat me. Actually, to prevent the inherent competitive nastiness that I knew would ensue if SPF were to beat me at the pastime that I have spent the last year and a half learning, we played a scramble game. Best ball gets played, no matter whose it is. Sometimes it was mine, mostly on the drives it was him. No worries, we were cooperative, not competitive. His first drive was incredible, dwarfing my 100 yards or so with probably 170. Straight down the fairway. My short game was generally better. He would get us to the hole, and I would get us in. I did have one sweet drive though, a short hole with woods, creek, and a bridge between the tee and the green. No real fairway on this one, just a halo of taller grass around the green. The green was 126 yards from the tee and my drive was a perfectly straight 118, I'd say. It landed softly in the tall grass just outside the green. That is the only hole that we got par on. Other than that we did quite well on some holes, poorly on others. There was one hole, the sixth, that was a series of terraced and hilly increments upwards that placed the green probably 100 feet above the tee. It was a hell of a hole. When we reached double par, I picked up my ball and walked on to the next hole, instructing SPF to do the same. Yes, there were other golfers being held up at that point, but the hole seemed to have the same affect on everyone.

All in all we actually had a very nice time. The scenery couldn't be beat, and the holes were challenging but (with that one exception) not unreasonable. All in all a very nice day. We were tired at the end of 9 holes, and we both were getting new blisters (no gloves) so we drove the cart back to the lodge and got some crepes for lunch.

We had intended to go horse back riding, but it turns out that golf was less than half as expensive, with renting clubs, buying balls, and getting the cart. You have to get the cart. It makes everything more fun.

Tomorrow, off to Vancouver.