Sunday, February 19, 2017

Here's a SITREP ("Situation Report") from my second formal Hickory Golf event, which took place on a rainy Saturday in beautiful Puyallup, Washington.
First observation: Not only was rain predicted for most of the day, it was coming down pretty hard when I was getting ready to go forth and hack away. This fact determined my outfit; as an old soldier, I long ago embraced the philosophy of "You don't want to practice being miserable". In my case, this translated to wearing gore-tex golf pants, waterproof rain boots (Nike's "Lunar Bandon" wet weather golf footwear are the absolute best!), and a gore-tex jacket from The Home Course. My only concessions to period garb was my beat up old Scottish tweed newsboy cap, and an argyle sweater vest. When I arrived at the private golf course, I immediately noticed that all but one of the assembled group was sporting the plus fours, dress shirts, ties, and wool jackets. Most carried umbrellas (which by the way, is a real pain in the neck when carrying your clubs and stand sticks), but by the end of the round, pretty much everyone but me smelled much like a wet dog. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
The course was pretty soggy, but we were undeterred, and sallied forth in two, five-person teams to compete in a scramble match. Each team was pretty evenly matched, with one or two really skilled golfers, and the rest of us mid to high handicappers.

As we played, I was once again impressed with the exceptionally positive approach the veterans took toward us newbies. One of our teammates inadvertantly cost us a birdie on a hole, and was mortified when it was mentioned. Now if this had been committed among my usual gang of golf buddies, there would have been merciless ribbing for the rest of the round. Not so with the hickory players; there was instant forgiveness, shared stories of us all doing the same thing at other matches, and genuine efforts to boost our teammate's inclusion. (This same teammate ended up draining a 40-foot putt for birdie a couple of holes later, keeping us in the game!)

As for my own game, I'm finally starting to get comfortable with my clubs. Took me about 11 holes before I could hit my brassie (wood) with any consistency, but my irons and putter worked pretty well, and I have a better feel for distance. This was also my first time playing the McIntyre replica golf ball, which is pretty soft compression (maybe a 30); perfect for a slower swing speed. (Also lost my first one of those suckers into a water hazard, which hurt because they're kind of expensive!) Teaching point: Avoid going out of bounds or into the lake. Hashtag DUH.

Final learning experience of the day: I had to lay out clubs, bag, headcover, and support sticks in the dog room so everything could dry out, after first wiping down the clubs with a dry soft rag. Definitely don't want to ruin those babies, now that I'm getting the hang of them!

By the way, for any of my Seattle-area readers who might be interested in checking out Hickory Golf, the AP National Golf Club will have a display at the Seattle Golf Show, March 4-5 at the Century Link Field Convention Center. There will be a practice net set up to allow you to hit some hickorys, beginner sets of clubs for sale at a reasonable cost, and members there to answer any questions you might have. Stop by and say "Hi!"

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