It’s been more than two weeks since I used the line “this might be it for the year.” Get this; the golfing is still going strong.

I played with OD (I’ll get back to him later) yesterday and the course was in fine form. It was in the low 60’s and, yes, there was some fairly persistent drizzle but nothing close to the worst day I’ve played this year. So why did we have the course to ourselves? Alright we didn’t really have it to ourselves. There was a rafter of turkeys hanging in the 12th fairway (didn’t effect me as the closest I got to the 12th fairway was my tee shot on #11) and copious evidence that the Canada geese had been there recently. But no golfers. We teed off at 10:30 and, a month ago, the place would have been pretty busy with the exact same weather conditions but people (I won’t call them golfers) have already drawn a line and put their clubs away. I feel sorry for them. We live in Maine for crying out loud. Perfect summery days are about as common as double eagles. My friend, Liberty, when asked if he was joining us, actually said, and I quote:

“Out. Clubs are locked away. Don't want to risk getting hurt with ski season on the horizon.”

Wow. Golf as a dangerous sport? I could see him holding off on scaling Everest or running with the bulls but 18 holes on relatively flat terrain? I guess those turkeys could have turned on us.

But seriously, the courses are in very good shape (check to see if your course recently aerated as one I played last week just did), the temps have been seasonally mild and the rates have dropped at many places. I call this Bonus golf and I’m not done yet.

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Back to OD – the guy averages something like 110 and I have only seen him break 100 once. My handicap is an 11 but the beauty of golf over a game like tennis is that OD and I can play together and both have fun. Well, I know I’m having fun anyway. One thing OD gets that a lot of golfers don’t is that he really enjoys his good shots. Love playing with guys who enjoy good shots as opposed to, “Where was that shot on the last hole?” guy.

So, yesterday OD gets off to a good but not overwhelming start and then proceeds to go par, par, birdie, par. That stretch helped him to a stunning 43 on the front. His nerves got to him a bit on the back as he started thinking about his score but he still scorched Spring Meadows for a freakin’ 91. That might be the last time I see him until spring.

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