Golfin' Buddies

Thanks to the wonderful understanding of my wife, I've been able to live up to my own personal promise to play a bit more golf this summer than usual. Last summer, I think I played 2-3 times a month. Now, I am getting out 1-2 times per week, which is certainly enough to feed the habit. It's even gotten my competitive juices flowing to the point where I feel I can enter tournaments again.

But, in order to play consistently, I needed to find a league (or two). Since most of my friends who live in Indy don't play a regular amount of golf, I needed something to get me a guaranteed game. And, of course, the leagues had to meet certain criteria:

1) Available - Lots of weekend travel and commitments make most leagues problematic for me

2) Cheap - Play it a lot and golf is really expensive

So, I've found my two outlets: One is My Church League which is a really nice group of guys on Monday afternoons with low-impact competition and all of the personal restraint I can muster to not curse or use the Lord's name in vain!

The other? Let's call it the exact opposite of the church league. It's the Men's Club choose up at South Grove, one of the city's oldest courses. It's not hard, but it's affordable. And, I am the youngest player in the league (minus 1 or 2) by at least 30 years. Almost every player in my league is a retired blue-collar worker. And while I grew up playing public golf courses, let's just say that my time in competitive golf and working at country clubs certainly removed me from this type of course clientele. Here is a snippet of my group a few weeks back:

All 3 of my teammates had solid beer guts. I'm talking about the gut that totally hides the belt (if there is one) and looks like a man pregnant with a medicine ball. The captain of my team wore his Purple Heart hat (bill flat with the gold, raised stitching), accented by his "Worlds Greatest Grandpa" T-shirt. I can't remember what our group produced more of during the day: pars or cigarette butts (I made at least a dozen pars, btw). But, the highlight...

We arrive on a hole back in the woods and one member of my group exclaims, "Good thing we are the first group off today, we'll get first pick." This was an odd thing to say 12 holes into the round. What could we possibly pick? I then watch as all 3 men walk towards the woods and begin eating the berries off the tree. Look, I know they won't kill you, but I never really thought of berry eating as a group activity amongst men on a golf course. There were other detours during the round to visit the woods and munch on some fruit. I felt like a spoiled young man when I pulled out my all-natural fruit and nut granola bar from my golf bag. It was like turning my back on Mother Nature, I guess (smirk)...

I only partially joke because they have been some of the most welcoming people to ever play golf with. They even help to educate me whenever possible. Like this past Saturday, when I was informed that all African-American people (my term, not theirs) are Muslims. News Flash to Me! Yep, no denying it, according to my partner.

I just hit my shot and kept on walking. It's affordable, Will, don't forget.