Husband and Wife Tournament - Never Again!

Last Sunday I played with my friend Digger at Moon Valley Country Club. Digger is not playing enough golf at the club and he probably does not want to figure out (or tell his lovely wife) his cost per round! I always enjoy playing with Digger because we have a good conversation and neither of us takes the game too seriously. But around the 15th hole, Digger gets a call from his wife asking why he is not yet done and when he will be home. I think Digger once played a round in 3 hours and his wife believes that is the appropriate and reasonable amount of time necessary to play 18 holes of golf. While I agree with her and wish it were true, it has not been the case. On Sunday afternoons at Moon Valley Country Club, there is always some event occurring. Last time we played on Sunday afternoon, we were behind a juniors tournament. The juniors are generally pretty good players but they grind on every shot so it is slow. This week was a husband and wife tournament. The starter squeezed us in the middle and we played as an alternative lifestyle couple. The pace of play was excrutiatingly slow. Digger and I agreed that from now on we would try to play on Saturdays!

This weekend Digger's son was supposed to be making a model of the gastrointestinal system (meaning that Digger was making the model). He had it all planned out with toilet paper rolls and other household products. I now know that the gastrointestinal system includes the esophagus, stomach, small intestines, large intestines, anus and rectum. That was more information than I wanted to know. When Digger's wife called, he told her that she could get started without him, but I got the impression that Digger is integral to the project and no work could be commenced until he arrived. Whatever happened to making a volcano with baking soda and detergent!

Now, back to the golf. For once, I strung together two reasonably good 9s! We played from the Gold tees, which are 6,584 yards with a course rating of 71.1 and a slope rating of 120. I kept the ball in the fairway, I chipped and putted well, and I did not make any major bone-headed errors. On the front 9 I made par on the two par-5 holes and one double bogey on a par-3 hole (I hit the ball into the water) and bogeys on all of the other holes to shoot a 44. On the back 9 I had 4 pars and only one double bogey to shoot a 42 and an 86 for the round. My handicap is 14.6 right now and I think it may drop a few tenths of a stroke based on my last two scores.

Digger is hitting the ball really well off of the tees and was in the middle of the fairway on almost every hole. He was having a lot of trouble hitting his irons so he was always scrambling to just make bogey, which makes for a long day, especially when you are a 50+ year old and have to go home and build a model of the gastrointestinal system for your school project.