Thursday, February 4, 2010

It Takes All Kinds

After tinkering one last time (I hope) with the RTJ Golf Trail story, I decided to take advantage of the all-the-golf-you-can-play-for-50-bucks deal, since I'd already paid. So I arrived at the first tee, ready to enjoy a round of golf, yet as I addressed my ball, two guys are talking, loudly, right behind me. I had just joined their foursome, so I waited a few seconds to see if they would quite down, rather than asking them to be quiet, and creating an uncomfortable introduction. As it turned out, I should have said something, because I opted to play through their discussion, and chunked the first shot 25 yards—the first less-than-very-solid strike I've had on the first tee at the Lakes. Of course, I was then upset and had a who-knows-how-long pitch to a back pin tucked three paces from the sloping back fringe. And I started double, bogey, bogey, after having played 9 in two over on Tuesday.

The main jackass continues to be one on the next couple holes, then, on the 4th, he proceeds to intentionally hit into the foursome in front of us, who, apparently, were guilty of putting. The guy hit the ball, didn't say a single word, and when I said, "You drove into them. That's why they just looked as us," his response was, "Well, they're putting too slowly."

When another guy in our foursome, a very friendly man who used to work in the Long Beach Navy shipyard and who had just made a birdie on the previous hole, was busy tinkering in his bag, rather than teeing it up, I stepped to the tee, and our self-important jackass said that it was very bad karma to hit before a birdie shooter. I said nothing, backed off, and as our birdie shooter was in the middle of his backswing, Johnny Jackass started talking. That did it. I turned to him and said, "It's bad karma to play "ready golf" but it's okay for you to talk loudly while people address the ball. And on the fourth, you drove into the guys on the green, without yelling fore, and then blamed them for putting too slowly, though they had just pulled the pin."

Needless to say, the remaining holes were a touch awkward. Surprisingly, we didn't exchange numbers or even shake hands.

I went around again, this time behind the jackass, and it took everything in my power not to hit into him.

Instead, I proved that the great rounds of two days ago were a bit fluky, and I reaffirmed what I already knew to be true: Putts must fall for scores to do the same.
I didn't make a single birdie putt in 27 holes. But having walked 27 holes, I feel that skipping my 90-minute P9X yoga session is acceptable. I'll try to get back on track tomorrow.

The good news is that, at $11 to play 9 holes, I have already received my money's worth, since I've played 45 holes (do the math), so any rounds hereafter for the rest of the month are effectively free. Though, of course, my round with Jackass today cost me in many ways.

And the bad news is that yogurt girl was not flirting, or at least was not flirting with purpose, since she managed to squeeze in the word "boyfriend" rather quickly this evening. That's okay, though, since she likely wasn't a golfer.

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