“Usta” Golf

There was a time when there were no elements, save snow or storm, that could deflect or affect “the game.” Raingear, waterproof shoes, weather gloves or sweat-sapping shirt—and the bag was carried, not pulled, and rarely rode on the back of a cart!

The poker/golf group recently agreed, over a dealt hand of draw poker, that those days have passed. Rain, temperature, dampness, wind, or even threatening clouds (though we all agreed there must be four or more to complete the threat) have become permanent deterrents. Macho golf has gone the way of the princess phone, Bosco, chariots and Cronkite. Yep, we all agreed there must be reasonable decisions in our “advanced” years; bluffing, raising, calling, and threatening behind five cards is much more civilized than yelling “fore” through freezing hands, having our shoes muddied with fat shots, losing valuable tees, and polluting the game with excuses.

I call.

The gal and her pup

                 

No one was really sure how the argument started; however, it was clear how it ended ...

Fred/Ed/Raggio

UNDER FIRE

Needed:

Four immediate-response fire airports (fireports) constructed at strategic points from north to south in California, each equipped with three or four retardant-bomber 727s awaiting deployment, as well as a fleet of helicopters and transport for emergency personnel to the affected area.

These fireports will also require establishment of a new state agency that will deal only with wildfire response; special taxes will fund and maintain resources for what is certainly inevitable.

How many more lives will we lose? How many billions have we already spent and will we spend again? There is enough ash. Climate change is at all our feet. 

What to do when the play is very very very slow ...

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssslllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww play.

So we took a picture!

The Sandy Scramble!

                                          Seen crossing the cart path on the way to hole 11

                                                  The miracle back nine!!



                                 The sandy scramble

Setting:  Red tees. Scramble format. Threesomes.

Team 1: Wade, Coach and Raggio

Team 2: Dalhed, Lyle and Riva

Conditions: Sanded greens, temperature in the low 70s, and almost no one on the course!

Team 2 (over beer) explained that their putters simply would not cooperate. Time and again they shaved the hole, but nothing wanted to drop. They reported only one birdie on the front 9.

Team 1 also had only one birdie on the front side, and that was on the first hole. “Let’s just birdie the whole back 9,” Raggio proposed. The chuckles were dismissive, but chuckles nonetheless.

What happened in the next hour and twenty minutes will go down in Wade Group history: a threesome proceeded to shoot 29 on the back nine, birdie-ing 7 of 9 holes. All three players contributed equally and made putts from different counties!

The game was fun for all! The record for a White-Tee Scramble is 6. Now we have a Red-Tee record: 8.

More Scrambles, please!

Team 1 pics:

Miscellaneous