My preference...

definitely would not be Carnoustie..... I can't even envision being a member there.  Maybe there are tee boxes set up for those who can't bomb it a mile....or worse yet...those who would always be in the "burn" or the "rough".  It is a "links" style course...no trees.... just long scraggly grass here and there... big, deep sand bunkers... thick gorse bushes that swallow balls....wind blowing a gale off the ocean most days, etc.  Not my idea of fun at all.  In all fairness, I know they can't very well irrigate something this monstrous..nor would they want to... after all .. this IS the home of links golf.  And...this photo makes it look pretty green...which it is not.... 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The word "links" comes from the Scots language and refers to an area of coastal sand dunes and sometimes to open parkland.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay..now..... here is my beautiful course.... serene, green, lots of lovely trees, which also make it challenging, as you do want to try to keep the ball in the middle of the fairway.... some of which are pretty narrow but, at least you can find it if it goes offline... unlike trying to dig it out of a gorse bush.

Occasional water hazards...just to keep you on your toes... but also...the beauty of it....... just look at this little island green.  There is a cute little footbridge leading to it...and a little muskrat lives under it. We sometimes see him on the walk over to putt ... (or maybe we have to get it out of the sand first)... yep...I was in there ...only once so far.  It is a mere 77 yards to the middle of the green from the shortest tees.  Which I am still using.   But...it is a tricky little shot too.  Sand traps all around the green.... some water to sail it over .... it's all a head game really, this golf.
If you look to the left....on the other side of the water .. near that little reddish tree?  You can see the tees lots of the ladies use.  For those of you who don't golf... there are several other tee boxes yards behind those...  ..each progressively further away... 'til you come to the Blacks ...or champions tees.  And, also from where the juniors or kids whack the ball.  Sigh... it is almost unnerving.  They are miles back...well, not miles..but, you know, if I didn't exaggerate.  How I wish I'd been able to take up golf as a kid.  Well, it just couldn't have happened in my childhood...but, in a perfect world, it sure as heck would have.

This is from above on the road leading down into the course..... what a beautiful sight as you drive in .... it was absolutely perfect this day.... .. not a breath of wind to ruffle the water.... 

come for a walk....

I'm out here at the golf course..... taking some lessons ... doing some practicing.... trying out my new found information.... wandering around the beautiful landscape and am hitting it a bit better, but still not as well as I'd like.  Sooooooon...... I hope.....

 ....  I even had time to take a few shots with my camera last time out..... imagine me here.... I wish you could all be hanging out here too.  Even if you don't golf.... and you don't have to walk if you don't want....just get a cart...ride along sipping on a cold beverage...... having a laugh or two.....

However...I golf for exercise ....so, the walking is great.

what's that?  looks like rhubarb to me.  Giant rhubarb! Must take a closer look next time...I could pick a stalk or two... that size would fill the pot.  I love rhubarb in my apple cobbler.

...how could you not love being out here?  so peaceful and quiet...

Off to have a snack and a nap....... hope you enjoyed your walkabout in the greenery....

Beeeeyoootiful day!!!

It's an absolutely gorgeous blue sky day now that the sun broke through the fog and crystals.  There is such a heavy hoary frost!  I quickly slurped a bit of coffee and dashed out without even brushing teeth or putting on eyes... a quick drive to the nearby golf course.

The snow is pretty deep in spots over there...so I was up to my knees in it most of the time.  Some cross country skiers have laid a few trails...but, I didn't want to put my boot tracks into the perfect ski sized lines... so walked beside them.  It was silent except for the happy chirping of the little sparrows and chickadees. Nobody there today but me.  Lovely.  I crunched along on a crust of snow covered with the latest soft inch of new stuff ... breaking through about every third step or so.. snowshoes would have been helpful.

Any time of year, this, ...  my favourite golf course  ... is beautiful... ...

Come along on my walk.... click on any photo to "biggify" as Daisy the Curly Cat says.... I love that word.  It gives a much better idea of the size and scope of things....

looking down the 7th....

long needles of a young pine

Walking up the 8th fairway..

an annoying spot on my lens ..  seemed to appear in several shots.... arrgghhhh...!! if I knew how to photoshop... ....or.. something.....

lots of little critters...and some fairly large ones too... call this home.  Deer and coyotes as well as plenty of bunnies and squirrels... a regular thoroughfare from the look of it.  I was the only human footprint...

I'm betting this is Cerulean Blue.... love the frosty branches against the sky...

Fence around some maintenance buildings..

amazing how the frost crystals form on anything and everything......

Standing on the tee box of the 1st fairway.... love it.  Out, out damn spot!!  I'll have to pretend it's my golf ball in flight....straight down the center...yeh...that's what I'll do....

This looks like beach grass ... it's where I got a wet bum...crouching down in snow over a foot deep ..

Honestly, snow shoes would have been good... ..the drifts got up to 2 feet deep on some hillside areas... 

..still desperately clinging by a thread..

standing near the 4th green.... it's in a bowl...

heading back up the hill from the 4th .... puff..upfh..... whew! See ...golfing is a workout if you pick the right course.  It was cool enough at -8C... but, by then.. even my hands had warmed up a bit in the lovely sun and from working at slogging through deep snow.  Although it was kind of wet and cool on my legs.  To me it is colder at -8C with dampness than it is at a dry -21C.  Today the humidity is 87%. Brrrrr....

Green ash seed pods.... lots of them never seem to fall off before winter.

Back at the parking lot... look at the 7th fairway...

Home and warm...out of the soggy things....

wow....what a weekend....

Perfect weather.... sun and fun. Played in the garden for hours... still tidying up winter's debris. Enjoying the first flowers.









On a fun note:... neighbours had a tee time for Sunday ... high noon. Time to do battle with our closest city course.... the toughest and longest and in reality a benchmark course. Dusted off and polished up our weapons. Froze some water in a bottle. Packed some snacks..

If you can play well on this course....nothing will intimidate you. Length from the "champion" or black tees.... 6576 yards. So, even if you don't tee off from that distance, you still must walk past each of those tee boxes...and hence walk the whole length of the course. It is several miles by the end of the day. It is up and down hill and dale as well...so pulling or pushing or holding back our carts as we needed to... my feet were getting sore by the end of it. And..it was HOT. . we all got sunburned.

The guys used the whites at 5779 and we used the forward tees at 5503 yds. Long enough for the first 18 hole game of the season. On Wednesdays, with "my old guys", I only play 9 holes on a much smaller course. To be honest, I was a bit panicked to do 18 ...especially on this particular course, after not swinging a club all last year...and only having been out two times with my Wednesday buddies. I only wanted to have one swing thought in my head as I stepped nervously up to the first tee. Keep my eye on the ball. That way, no matter what I looked like, or swung like.... I would hit the ball for sure. There is nothing quite as embarrassing as "whiffing" (that means missing the ball entirely!!) on the only tee where everybody is standing around watching you ...... not that they really care... and for sure they don't know me...and what difference does it make anyway? ...but...somehow inside... it does. And, besides, they say right on the score card..... "this is an intermediate to advanced skill level course"... and although they also say all golfers are allowed on the course there is also the stipulation that you must keep up the "pace of play"...which is 4 hours, .... 4 1/2 hours maximum on busy days. If you can't keep up the pace you must pick up your ball and walk to the spot where the better players have hit theirs and take your next shot from there. So...I need to be able to get it at least 150 yds. or so on a fairway shot to be able to keep up. Marshals are out there in their little riding carts...kind of like the old west...almost like they are on horse back when you think of it.... forcing us to speed up or "play on" if we fall behind by more than a hole...... But........ first drive of the day..... 150 and straight down the center of the fairway!! Hah! we were off and I was a happy camper! the guys went into some trees...way down there........ and my friend was just to the right of me on the fairyway. (hahahha look at that... fairy way) ....love it. It is the fairway actually. However, it became the "fairy way" after the very first shot. It was magical... a beautiful golf course, ....all to ourselves! The group behind us must have had poor tee shots...and the group in front disappeared from the first tee before we even took our third shots... the pace was wonderful... walk, hit.. etc.. The guys behind never did get near us..... the ones in front were always off the green by our approach. Perfect pace. I only lost one ball to the water.... and managed to score 107.... I was pretty pleased with myself for my first game. I know I can improve on that by several shots... cuz I lost some shots to just silly errors and looking up too soon....... looking forward to the next attempt ...and will be soooo much more relaxed now that I know I can still do what I was able to a few years ago. Around the green I don't lose many shots... as a matter of fact, I took some sand and chipping lessons years ago... and the pro told me that women can do away with a lot of shots around the green by perfecting shots the guys never practice. He was right... women don't need to be able to hit the ball 250 yards... (especially into trees or long grass) .. as long as once we get to within 100 yards of the green we play it smart. And, practice chipping and putting.... it saves soooo many strokes! I like to think I am a pretty good putter... it does take a few games to get a feel for it though...










This pic is from a few years ago... forgot my camera on Sunday.... playing in a foursome with the guys from the smaller company we are now "with". A rather cool October day at a beautiful private course that we managed to get on .. due to a member of the course who used to own the engineering company. Sure wish I had pics of this past weekend.... darn it.


Mr. BumbleVee.... who is notorious for a rather poor attitude on a golf course, (I have decided it is because he is very competitive, but, also embarrasses easily) had a really great day. I mean,it became almost legendary years ago... when working for a large oil company. Yearly golf tournaments had to be played... one year somebody called me to say they had a lottery going for a big weekend golf tournament... did I want to buy some squares. They had a huge pool of money already..almost sold out. It was a guessing game... on which hole would G lose it. At first I was ... uhm.... a bit embarrassed ... both for me and then for him. But... I figured what the hey... I could win some money! the pot was pretty big! As it turned out... he did fine for two whole days... somebody who didn't know him had chosen the third day ... and they won. They even had people in his group and in front and behind watching and they would be the judges as to whether he really lost it or it was just a normal swearing thing as they all do if they miss a critical shot or something. They all agreed...he held it together pretty well 'til the morning of the third day..when he was in contention for a big win and then...as they say in golf.... "the wheels fell off" .. both with his game and his attitude. People have to hide when his wheels really come off.... clubs might even go sailing ... sigh... poor guy. But.. . back to Sunday.... he shot an 89 !! He has never broken 100 on this course. He was quietly very impressed with himself I am sure.. ... now to hold onto that thought. I end up not being able to play with him if he "loses it" more than a couple times in a season ... I then just refuse to go with him to the course until next year. I have to find others to play with... so I am still hoping that as he ages..perhaps he will mellow....but..... not clinging to that hope very desperately. After all ...he is a man. But, I have found other people to golf with so that he doesn't have to force himself to be out there just to make me happy. It is kind of sad really.... because he has infinite patience with others.....how strange. He even taught me all he knew about golf.......til the point where he said he didn't know enough to help me any further and that I should probably take a few lessons from a pro. He has taught many others too... so patient with all of them...even the totally non-athletic ones...but just not for himself.... I so want to be able to golf with him til well into old age....so I guess I do keep hoping.....