This really is a great game

A week ago Sunday a lady friend and I decided on an afternoon round to celebrate an additional hour of daylight. We settled on a tee time at the Myrtle Beach National West Course. Our starter asked if we’d be willing to be paired with two ladies. The starter was obviously a little on easy in asking, but we told him no problem.

Upon getting out of our cart to introduce ourselves we realized both ladies were in their 80s. Of course speed of play immediately crossed my mind. The starter accommodated his concerns by suggesting the ladies take the cart to their tee boxes. That’s all the head start they needed and speed of play was never an issue.

These ladies were great.  Although they did move slowly from cart to green, on tee boxes and fairways there were no exaggerated pre-shot routines. Just choose a club, line up and strike the ball; usually down the middle. You could tell these two ladies from Pennsylvania were no strangers to the game. I can only hope I strike the ball as solidly in my mid 80s as these two did.

On No. 7 green they apologized and told us they were only playing 9-holes, today. They wanted to get home and watch the Penn State vs. Temple basketball game. “We’re big Penn State fans and really excited they’re in the NCAA tournament,” they added.

Yesterday, I had another enlightening experience. Scheduled to play the Pearl-West course, again I was a twosome and the starter paired us with a retired gentleman. That’s not a problem with me. In 30-years playing Myrtle Beach area courses, I’ve only had one really bad experience. In fact I really enjoy meeting other golfers and hearing their stories. After all I am a writer.

This pairing turned out to be truly unique. Our playing companion was a deaf-mute. I’ve never played with a golfer that had both a hearing and speaking challenge. It worked out really well. He had a small notebook he used to introduce himself. I had my own notebook to write my observations on the course. Also, we quickly developed a few gestures to indicate, “Good shot”, “I saw your ball”, and of course “What was I thinking”!  If ever there was a time I wished I knew signing, yesterday was that time.

These two recent experiences brought back to light what a great game we play. If someone truly loves the game of golf neither age, nor physical challenges will keep him or her from their sport!