The game must go on
The Little River Golf Course weathered the recent series of storms but not without some consequences. Some of the fairways were littered with broken branches, pinecones, and stuff. A tree to the left of the second green blew down short of damaging the green. Just to the right of the eighth green, a large tree began blowing over by the roots and ended up falling into the arms of a neighboring tree. The tree was temporarily stopped from toppling into the first fairway but will have to be removed. The weather cleared Friday enough for several golfers to sample the stormed course. Among those golfers was a Stableford contingent of five: Scott Deitz, Jim Ellis, Larry England, Roland Johnson, and Dave Hautala. With only five golfers, the traditional Stableford format could not be played. Jim Ellis became the top wage earner in the reduced format. Talking to the group as they were finishing on hole eighteen, Jim Ellis said that all their shots got tangled up in the fallen tree by the second hole. Everyone in the group said the debris on the fairways presented a challenge as the golf balls ricocheted here and there.
Scott said, “I didn’t care how the course was. I just wanted to get out for a while.” We can all relate to “getting out” after days of being cooped up inside due to the weather. Many of us are without electricity. On Albion Ridge, where the Golf Notes guy lives, the power went off early Wednesday morning, January 4th. I shared with Jim Ellis, on the eighteenth green, that my generator, a hand-me-down generously passed on to me years ago by golfer Bill Speak, went kaput. No more heat, lights, internet, or phone Jim immediately said, “I have a small portable Honda that I can lend you.” “Yes!! Thank you very much, Jim.” I followed Jim home, got a brief how-to-run lesson, took it home, and we have had a refrigerator, heat, lights, and internet since. Very grateful, Jim. I’ve always said there is more to golf than golf.
Last Sunday, the weather cleared enough to let golfers have a go. Checking in with Mike Bradley at the Pro Shop that Sunday, he said the course wasn’t swarmed, but a reasonable number of players were out plying their trade. Yay!!! Monday morning, as this column is wrapping up, it looks like a fine cloud-filled windless day. Yay! Another golf day. The thing is, because of the clouds, golfers are not going to be able to use the telephone pole shadow on the fifth green to guide that putt into the hole.