Wind and rain and hail, oh my!

This past week has been very off and on weatherwise for golf. The wind, rain, and hail have discouraged us from venturing out on the course. I'm sure the inveterate local mudders, like the Minors, Dave, and Wendy, have played as much as possible dodging the raindrops. Last Sunday, despite questionable ominous weather, four potential Stableford players took a chance. With no Sunday football to watch, Scott Deitz, Dave Hautala, Larry England, and David Gillette gave it a go. The story of this foursome is that on the first hole, Scott scored a triple bogy. Ugg. Tough way to begin on this cold day. However, Scott shook the triple off and pared the next seven holes.

Scott and the group arrived at the ninth tee at the same time as the rain. His playing buddies, in carts, declared they had had enough. They were not willing to get wet for one more hole. Scott, a walker, on the other hand, with seven pars and one triple, was only three over par and wanted to see the outcome of this great round. Scott usually teed off to number nine, a three par, with a three wood. Because of the wind, Scott decided to use his driver. Scott punched his tee into the ninth tee box, swung mighty, and watched his ball sore to the right over the driving range net. “Oh no. What did I do?” Scott aimed his errant shot at the eighteenth green instead of the ninth. It was conjectured that this was the last hole because the others were finished, and Scott would not play the back nine. The last hole in a round usually is eighteen. All this got jumbled up in Scott's mind with the rain and the wind. Scott teed up again, took his penalty stroke, and finished his round with another triple bogy. It's still a very lovely round, Scott. Despite the weather, shooting a forty-one on the front is respectable.

Here is an Audubon report from course supervisor Terry Stratton. About two weeks ago, I changed the nesting material (chainsaw by-product from firewood making at the Inn) at the wood duck nest box above the pond behind the #5 tee. In the old decaying nest material were several broken eggs. Hopefully, they have hatched egg remains from last season and not due to any recent raiding predators! The tree has a sheet metal critter guard around the trunk to prevent predators from climbing up to the box. We had our first-ever family of wood ducks fledge from this nest box a couple of seasons ago. Since the early 2000s, we have installed various nest structures around the course for osprey, bats, barn owls, and wood ducks, without positive results until those fledglings a few years back. A certified Audubon International cooperative sanctuary since 2005, we encourage the preservation and creation of wildlife habitat on the golf course. Given the past activity at this nest box, we have high hopes for a successful fledge this year. Our course is a sanctuary for birdies. What could be better? Thanks, Terry