Outing report...

Hey,

At Putter's we started out as a whole group, 6 of us - the regs say only 5 in a group playing the course, but the woman said since there weren't many people we could go as a group....This didn't last more than the first hole, as it took all 6 of us a very long time to play the hole - was always confusing who was to put next....Of course, the first thing to decide was whether we use the rules of play, or use our own modified rules - Venice was clear, we use our modified rules...

So - starting on the 2nd hole, I went with Casey and Venice, and Granny played with Xander & Teiya....this moved things along much faster, at least for my group - by the time we played the 9th hole, half way thru the course, we were so far ahead the trailing group had played maybe 5 holes - Granny and I switched anyway, and Venice was "disappointed" - Why do we get Granny now...? - I said that she and I had discussed it, and felt that it was to the benefit of everyone to experience being with Granny and with me - oh, but with a sour sort of face - while she didn't say it, Venice felt it was "unfair"...

It was clear that Xander and Teiya needed a lot of help and tips on how to strike the ball - I'd watched Granny working very hard with the 2 of them, so I continued the "training" helping with their stance, the way they addressed the ball (as in, "how do you do, ball..." - just kidding), holding the putter, and how hard to hit the ball....Well, it was like trying to stand up a piece of cooked spaghetti - each time they'd "forget" the instructions....Teiya kept coming at the ball from the left-hand side, tho she admitted she was right-handed - after awhile, she got into the swing of it (hahaha) but kept just tapping the ball and it would dribble a couple of feet down the fairway and stop - I'd have her do it over again, then she'd hit it harder and it would be fine - but, on the next hole, we'd go thru the same routine....Xander was better at it, but he also had a hard time getting the club face to be in the right direction....About the 11th hole, Teiya asked if we could "skip" this hole as she was tired - but, she was ready to take on the next hole....Then around hole 16 she said again that she was tired, and could we skip this hole - I said fine, but Xander didn't want to skip it, so Teiya skipped it, and Xander played the hole....Atone point Xander while waiting his turn stuck the putter's head in a crack between a couple of bricks lining the edge of the green, and it got stuck - I hadn't noticed this, but all of a sudden here he comes over to me tears streaming down his face and silently crying - I hugged him, and asked what had happened - he showed me his putter stuck in the crack between the bricks, and he tugged on it and it wouldn't come out - more tears....I grabbed the handle and jiggled it back and forth and after some effort it came loose - Xander took the club, and wiping tears moved on to take his turn - he was fine after that, and didn't stick the putter into any cracks around the course...

Xander found a white ball about mid-way around the course that someone had left there - I pocketed it, and said we'd return it at the end....Xander asked me who had won between him and Teiya, so I tallied it up - when I told the two that they'd both gotten a score of 79, they seemed fine with that...

As we were progressing thru the holes, Teiya asked me if she could hit her ball into the water hazards - I said no, not deliberately, and asked why she wanted to do that - she wanted to retrieve her ball with the nets provided at various of the water hazards - she accidentally hit one into the creek, so did have an opportunity to scoop it out with the net, and was a happy camper for it...

More as, or if, I remember it...

Jiichan...