Extending The Michigan Golf Season

Extending The Michigan Golf Season

I’ve played on Christmas Eve, but this year’s golf season has been as long as any I can remember.

I got out for a round at Washtenaw Golf Club after work on Friday the 17th of December and managed to get in sixteen holes before dark. I played one through fourteen, skipped fifteen and sixteen, then played seventeen and eighteen back in.

Temperatures were in the forties — but with no wind and the sun overhead, I was quite comfortable.

I was not alone in my madness. When I arrived at Washtenaw, the parking lot was at least half full of cars. I was well behind the crowd, though, teeing off at 2:45 pm.

I played much better than I did earlier in the week. When I am not playing regularly, the thing I struggle with most is remembering to turn — turn back and then turn through. I find myself hacking at the ball rather than turning through it. Once I remember to do that, I start playing much better.

Washtenaw is in great shape right now, but as luck would have it, I managed to drive a ball right into the one bunker with a large drift of leaves. On the uphill twelfth tee shot, I yanked the ball left into one of the facing bunkers.

Fortunately, I a) found it and b) it was sitting up. I managed to get a hybrid on it, send it up over the lip of the bunker and into the middle of the fairway. It was a nice recovery.

Sunset on December 17 was at 5:03. That’s not the shortest day of the year, but darn close.

Looking at the long-range forecast, I doubt I’ll get in a round before the end of the year. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for January, to extend the streak.