Mid December Golf At Washtenaw Golf Club

Mid December Golf At Washtenaw Golf Club

For as long as I can remember, there have been a couple of days every December when the temperatures rise into the low fifties. It’s one of the reasons I have never worried about getting in a December round to extend my consecutive months streak. Friday was one of those days.

Washtenaw Golf Club’s (course link) parking lot was absolutely full when I pulled in at a quarter to three. I clearly was not the only one who had the idea of stealing a round from Old Man Winter.

At this time of year in Michigan, three o’clock is basically twilight. It gets dark shortly after five, so I had two hours to play as many holes as possible.

Fortunately, even as the course was packed, everyone was moving along at a steady pace. I played relatively well, hitting the ball consistently straight, if not long.

I was most pleased with the approach shot I hit to the green on the seventh. For reasons unexplained, I consistently put balls in Paint Creek on that hole, even after hitting a perfectly fine drive. It’s a curse.

My usual bad luck on this day instead haunted one of my playing partners, who dumped his own second shot in the creek.

Looking west from the tenth at Washtenaw Golf Club.

My group finished the nine in an hour and forty-five minutes, and two of us decided to squeeze in a couple more holes.

One of the nice things about Washtenaw Golf Club is that holes ten, eleven and twelve form a loop that returns to the clubhouse side. When trying to squeeze a couple more holes out of the day, that loop is perfect. There have been many late evenings when I finished nine or eighteen and was able to squeeze out three more holes before dark.

We managed to finish up on the par three twelfth just as the sun went down. It is remarkable to me just how fast the temperature drops on these winter days. As I was walking up the tenth, I was perfectly fine in short sleeves and a Footjoy vest. Walking down the hill on twelve, under the last rays, both my partner and I remarked that it was suddenly uncomfortably cold.

My unscientific guess is that the days are neither long enough nor warm enough to absorb and retain heat. Summer evenings seem to cool off more slowly.

I’m following the ten-day forecast closely to see if there will be some more opportunities for a quick nine after work this next week.