Say “fall” to New England golfers and you conjure up visions of sunny, temperate days and uncrowded fairways set against a picturesque background of colorful leaves. Either that or you’ll send us scrambling toward the first tee in all out panic, as in it-won’t-be-golf-weather-forever-so-get-your-rounds-in-NOW.
At this time of the year it is imperative to keep a close watch on meteorological conditions and take spur of the moment, decisive action in order to take advantage of optimum playing conditions. Despite the fact that golfers living south of us assume our courses are closed for the winter, many of us still keep our sticks close by and ready for a game. On our sandy little peninsula we are often snow-free when folks just north of us are buried. True, it might be easier to hide them away and be done with it, and attempt all out cold turkey withdrawal. But why, when a gorgeous day might beckon at any time?
It just so happened that recently we had an unexpectedly beautiful day for golf. At 47 degrees and partly sunny the weather was too sweet to resist, as perfectly framed as a Norman Rockwell painting. Our nearly ubiquitous winds were unusually absent, despite predictions of northerly gusts of 20 to 30 miles and hour. The sky was billowy with clouds but bright and non-threatening, promising as best it could that the day would not turn ugly on us. And as previously noted, we are never sure when golf weather will become non-golf weather, leaving our clubs collecting dust in the garage… so we must play, and play, every chance we get!
Several of my somewhat less than enthusiastic potential golfing companions had bailed early on, after a morning glimpse at the weather forecast. Silly people, they should know by now that looking out the window beats listening to the forecast nine times out of ten. I am a firm believer in the old New England adage that “if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes; it will change.” It can either work for you or against you. On this particular day we knew we were looking at a window of opportunity that was not likely to be open very long.
“Let’s try nine,” I said. Two of us headed off to the tee.
Despite what some may think about fall-bordering-on-winter golf, not all who play at this time of year are crazy. There is a method to our madness, at least, that makes it all seem oh, so rational.
There are a few basic concepts that keep you in relative comfort during off season rounds of golf. Wear adequate layers of clothing (and bring a few more); stay out of the shade (i.e. hit it straight); walk, don’t ride (avoid the additional wind chill from the golf cart, aren’t you cold enough already?); keep moving (jump from hole to hole to avoid slow play, sans the presence of rangers and a full golf course). And the best part: no need to keep score unless you want to, no rounds will be posted until spring. If nothing else, it’s a wonderful time to work on your game.
A foursome was headed out in front of us, playing the tips. Taking no chance of being held up, we scouted the next few holes and, finding them open, zipped across to the third tee. We played the front in record time, traversed our local traditional mini-loop on the back, ten and eleven, and found ourselves unable to resist finishing out our round with another mini-loop of one and two. Just liked that, skipping merrily from hole to hole, we’d chalked up eleven holes of golf in less than two hours.
It was tempting to continue on, but I could see my companion’s enthusiasm starting to fade and knew he needed an infusion of Bud Light. So close to the club house, with the sun starting to fade, he had the right idea. After all, as long as we watch the weather closely, there should be plenty of perfectly good golf days left in the season.
