Golf Woes @ Darby Creek

I woke just after 7am. After a glance out the window it was obvious that it had rained significantly overnight. For the time being however, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I was excited about that. The forecast wasn’t as promising. It wasn’t expected to rain but it was expected to be mostly cloudy at least through mi-afternoon. Because it was Sunday I skipped morning calisthenics. Instead, I simply enjoyed coffee and took Frankie out back at a more leisurely pace. I headed out for a run by 815am running just three sweaty miles. It was awfully humid do to all the moisture. Before heading up for a shower I took Frankie out for a second time. Kenny was out chipping on his putting green. He & I would be heading out around 930am. Said the rest of the family was still up north at Mike & Julie’s. It was almost 9am by the time I hit the shower. I delivered coffee and handed the pug to Mindy. I was out of the shower and dressed by 910am. Meanwhile, Mindy planned on attending church after being asked to speak to the congregation as an educator at a sermon designed to recognize the children of the congregation for their academic achievements this school year. I made a quick egg, cheese, Canadian bacon sandwich before heading out. Kenny & I hadn’t yet determined who’d be driving. He pulled up in our driveway at 930am sharp. Guess it would be him.  Mindy came out and whispered that it was Kenny’s birthday this coming Thursday. I planned to get his green fees. As with most preferred golf venues, Darby Creek is 30 miles from the house. We took I-270N to Rt 33W to Rt 161W west of Plain City. We arrived just after 10am. And while I woke to clear skies, it was completely clouded over again. What’s new? We were there just ahead of Guy Bob I. And since I hadn’t yet recognized Bob’s April birthday, I ended up picking up the fees for the entire foursome. I had a coupon providing a foursome with carts for $160, a $32 savings. We had a few minutes to practice putting and chipping before teeing off. Sadly, that did little to help my game. With out a lot of details, I was bad in all facets of my game, and this was a very unforgiving course. It had everything, heather, woods, water, and length. And to top it off, it was extremely wet. I shot well over 100 and honestly was done around hole 14 or 15. Plain and simple, I couldn’t put two good shots back to back all day long. No one shot particularly well, but I clearly under achieved the best.  I was playing so poorly that I acquiesced and drank a beer, something I rarely do on the course. We finished up at 330pm on the nose – about 4.75 hours later. I already knew the kids were home from their beach vacation. I called Mindy from one of the holes along the back nine to check. Said Jacob loves his new room and Bella loves her DVD set. I was looking forward to seeing them. I was depressed over my horrible golf game and anxious to put it behind me. I almost left my Oakley sunglasses in the golf cart, remembering last minute and running back to the clubhouse to fetch ‘em. Just as I ran up the cart boy was pulling away in our cart. I politely stopped him and reached behind the empty ball sleeve to grab my glasses. Good timing otherwise they’d have been on his head instead of mine today.  We arrived home near 4pm. I already knew that Mindy’s mom and my dad were coming for dinner. Gloria was already over. After greeting the kids, Jacob and I headed out back to throw the baseball, his request. It was quite steamy. And while waiting on dinner to be finalized (tacos), I untangled the two fishing poles Jacob took to the Outer Banks. Not only were they tangled but the reels weren’t functioning either. It took some doing but I got them separated and fixed. Jacob started fishing even as dinner was about to be served. Dad got there around 430pm. Jacob caught a carp just minutes after tossing in his line. About the same time, Mindy hollered that dinner was ready. We all headed in. Dad shared exciting news about brother Bob being offered part ownership the company, ELK Productions, he’s worked for over the last 15 years or so. He also shared some not so exciting news about Shawn. Same old same old. Everyone seemed to enjoy their dinner. I was full. After clean-up, the kids wanted to fish. I took Jacob, Bella, and Makayla across the street to fish on Carl’s side of the street. There are blue gill over there. Not sure why they don’t seem to venture our side as much. We spent more than an hour fishing over there using old moldy bread as bait. And by the time we finished, each of the kids had caught at least one fish. Makayla was the last. Said it was the very first fish she’s ever caught on her own. She was very excited. Cute! Dad left a good 30 minutes prior. Mindy eventually joined us with Frankie on her leash. Neighbor Carl came out to chat too. Shared that he was having a kidney out the following morning. Told us a long version of the story leading up to that conclusion. We wished him well before we headed back home to get the kids bathed. It was already after 8pm. The kids got showers. I needed one after sweating through an entire afternoon of golf. But I never did take one. We tucked the kids into bed around 930pm. Both were exhausted. We headed to bed at 10pm.