A first attempt at golf

Most people know that I am not much of a golfer. When Kate was in high school, I tried to play some in support of Kate. I would still like to play some with her if she wants. But golf has never been my forte.

However, I ran across this picture yesterday depicting a house on Skyline Drive, out in the country, south of Hopkinsville. I believe this is the same place that back in the 60's was a country club with an attached pool and golf course. When I was young, Aunt Meg and Momma used to haul the cousins all down to the pool which was located behind this building to go swimming in the Summer. After playing in the water for some time, Frank and Ed and I would walk around the back of the clubhouse to buy candy and sodas from the machines in the pro shop for the golf course.

One time when Ed, Frank and I were dropped off at the pool, we ended up in the pro shop and Ed saw a friend of his getting ready to play golf. We were invited along to watch him hit the balls around the course. All four of us ended up trying to hit the little white balls around the into the holes. We spent a nice afternoon walking around the course, pretending we were Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus or Gary Player.

This, I believe, was the first time we had ever played golf. Now when you play golf as an adult you have to live up to certain expectations of dress and conduct. But when we played that day, we were barefoot, in bathing suits, and probably wearing tee-shirts. The rules were a little bit lax for us on that course. And we weren't keeping score. I think the ball-washers were just as interesting to us at that age as any other part of the golf course. Not to mention the trains blowing past on the tracks that ran along the end of the course.

I think that if I had had access to a golf course where they were as lax with the rules as they were that day, I might have ended up playing more golf when I got to be an adult. But football and baseball and basketball ended up being my sports.