Fall Golf

I really didn't have the camera lined up right for this shot, made with the self timer on my trusty Sony pocket camera, on the first tee at the Grand Hotel's Jewel front nine, but there is a wonderful serendipity in the photo anyway.

The grass was green as could be and thick. It was really hard to launch an iron shot out of the stuff. The four of us, Wanda and Ed from Pigeon, Mike from Minnesota, and Steve from Seattle, were a team for an afternoon 18 hole scramble. It was a perfect fall day on Mackinac Island -- cool and sunny with high clouds that made the views out over the Straits of Mackinac picture perfect.

Once we hit the back nine, we were feeling the cold winds of the Great Lakes and wishing for another jacket. Memorably, for me, I hit a really long putt -- really, really long, think 60 feet -- from the fringe of the green on Hole Fifteen, a par 5, that hit the flagstick and stayed in the hole. That chip shot turned out to be the longest birdie putt I've ever made (so far.) Golfers say that a shot like that keeps you coming back.

Our friend Steve had a 300 yard drive that we spent time looking for and finally found almost on the green. Steve is a native of Seattle who lives in Seattle, kind of a rare bird, like someone who actually was born and lives in Washington, D.C.

I almost quit golf three years ago. Now, I'd golf almost any day and had a great time being on this team.

Ephemera in the photo:

++ Ed is wearing his golf sandals, which he will do all fall, even as the weather gets really cold. 

++ There is a red telephone booth, British red, just slightly right of center.

++ The flag appearing object to the right of the phone booth is actually an umbrella, cranked down because of winds. 

Copyright 2011

Wanda Hayes Eichler