gowf

This past Friday, the stars, against all conceivable odds, aligned. My roommate’s fiancé was out of town, which meant that we got to spend some time with our long lost friend, Jared. Jared happens to be currently enrolled in a golf class, a skill he has used to impress his impending inlaws. He has to play a few times out of class as part of the course requirements, so we decided that this would be good opportunity for us to go.

There are two aspects of golf. The first is of course hitting the ball into the hole. The second, the part in which I excel more, is looking like a golfer. I grabbed my argyle socks to go with my plaid shorts. I probably should have also thrown on a newsie’s cap, but I like to think I would have still made Payne Stewart proud. Good form on the practice swing

We went out to the Links at Sleepy Ridge, a beautiful course near Utah Lake, in the west end of Orem. Pulling up to the course, you are immediately greeted by the massive club house. It is a mansion of a building that plays host to weddings and other catered events, as well as housing the pro shop and Magleby’s restaurant.

Because he is in a golf class at BYU, Jared was able to get us 9 holes at about half price. They threw in my club rentals for free and gave us a cart for only 5 more bucks. For that I commend the folks at Sleepy Ridge. Very friendly people. We grabbed our clubs and strapped them onto the back of the cart and followed the GPS to the first of 9.

The extent of my golfing lessons mostly comes from reading P.G. Woodhouse’s The Coming of Gowf. There we are instructed by a true scot, “Use the interlocking grup and keep the staunce a wee bit open and slow back, and dinna press or sway the heid and keep yer e'e on the ba'.” With thast in mind I approached the first tee. We played through 9 holes. My highlight was getting par on the 8th. Chipping onto the green, I somehow managed to hit the ball right where I wanted to. It landed on the slope and rolled straight towards the hole, stopping one inch away from the lip. I leapt into the air, swinging my club in celebration.

We only lost about 8 balls between the two us, less than 1 per hole. I also managed to find 2 new balls in the various water hazards while looking for my own. I finished the front nine 10 under double par, one stroke behind Jared. Not bad, not bad at all.