Golfing at Painted Mountain

Nothin’ special for breakfast this morning — just fruit and toast! How is that a Sunday? Where’s the french toast and sausages? Things are starting to slip here in Gold Canyon.

We watched CBS Sunday Morning. Had a call and a skype from Alex and Max. I wanted to go golfing today — it looked like it would be a perfect day for it, not too hot, a bit cloudy, a bit of a breeze. So I went on GolfNow and got a tee time at Painted Mountain for 12 noon. Someone we’d golfed with a while ago recommended that course to us. So Sue packed us a couple of sandwiches and an apple and off we were.

Hold it! Not so fast. The drive to the course is half an hour. We’ve got an hour. But wait, what’s with all the traffic? We can’t even get out of Gold Canyon! Is this because of the Renaissance Festival down the road? Can’t be. This is crazy. The line-up at the corner will take us 15 minutes just to get onto Hwy 60. So I do a U-turn and go back around the loop — 10 kms to get to the ‘other’ corner. Oh yeah, now we realize there’s a MARATHON taking place here today. Lots of cops. Lots of cars. Lots of pylons on the highway.

Luckily the marathon was just over and we were only slightly delayed. We got to the course with about 15 minutes to spare. We were paired up with two single golfers: Bruce (from Calgary) and Jay (from Phoenix). We had high hopes for a good game and a fun time. Jay tees off — long ball flight, clears the water to the right, lands in the middle of the fairway, halfway to the par 5 hole. Bruce tees off — straight down the middle. Rudy’s turn: Splash. Mulligan. Second try just misses the bunker on the LEFT side of the fairway. Still a LONG way to go. Sue tees off. Into the same bunker. Second shot: into the NEXT bunker. I scored a snowman on the first hole! Well, not an auspicious start to the afternoon, to say the least.

BUT, things got better. And we had fun. Jay finished with a score of 72. Bruce broke 90 for the first time this year. Sue had a 93, and even though my drives let me down today, my putts were good enough for me to finish with an 84. (I hope you’re all keeping track of those stats at home.)

We drove home and barbecued hotdogs. Watched 60 Minutes, and then the SNL 40th Anniversary show, which went on till 10:30. Fifth Estate after that. Great chocolate-peanut butter ice cream for night snack. A pretty good Sunday after all.