 | By TAMMY MALGESINI The East Oregonian |
I was late hitting the links for the first time, because I was appalled that players on TV wore slacks and collared shirts. How could that be a sport? I played softball, basketball, field hockey and ran hurdles - real sports where you sweat and get dirty.
I picked up my first club as a freshman in college. I figured it would be a fluff class and I could work on my tan.
Ah, but soon I found chasing a little white ball around was harder than it looked. But it quickly became a social activity for me, as I often visited other fairways on my quest to hit my ball to the right green.
So when I recently worked on a story about women and golf, it was painful to hang out on the course, drive a golf cart and watch others tee off, chip and putt. I desperately wanted to take a few swings.
Anyway, last Tuesday I hung out with women from the Big River Golf Course ladies league - the weather was pretty decent. But I gotta tell you, my hat's off to Carol Neely, Sharon Edgerly and Lisa Hagerman - those three ladies hit the links Wednesday at Echo Hills Golf Course. The wind was blowing and it was downright cold.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily a fair- weather golfer. Just ask Bonnie Gracia. I insisted on plodding forward to "get our money's worth" while golfing one time at Kinzua Hills Golf Club.
The quaint little course near Fossil is played on the "honor system." The whole honor thing and golf cracks me up. The little scorecard pencils don't even have erasers. Anyway, it was $5 for each time around the six-hole course. Yes, for five bucks I risked life and limb as the sky became foreboding.
It began to sprinkle as we played the first hole, but I was ok with that. By the time we got to the second hole, I would describe the precipitation as raining lightly. Bonnie, who looked disturbed that I would forge on, interpreted the weather on the second hole as a torrential downpour. Not even - that was to come later.
As we headed towards the third hole I thought I heard thunder, but I didn't see any lightning, so I figured it was no problem.
By the time we had teed off, I was delusional in thinking the sky looked like it was clearing up. The deer - who were munching on a hole earlier - were heading for cover.
As it started to rain again, I acted like I couldn't hear Bonnie as she made an observation about the weather.
Leaving my bag behind, I made my way to the fourth tee box with a couple of clubs. And just as I was about to address the ball there was a thunderous boom. Since I didn't see any lightning, I re-addressed my ball and hit my best shot of the day.
As I headed down from the tee box I met Bonnie, who was hunkered down in a crevice. And then there was a loud crackle and I saw it - the biggest, baddest bolt of lightning. With sheer panic on my face, I yelled, "Do you want to leave now?"
While her mouth merely said, "Yes," her face said, "I wanted to leave a long time ago."
Rather than heading to the clubhouse, I ran the opposite way. Bonnie screamed over the storm, "Where are you going?"
I pointed to my lightning rods, I mean golf clubs.
As we ran dragging our pull carts behind, I thought, "Who says you don't get a cardio work-out while golfing?"
Tammy Malgesini is the EO community editor. Her column, Inside my shoes, appears twice a month. You can reach her at tmalgesini@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4539.
