Be the Ball, Rob

 

The Powelton Club, Balmville, NY (Wikipedia)

It's been eight years.

That was the last time I attempted to play a round of golf.

It was at Putnam County Golf Course in Mahopac. Of course, I knew that course from years of looking at it from Austin Road Elementary School as well as passing it on Hill Street.

But until that day, with thanks to Chris Erway, I had never played there.

Chris is an excellent golfer and he counsels me on my (lack of a) game occasionally.

Tomorrow, for the first time since then, I'll hit the links.

Oh, I swung my clubs at a bucket of balls several months ago outside of Peekskill at Hollow Brook Golf Club for an episode of "The Clubhouse" but tomorrow will be an actual round.

One more thing: "The Clubhouse" is returning! Details to follow. We now return you to your originally schedule post.

Through a series of events, it came together for me to play with my cousins at the Gades Shoot Out at The Powelton Club in Newburgh (actually, the hamlet of Balmville), NY.

Yes, that is "Gades" as in the Hudson Valley Renegades. It will be my first time playing the event but I'm happy to do it.

I'm fully prepared to embarrass myself but I'll be doing it for the right reason. 

I can only hope the beverage cart makes frequent stops near us so I can drown my sorrows.

But my golf bag, shoes, and so on are sitting in the living room waiting for the early drive to begin to Orange County.

The thing I keep telling myself is it's going to be fun. I'll get to see my friends from the Renegades and I'll hang out with my cousin Ron and, of course, his son Kris. Plus Kris's friend Danny will round out our foursome.

Incidentally, for complete hysteria, I initially invited Chris Erway. I promise you we would have spent the day laughing. Hard. Mostly at my expense.

Chris can't make it but oh, we're still going to laugh as Danny is a great guy.

Kris and I have played together many times over the years. He got me to visit the cool little course (Fishkill Golf Course) just off U.S. 9 in Fishkill behind the abandoned shopping center. I always felt it was perfect for a schlub like me to practice.

The key for me has always been to have a playing companion who isn't hung up on the score but insists on having fun. To Chris Erway's credit, he knows I'm not good but we still had a great time. I'd let him finish the hole if my game was reaching a point of embarrassment.

It worked.

With Kris, we're similar. We'll hit. Then we'll laugh.

That will be the plan tomorrow.

It's a shame that I haven't played The Griff -- Greenwich's town-owned golf course -- since moving here. I played the course several times over the years as part of the Greenwich High football and baseball golf tournaments. I'd usually be there as part of a WGCH team that included me, Tony Savino, Bob Small, and a fourth, including Chris Erway one time.

We've sadly not done that in several years.

But we will do this tomorrow.

I apologize in advance for the likely collection of golf balls that I will lose and for the number of times that we'll yell "fore!" due to an errant shot of mine.

I'm not intentionally bad.

But I do like to have fun.

And I will.

Oh, speaking of the club, I've been warned of wearing the proper attire. I've literally spent my life being "properly attired." 

Except for that one time.

Maybe we'll tell that story in a different post.