Yes...it was a cool one!

Okay…so I am not a meteorologist.  I will admit that my initial projections for the weather missed a little bit. When we started golfing it was 1 C with a wind chill of -4 C.  When we finished at 8:30 pm it was -1 C with a wind chill of -7 C.  There were toques and mitts, and long underwear.  There was shivering and blue lips and restricted swings because of multiple layers of clothing.  Golfers were adding two or three clubs because of the impact of the cold on their balls.  They were also not going to the bathroom outside…for the same reason. With the less than ideal temperatures, no one broke forty, but someone broke 60…the wrong side of 60 I mean.

How cold was it?  Well, on #3 I broke a ball on my tee shot…cracking it all the way around.  Lots of guys talked about the stingers that they received when they hit long irons. It was so cold that Robin suggested we implement a ten and ten rule in the future…that being a minimum of ten golfers and 10 Celsius.  It was so cold that two guys used a dog sled instead of a golf cart. It was so cold that when Brad got home he gave Diane the cold shoulder for a change.  It was so cold that Milt stayed home in fear that hair his might freeze.  It was so cold that the chicken wings in the Club House were only available in hot.  It was so cold that you could putt out of the water hazards. It was so cold that Wes argued with Butch just for the chance to get into a heated argument. It was so cold that when someone made a great shot in your group, you gave them the mitten instead of the finger. It was so cold we huddled around Neuf, just for the hot air.  It was so cold that everyone had the putting yips because of the shivering.  It was so cold that when Austin Hunter tried to spit on his club to clean it, the spit froze in mid air. 

If the temperature is low on some future Mens’ Night, check out the following link for some cold weather golf tips: http://www.intothegrain.com/ten-cold-weather-golf-tips/

One other suggestion…while they call them “hand warmers”, they are good no matter on which body part you use them.

Something else interesting that I discovered.  Golf balls are designed to perform optimally at the industry benchmark 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 Celsius), not the cold temperatures that we experienced on Wednesday.  They actually make special low compression cold weather balls (http://coldfusiongolf.com/).

Sixteen golfers said the heck with the cold and came out for the first Mens’ Night for the year.  Skins were won on three holes.  Keith Booth and Stephen David (that’s me) cashed in for $34 hole #2. The separated-at-birth twosome of Robin and Neuf won a total of $54 for scoring best on consecutive holes (#3 and 4). The deuce pot fell to Mike McLennan who used a 3 iron and a putter to eagle the par 4 first hole. Closest to the hole winners were Brad Benton on #5 and Blake Cramer on #9.

Looking forward to next week, I am not going to try and predict the weather…but I am hopeful our numbers will continue to grow.  Come for the golf, the chance to hang out with your buddies, and maybe some hockey or cards afterward.  Plus we have two hole in one pots, one capped at $1616 and the other growing to $581 as of last week.