Wednesday was cool. At 6:00 pm when I left for the city it was 7 Celsius with close to a 40 km/hr wind. I guess it makes sense to shut the golf down for an evening. However, cancelling Men's Night is like cancelling your birthday or saying that there will be no Christmas this year.
On a given year we get 20-22 Wednesdays to play. Most of our wives and significant others would argue that is plenty. It would feel better to me if we had around another 10 or so. We have long winters in this province...and spring always seems to take a little more time than it should to arrive.
Cancelling Men's Night is not an easy decision...or so they tell me. Not only are you giving up an important revenue night for the golf course, you also get yourself on the wrong side of Brad Benton. Brad's a diehard who feels that there is no circumstance which justifies a cancellation. I am not sure of whether this is true, but I heard a story that 55 years ago Brad was scheduled to be born on a Wednesday. His mom's water broke a day early and he came to the world on a Tuesday. Even then, he didn't want to miss Men's Night.
Like a few others, I plan my job and my personal life around Men's Night. I try to avoid meetings or commitments Wednesday afternoon or evening. I plan camping trips often with Thursday departures and Wednesday returns. If I am gone from a weekend to weekend, I usually come back on Wednesday to check on the house and cut the grass. Invariably these tasks take a long time so I end up staying home for the night. This works out great given that the golf course is around 550 yards from my house.
I have had quite a few years with perfect Men's Night attendance for the season. Last year I missed two, the previous year one, and I didn't make three in 2014. Even when I am not there I find myself texting someone around 9:30 or so to see who won skins and who was closest to the hole and to ask how many guys showed up.
This year I will miss three...not counting the recent one which was cancelled. May 31st is my daughter's Band concert. I am attending a high school graduation on June 28th. I will be watching the Jays play the Yankees in Toronto one day in August. I expect that I will be messaging Scott Maynes that last evening to see if anyone got the deuce pot while missing something cool on the ball diamond.
The planning isn't just for the current year. For example, I know that 2020 is a Leap Year. That is significant because in 2019 my wife's birthday is a Tuesday but with the Leap Year her special day jumps to Thursday in 2020, thereby avoiding Men's Night. If not for that extra day on the calendar, I would have been forced to miss that night...and my wife would not like me missing her birthday.
I remember a few years back we had an evening where we had close to 50 golfers. After the prizes, lots of people hung around and visited. Then around 11:30 pm we decided to leave to go and play cards at another location. One gentlemen declined, saying that he needed to get home because it was his anniversary. Now that's dedication to Men's Night. Plus he still allowed himself at least 25 minutes to celebrate his special day with his spouse.
Right now next Wednesday is projected for 21 Celsius and sunny. I may have to head to the course earlier to make up for this week.
Enjoy your long weekend.
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