Tiger, Eat Your Heart Out

The day after visiting Noni was another day of rest. Like our last slack day, this one didn’t include much down time, it merely means that the day didn’t include any pre-planned activities. We spent the day hitting golf balls. Christine’s dad is an avid golfer, and he was happy to give us some instruction. We started out swinging clubs in the back yard, and dad was a patient teacher. After swinging the clubs for an hour or so, we headed to the driving range. Considering that I had never hit a golf ball before (other than miniature golf), and the fact that I’m a lefty who used a right-handed swing and clubs, I was pleased with my accomplishments. The ball left the ground, and was within a 90 degree arc of where I had hoped to place the ball. The kids showed a little less skill than I did at first, but they did quite admirably.

After the driving range, we hit the miniature golf course, where the playing field was a little more level, and we played two full rounds on two different courses. The first time I was the winner, and the second time I came in dead last. This too turned out well. Before playing the first round, I declared that the winner buys beer. I figured this was a win-win situation for me… either I got bragging rights, or I got free beer... I was pretty proud of my shrewdness. As I mentioned, I won the first game, so I extended the challenge, explaining that it should be the overall winner who buys. They agreed, and I promptly started falling behind. When the in-laws started giving me a hard time about falling behind, I reminded them that the winner was buying the beer, and offered the possibility that I wasn’t exactly playing my best game. At the end of the second game, I was dead last, coming in even behind the kids. When the in-laws asked if I lost on purpose, I just smiled and reminded the wife and kids to mark the day, because it’s a very rare occasion that I fail to win, much less come in dead last… and then I reminded everyone that I had some bragging rights because I won the first round, and followed up by pointing out that I didn’t have to buy the beer because I was dead last overall. Yep, looks like I lost on purpose.