Friday, December 2, 2011

A Willow Tree's Place in the Game of Golf



  While I was out walking today, I took this picture from a hilly side street near where I live.  Part of that street runs along the border of the Middletown Country Club.  The willow tree pictured here sits by a pond, in a small valley between the hill on the right and the mound on the left.  The fairway lies on the hill to the right, so the object for this hole is to get the ball over the pond and have it land it on the green.  The challenge is to not overshoot or undershoot the ball.  Undershooting can run the risk of landing the ball in or near the water.  Overshooting can take the ball off golf course property.  Just to the right of the green pictured here is a large net meant to catch balls that sail past the green.  However, they often go over and through it.  I know the man who owns that property.  He has told me that he sometimes hears the balls hitting the side of his house, and he is always picking up balls from his yard. 

  Since the golf course property runs along the street, which is another way to lose a stroke.  Even though the street is a little off the trajectory between the hill and the green, aiming the ball too far the wrong way can land it on the concrete.  On the whole, I don’t know how this course rates with professional or experienced golfers.  My only experience has been with miniature of chip and putt courses, so I would find any real golf course challenging.  The only remote idea I have of what it’s like to play 18 holes comes from playing the old Sega Genesis video game about 15 years ago. I don’t think I’d be able to clear that pond or the trees if I had to shoot from the hill.  But in the middle of all that is this willow tree by the pond, which I thought would make a nice picture.

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