So, I found myself at Lochmor Golf the other week. Wasn’t exactly my grand plan for a Saturday, you know?
My brother-in-law, Mark, he’s the one. Suddenly got the golf bug bad. And guess who he decided needed to share his newfound ‘passion’? Yup, me. He’d been yapping about Lochmor for days. ‘Heard it’s a good track, not too tough for you,’ he says. Gee, thanks Mark. Real confidence booster, that one.
Anyway, we got there early. Sun was just poking through, looked kinda nice, I’ll give it that. The fella in the pro shop seemed alright, didn’t try to push a bunch of expensive gear on me, which was a plus. Just got our cart key and off we went.
We loaded up the cart. Mark’s got all this shiny new equipment, looked like he was about to qualify for the PGA Tour. Me? I had my trusty old set of clubs from, like, a decade ago. Figured they still worked, mostly. Or at least, they were as good as the golfer using them.
Out on the course. First few holes, I’m just trying to make decent contact with the ball. It’s going left, it’s going right, sometimes it dribbles a few feet. Pretty standard stuff for me. Mark, he wasn’t tearing it up either, but he definitely thought he was playing better than me, which is always a bit annoying, isn’t it?
I remember this one par 3 hole pretty vividly. Had a little pond right in front of the green. Looked quite scenic, you know? But it was deadly for my golf balls. I think I plunked two of ’em straight into the water. Splash, splash. Mark, bless his heart, managed to slice his way into the woods on the other side. We were a real dynamic duo out there.
The course itself, Lochmor, it was… well, it was a golf course. Greens were a bit bumpy in a few spots, if I’m being totally honest. But then again, what do I know, I three-putt on perfect greens too. Fairways were generally okay, wide enough for my kind of ‘spray and pray’ tee shots. Some holes were actually pretty tricky, made you stop and think a bit. Or in my case, made me lose more balls in new and interesting ways.
We stopped at the turn for a hot dog and a soda. Honestly, that hot dog was probably the highlight of the round up to that point. Gave us a chance to sit down, complain about our bad shots, and Mark could tell me all the things I was doing wrong with my swing. Good times.
The back nine, things got a little better for me, surprisingly. I actually hit a couple of shots that went straight! Even managed to make a par on one hole. Just one, mind you. Mark almost fell over. I think he was more shocked than I was. I just shrugged, like I did it all the time.
By the time we got to the 18th hole, I was pretty much done. My back was starting to ache, I was running low on balls (the ones I was willing to lose, anyway), and Mark was already talking about our next ‘amazing golf adventure.’ I just nodded and smiled, thinking about a cold drink.
So, that was my day at Lochmor Golf. It’s there. It’s a place you can go to swing some clubs around. You’ll probably lose some balls, especially if you play like me. You might even have a laugh, particularly if your playing partner is as hilariously bad as you are.
I guess I’d say I survived it. And that hot dog really was good. That’s my big takeaway from Lochmor. The hot dog. Don’t knock it ’til you try it after a frustrating nine holes.
