Rain, limitless rain

Poipu Bay, Kauai

Yesterday, standing over my ball on the 16th tee at Poipu Bay, I pulled my driver back and felt the wind whipping the club head back and forth.

“Quit it!” I yelled to whoever was in charge of the wind. “Just quit it!” I have trouble enough hitting the ball square anyway, I certainly didn’t need the extra challenge of squaring up a wobbly club head.

By this point, I should have realized it didn’t really matter. Only Tiger Woods can score well playing in the conditions we faced. There wasn’t one pleasant moment. Under heavy gray clouds all day, our conditions varied from driving downpours that came at us horizontally, to lazy downpours that felt a like a heavy-duty rain shower in a bathroom, to wind gusts that made it difficult to stand still. The rain poured off the bill of my Ben Miller Invitational Golf Tournament hat, and after the first hole, there was no chance of keeping the club grips dry. My Goretex rain pants totally failed, and my Goretex coat was as wet inside as it was outside. I got diaper rash on my butt from sitting in the puddle that formed on the golf cart seat.

We have always come to Hawaii in November or December. That’s when Ben’s vacation time seems to finally build up to the point he can take a week off. And, right before Christmas, the resorts and roads are at their quietest, anticipating the holiday onslaught of tourists with kids. One year, our vacation started before Christmas and included Christmas eve and day. The first few days of the trip were pleasant and quiet, but then the children came, invading the pools and restaurants, and our trip went to hell.
Now, we plan to get here and home before the holidays, ensuring ourselves a little peace.

However, after this trip, we may reconsider our December choice. Since we got here, it’s been rainy, windy and gray. We have this weather at home; we don’t have to fly six and a half hours to see rain.

But stuck here now, we’re trying to make the best of it. We arrived on Wednesday night, and teed off at Poipu Bay at 10:00 on Thursday. The day was blustery, and we had a few sprinkles. But we had rain coats and it wasn’t bad … until the 18th hole. Then, the deluge started – the one that hasn’t stopped since – and we were miserably soaked by the time we finished the par 5. Ben and I both got a 9 on the hole, we’re not great golfers under adversity.

Actually, we’re not great golfers under any conditions. But, we’re trying, and we’ve lately devoted all of our joint vacations to finding beautiful places to swing clubs, drink a little beer, drive the cart, and, in Ben’s case, swear a bit. We’ve played in Puerto Rico, California, on the Big Island, here on Kauai, in Couer d’Alene and all over Washington. It’s a great way for a couple – especially one that seems to have few other hobbies in common – to spend time together and play.

One time in Couer d’Alene, we faced similar conditions – driving rain and fierce winds – but because it was also about 50 degrees out, I was able to convince Ben to stop playing after nine holes. Yesterday, as we tackled the coursse for the second day, Ben insisted we continue. It might be raining, but it’s a warm rain.

So, down the fairways we went yesterday, and down went our games. It rained so hard that by the time we were on the 15th hole, we decided the casual water rule pretty much covered the entire golf course, and if we didn’t like our lie, we could move the ball to a drier one (if one could be found). It didn’t help our scores much, but it relieved us from having to try to hit balls out of mud puddles.

By the time we reached the clubhouse, there wasn’t one dry spot on us or our clubs. We ran to the car, threw our wet gear and clubs in the trunk and rushed to the hotel for a shower. I brought my clubs into the room, so I could dry them off later, and stripped off my soaked clothes. It seems paradoxical that a shower can feel good after getting soaked in an 18-hole downpour, but it did. After a room service lunch, a glass of wine and a nap, I felt whole again.

Today, we rose to more gray skies, and the heavy rain showers continue. We aren’t playing golf in it, though, so we’ve had a chance to just sit back and marvel and the amount of water that can fall from the sky. I had a massage, and the rain came down so hard, the masseuse had to close the windows of the massage room. (The massage, by the way, was terrific, though very pricey at about $200 after tip.) We snuck over to the golf pro shop to take advantage of the 35%-off sale (off of everything, not just “selected merchandise”), and managed to get there and back between deluges.

Now, Ben is watching Wisconsin play basketball on the room TV. I’m sitting out on the deck of our room, which faces the ocean, and watching the seemingly limitless rainfall. It makes me homesick for our weather in Seattle, and that’s saying something.