Rain and golf

A month ago, Ben and I went to Oahu to play golf, and I didn't write about it. That's because it was the kind of trip for which you should get a "do-over." As in: If you go to Hawaii for four days and it rains three of them, you should get a do-over. As in: You've just spent a week's worth of vacation time, hundreds of dollars on airfare, nearly a thousand on golf and thousands on hotel rooms, and it frickin' rains, you should get a do-over.

I was so depressed about it, I couldn't even write about it. So here's the Readers Digest version:
We played Ko Olina in the pouring rain, and it wasn't great. Highway on the left, houses on the right, nary an ocean view, and a few angry black swans. As any golf day does, it beat working. But given the effort it took to get there, nothing special. We played Turtle Bay - one day with rain on the Palmer Course; one day without rain on the Fazio Course. The Palmer Course was nice - and truthfully, it only rained part of the day. The view from the 17th was spectacular. But that bermuda grass took some getting used to...take an extra club 'cause it's like playing with velcro balls on velco fairways. The Fazio course had two nice ocean views, but otherwise wasn't much to look at.

Now, Hawaii needed the rain. I think it had been 6 months since they'd gotten any measurable rain on Oahu, so we didn't get much local sympathy. But, playing golf in the rain wasn't what we'd bargained for.

So, you see, it seems like we've discovered a pattern here: This past Thanksgiving weekend, Ben and I played in Palm Springs and it rained. It hadn't rained in the Coachella Valley since Feb. 16. That's NINE MONTHS! But, Ben and I show up and the clouds finally find their way over the mountains to pour on our golf game. Indians Canyons is a course where I usually shoot in the low 90s, but took all of 54 strokes to get through the front nine. The rain finally stopped for our back nine and I shot a 45, but the damage was done. "Rain quenches thirsty valley" was the headline in the Desert Sun the next day.

And, remember last summer when we went to supposedly dry Kamloops, BC, to play golf and it rained and rained?

So here's the deal: If you and your golf course need rain, call us. We'll bring our golf clubs, make a tee-time and I'll bet it'll rain. It'll cost you, but you'll get the rain you need. And Ben and I can quit our day jobs, which will make rainy golf a little less painful.