Week 2

At this time of year, it helps to be an optimist if you want to golf too!  The past week has been overcast, sometimes wet and consistently cooler than normal, so it was with some trepidation that I called for a tee off time at Glen Afton Golf Course in Nine Mile Creek/Cumberland.

Fuelled by Tim's (see photo), we set out on the half-hour drive with a fine Scotch mist on the windshield and a reading of 9 C on the car's thermometer.  Last week, I should have reported on the beautiful daffodils everywhere on the drive to and from St. Felix.  This week, with the grey skies and damp grass, all the daffodils still look lovely and now there are starting to be clusters of tulips and pussy willows, too.  Even some of the magnolias are in bloom, and the grass needs cutting but very few have braved the elements (or been able to time it just right) to get the grass cut.

Glen Afton is a broad open, pasture-style golf course, 18 holes spread on both sides of Route 19, with two spectacular holes looking out over Hillsborough Bay with St. Peters Island and Governor's Island in the Bay.  Despite the overcast skies, the view from Holes 12 and 13 really is special (see photo).  Geoff and I also noticed that there is a fair amount of swampy land in PEI too and even with the cool temperatures, the black flies have already been hatched - the blessing was that they weren't biting today (perhaps too cool for them?)

It was still misting when we set off on Tee No. 1 at 12:40, but that did not stop these intrepid souls.  In fact, yours truly had a birdie 2 on Hole No. 2 and two other one-putt greens, but there really isn't any point in boring you with my overall score!  The mist stopped after a couple of holes and both of us took off some layers.  We went in to the pro shop at the turn (it is licensed), but didn't linger and it took a hole or two to warm up again.  On the other side of Route 2, the temperature seemed to drop a little and by the time we'd played those four holes, the mist had started up again and it was steady for the last four holes.  Most of the course was in good shape, broad and open enough to be forgiving of our sometimes less than perfect shots, but boy oh boy was it wet underfoot in lots of places.  There are a few flower beds but nothing that would stop you to smell or really admire them.  Give it a dry week, and this will be a different course to play. 

We both had some frustration with our games today, but it's still early days, as they say.  Most notable moment on the course was on the 18th hole, as I was floundering around trying to hit out of some longish grass around a pond, I flushed out a muscrat who crawled out of the grass, plopped into the pond and swam away.  Wildlife also included some ducks flying around and landing in the various ponds (there are water hazards on many holes, as well as standing water today) and kingfishers squabbling over their territory.

Heading home, we each were cherishing thoughts of warm, dry clothes and feet, hot food and maybe a cold one or two.

See you next week!