Slipping Away

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Had an early morning tee time on Saturday morning. Went outside and immediately yelled.

It was cold!

I put on my pull over jacket and wondered if shorts would work. The day was supposed to be pleasant and it was going to be over 70, sooner or later.

The outing was going to be different because I was playing with my old buddy, Chris, who can really play the game.

I played well…

…hitting balls straight and pretty well.

He immediately followed me in the rotation and on the way to putting his ball on the tee he said:

“Good shot.”

Then he hammered the ball beyond where my ball was sitting….

…50, 60, 70, 100 yards further than mine.

Every time.

He’d hit with the music blaring, people talking, and whilst he told jokes.

The day warmed and I wondered about how many outings there might be.

I decided to lean on the golf expert that was riding in my cart. We talked about positioning during chipping and putting.

He wasn’t giving any lectures and only helped when I asked, with one exception.

I took Chippy out of the bag and approached my ball, which was 5 yards from the green.

Chris laughed at the condition of my 50-year-old club, and subtly said that it should stay in my bag and that I should use my pitching iron.

“Why are you using it?”

“Cause I’m going to make it,” I said.

And then I did. For a birdie. 

We laughed.

“All right, Chippy can stay.”

And I had that perfect moment when I took the time to look around at the beauty of the course.

I finished 14 over par for the day.

Chris was one over.

“Hey, I didn’t beat you by a stroke a hole,” he said. “You’re getting better.”

“Yeah, you were one over. You suck.”

We laughed.

Was more than 70 degrees by the time the round ended.

But it’s starting to slip away.

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