In My Hand I Hold A Ball, White And Dimpled, Rather Small. Oh, How Bland It Does Appear, This Harmless Looking Little Sphere. By Its Size I Could Not Guess, The Awesome Strength It Does Possess. But Since I Fell Beneath Its Spell, I've Wandered Through The Fires Of Hell. My Life Has Not Been Quite The Same, Since I Chose To Play This Stupid Game. It Rules My Mind For Hours On End, A Fortune It Has Made Me Spend. It Has Made Me Yell, Curse And Cry, I Hate Myself And Want To Die. It Promises A Thing Called Par, If I Can Hit It Straight And Far. To Master Such A Tiny Ball, Should Not Be Very Hard...

Well, the weather was favorable again, this time for Tuesday. That’s the day my pick-up beer “league” plays, and despite the lateness of the season three of us decided to go out for a round of nine after work. We work at the site of a former Air Force base that’s now a “business & technology park,” and the old nine-hole base course is still open under private management. Very convenient given the early setting of the sun, we could get out quickly. None of us thought to grab a scorecard from the club house until it was too late, so I kept score on an unused card from another course...

Today was uncharacteristically beautiful, sunny and not all that cold (low 50s F), and I couldn't stand the thought of not taking advantage of an opportunity to get in a round. I spent the late morning and early afternoon trying to scare up someone to partner up with, but to no avail The only times I've ever golfed solo were at a par 3 course near where I work, but I decided to go for it today. I picked our local muni, a Robert Trent Jones course named Valley View because the panorama lives up to the name. Here's a link: http://www.cityofutica.com/Entertainment/Attractions/Valley+View+Golf+Course.htm In...

My tale of woe... Playing a 9-hole course yesterday, one of the Turning Stone offerings. For the first seven holes I'm playing very well for me, bogeys except for a double on a long par 5 (the bogey putt lipped out), and after #7 I'm at 36, eight over. Definitely one of my best rounds thus far. Next hole, #8: a par 3 about 170 yards long. There's a thick wall of trees tight right all the way to and around the green, and a tall tree about 30 degrees off the left. This is 3 wood territory for me off the tee, almost into driver range. I tee up and jack a very clean hit--dead pull left into the tree....