Thursday, August 03, 2006

I played


Like a glutton for punishment, or a fool, I just played 18 holes in this heat.

Teed off at Inniscrone at 11:30 this morning, just as the scorching sun was almost perfectly overhead. By the second tee, I was sweating like a pig. By the third tee, I had finished the Gatorade I bought in the pro shop. By the fourth tee, I looked like I'd been shoved in a pool. By the fifth tee, I had sweated through both my golf gloves and was fishing around in my bag for old crinkled, dried-up gloves that I'd never bothered to toss.

Every time I came to a water cooler, I soaked my towel and wrapped it around my neck. The worst of it was when I had to actually get out of the cart and hit a shot. Searching for errant balls in the rough, or standing over a shot, with the sun pounding on my back, there were moments I feared I might spontaneously combust.

In all, I spotted one foursome and one twosome on the course. By the time I left, the kid collecting carts said they'd had 16 players total today. I'm surprised that many people went out.

I drank two Gatorades and a bottle of water. By the end, I was weak and pretty much miserable.

Didn't play that bad, though.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

After reading your earlier post I thought you'd never go out in this heat! I play regularly in the heat and I'm not a young man (42) and quite frankly I'm not in great physical condition. Here are some things that I've found to be very helpful: 1. This one is big: wear a straw hat. 2. Wear light-colored clothes (scrap the Gary Player look!) 3. Hydrate before going out, choking down a good amount of water before getting to the course. 4. Carry a plastic bottle (or two) and drink water constantly, refilling them at the water coolers. 5. No alcohol in any form until the round is over!

Anonymous said...

I drove by Horsham Valley this afternoon around 2pm and there were less than 5 cars in the parking lot. Business must be way down at all courses, public and private. It's just like a wet spring.

Any changes at Inniscrone under new ownership?