Travels with The Rayman

A few weeks ago, I experienced what few people on the face of the earth get to experience and that experience was an experience I shall never forget.  Okay.  Well, I exaggerate because I just googled the stats and there chance of doing what I did is only 1 in 33,000. So, my accomplishment was not as noteworthy as I thought.

But, that’s okay.  Let me digress further.

So, we were playing golf at the Dragon course in Clio, CA.  The Dragon at Nakoma Resort up in the mountains.  The Sierras.  Beautiful place.  The course was as tough as nails.  And I was struggling.  But not as much as my friend Judy.  She was having all the luck.  And I was very jealous because my luck was not good that day.  Golf is a funny game and luck does play a part in it.  Sometimes you can have a good hit and end up with a disastrous lie.  Other times, you can skull the ball and end up smelling like a rose and there does not seem to be any rhyme nor reason to it.  This can lead to frustration.

So this is how my day went.  My luck was bad.  My shot making was questionable.  So, on one of the first holes, I hit a good drive (meaning I made good contact with the ball) a bit to right of the intended target.  So when we drove up to take a look, this is what I discovered.  You may need to scroll to view the entire picture.  If so, do so.  Exhibit number one.

 

 

I mean, really , people.  What are the chances of my ball going through all that junk and coming to rest in the middle of those two trees?  I don’t think I could even place it there and have it stay.  What the heck?  Okay, so the shot was not all that great.  I admit it.  Now, I’m pretty sure that there is no way I can hit my ball out of the middle of those two trees.  But on further inspection, look at all that grass and stuff that the ball had to go through, presumably, to end up where it ended up.  Holy cow.  That is bad luck.  Very bad luck.

So, what happened?  I took an unplayable lie and my penalty and proceded to hit a really good shot through the trees (not those trees) and the ball came to rest on the edge of a sand bunker in front of the green.  Great.  But wait.  I had to stand on the edge of the bunker, teetering, and managed to hit the ball into the bunker.  From there I hit out of the bunker across the green and this left me with a dangerous downhill lie to putt over a juiced up green.  Well, I managed to screw that up to a farthy well.  Ended up with a 7 or an 8 on a par 4.  Now admittedly, my score was a reflection of my poor skill but it also reflected a penalty stroke for a very unlucky lie and I think I got flustered and the rest is history.

Here is how I could have handled it.  Click to view.  Or paste it into your web browser.

pro-golfer-pulls-off-unbelievable-swing-climbs-a-tree-and-shoots-a-perfect-backwards-one-handed-shot-into-the-fairwayded-shot-into-the-fairway/

Meanwhile, Judy continued with her luck bouncing away from danger at every turn.  So, when we approached the 8th tee box, I was a bit down on my luck and licking my wounds.  Kris teed off.  Great shot onto the green.  Judy teed off.  Great shot on to the green.  The other Judy (let’s call her lucky Judy) teed off. It flirted with the sand but bounced left and ended up on the green.   I approached the tee box and said, “Well, it looks like all the luck has been used up” or something to that effect.  The other women were very encouraging saying things like, “Oh, you can do it.”

So, I teed off.  The ball missed the trap on the right and rolled up on the green and DISAPPEARRED INTO THE HOLE.  OMG.  I couldn’t believe it and no one really said they saw it go in because the flagstick was on on the downside of the green.  And I wasn’t sure but it sure looked like it.  So we all got in our carts and lucky Judy ran to the hole and screamed, “IT’S IN THE HOLE.”  We all jumped up and down screaming.  What a blast.  What a hoot.  Here’s some pictures we snapped.  Exhibits two and three.

 

And that is how I got my second hole in one.  With my good friends on a devil of a course, perhaps slightly hung over, with a tooth extraction that was hurting, down in the mud because of my bad luck.  And the ZAP.  Just like that.  A golfing miracle!!!

Too much fun.

That night, I bought a round of drinks for the whole group (12 total) and we all celebrated my luck.  What a hoot.

Below are the 3 witnesses to this happening.