The Empty Golf Course

We are lucky enough to have a lovely rental property that sits behind the first hole of a golf course.  It is quite nice not to have other homes behind us and we have a great view up the fairway for this hole.  The only time it is irritating is some mornings when the groundskeepers come riding down to their shack which is also behind the first hole and they are quite noisy as they get out their machines.   But for the most part it is peaceful and quiet and great.  We see deer cross the fairway sometimes and there's always some magpies and crows flying around down there.

 
Living here we have come to realize what a strange breed is the golfer and especially the British golfer.  It is not a sport that anyone in my family has ever taken up as a hobby or sport or vocation or love.  But the golfers that play the course behind us must be the most avid and determined and also frustrated golfers in the world.  They are out there every single day.  No matter the weather, no matter the date, no matter the time, we see golfers on the course.   The only times we have not seen golfers pursuing their passion have been the three times when the course has been covered in snow.  And quite frankly, we were a bit surprised that there weren't golfers in the snow.  I figured there would be colored golf balls by now so they could be tracked.  But snow means no golfers.


Until this week!  Surrey has taken some heavy rainfall this week and parts of Surrey have gone swimming involuntarily.  Our own garden is a mixture of swamp and muck but at least not underwater like some of my friends.  The first day after the big storm that dumped water on Surrey this week, I was home all day and not once did I see a golfer out on the course.  I didn't think much about it but then we kept having rain and more rain and more rain and now for three days there have been no golfers.  I imagine that it is so wet and muddy that the course has been closed because the golf cleats could probably tear up the grounds pretty badly.  There is a sand trap near our first hole and right now, it is a water feature.  

 So the golf course is empty and I rather miss the golfers.  They come in all sizes and shapes and all manner of odd golf clothes and bring everything from golf carts to remote controlled golf bags that roll across the course by themselves.  And as we have seen golfers in heavy rains and heavy winds, still out there whacking the ball, I believe that the course has been closed by the owners and that there would be golfers there in spite of all the wet and soggy conditions, were they allowed.    Hopefully we'll see some in the next few days.