Of Golf and Wasps
Wednesday, I went on a golf outing with one of the practice groups through which I rotated. It was in upsate New York (and by upstate, I mean Westchester Co. or thereabouts). Beautiful country club. Unlike the last country club we went to, which had delusions of graduer, this place really was nice.
It was also pretty snobby and uptight. My coworker and I walked into the pro shop and the first thing they said to us, before even saying "Hello" or "Can I help you?" was, "Gentlemen, shirts must be tucked in please."
The course was difficult, but very georgous. It preserved most of the natural hills of the area, which made for rolling, rock-lined vistas. It also forced you to play uphill and downhill most of the time, which isn't easy even if you know what you're doing as a golfer. I most certainly don't know what I'm doing, which means that I was even more incompetent than usual. Fortunately, the partner and his wife with whom I was playing were not particularly good, so that made it more tolerable.
To make matters worse, because only two foursomes were going out, they decided not to do a tournament/scramble. Instead, it was just a regular round of golf. A scramble is great for me because it means that my one shot in ten which is actually good helps the team, and the other nine bad shots don't matter.
Oh, did I mention that the heat index on the course was 110 degrees? That made everything extra pleasant. My shirt was soaked in about 15 minutes.
Everything was ok until we reached the 13th hole. I hit my ball into a shrubbery and went to retrieve it. Unfortunately, as I exited the shrub, I did not notice the rather large wasp nest hanging about three feet off the ground. I pushed up the branch it was hanging on and walked right under it.
Of course, I got stung. I was actually extremely fortunate to only get stung once. It hurt at first, but being as I was determined not to be a ussy, I kept playing. My play was terrible afterwards, but unfortunately I cannot blame that on the sting. I sucked just as much beforehand.
In the end, I'm not really sure why I was the least bit surprised to have a run-in with WASPs at this country club. I mean, maybe I thought all the WASPs were in the clubhouse rather than on the course, but I guess it's one of those places where the WASPs are everywhere.
It was also pretty snobby and uptight. My coworker and I walked into the pro shop and the first thing they said to us, before even saying "Hello" or "Can I help you?" was, "Gentlemen, shirts must be tucked in please."
The course was difficult, but very georgous. It preserved most of the natural hills of the area, which made for rolling, rock-lined vistas. It also forced you to play uphill and downhill most of the time, which isn't easy even if you know what you're doing as a golfer. I most certainly don't know what I'm doing, which means that I was even more incompetent than usual. Fortunately, the partner and his wife with whom I was playing were not particularly good, so that made it more tolerable.
To make matters worse, because only two foursomes were going out, they decided not to do a tournament/scramble. Instead, it was just a regular round of golf. A scramble is great for me because it means that my one shot in ten which is actually good helps the team, and the other nine bad shots don't matter.
Oh, did I mention that the heat index on the course was 110 degrees? That made everything extra pleasant. My shirt was soaked in about 15 minutes.
Everything was ok until we reached the 13th hole. I hit my ball into a shrubbery and went to retrieve it. Unfortunately, as I exited the shrub, I did not notice the rather large wasp nest hanging about three feet off the ground. I pushed up the branch it was hanging on and walked right under it.
Of course, I got stung. I was actually extremely fortunate to only get stung once. It hurt at first, but being as I was determined not to be a ussy, I kept playing. My play was terrible afterwards, but unfortunately I cannot blame that on the sting. I sucked just as much beforehand.
In the end, I'm not really sure why I was the least bit surprised to have a run-in with WASPs at this country club. I mean, maybe I thought all the WASPs were in the clubhouse rather than on the course, but I guess it's one of those places where the WASPs are everywhere.
posted by N at 12:05 PM
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