All Teed Off!!

Danielle and Dad at the Open

Golf, the sport of kings and nobles, of Tigers and Mikes, of Henrys and Danielles. Or at least on Thursday it was. After a week and a half of subterfuge, avoiding telling the truth and of maintaining absolute silence on a most important subject, I arose early on the morn of the 7th to betake myself off to my parent's abode to rendezvous with my male parental figure and to abscond with him for the entire day to watch a bunch of guys whack a small little white orb around a huge park for lots of money. Yes, we joined the masses who thronged to the elite Hamilton Golf and Country Club to participate in that phenomenon known as the Canadian Open.
Apparently i have been to the Open before, only the views weren't so great as they were impeded by my mom's shirt and i couldn't use the bellybutton to see. But this time, the views were wonderful. The day had dawned misty, with hints of sunlight peeking through the swirling fog. But very quickly the day warmed up and we were treated to the wonderful views of the golf course. And what a course it is! Magnificent rolling hills (a very lot of them, my calves and feet could attest to that!), brilliant greens, huge old trees, little rippling brooks, and a plethora of big-name golfers. Dad and I first of all did the grand tour of the place, walking the front nine and part of the back nine, all the while keeping an eye on the golfers and their schedules. We thought we should take advantage of this chance to wander around the place while we could.
Then we headed up to the 10th tee to watch the crowd favorite, Mike Weir, tee off. He was good, but i'll be honest and say i saw a lot of superior golfers that day and even the young amateur performed more honourably than he did. But that said, it was neat to see him play. He's such a face for Canadian golf.
After rubbing shoulders with Vijay Singh, Mark Calcavecchia, Jim Furyk, Vesper Parnevik (the dandy of the course), Camilo Villegas, Justin Rose, or rather with the crowds who were straining to see the power of the drives, the precision of the shots and the finesse of the putts, we decided we might be hungry. After all, why not bring along a lunch to revive the spirits and the soul after tramping all over the park? But security, no wait, fundraising, was such that outside food wasn't even good enough for the Country Club and if you wanted to eat, you had to pay the exhorbitant price of $3.50 for a bottle of water, $5.50 for a Haagen-Daaz ice cream bar and $6.50 for a hamburger. No way that these two Dutchies were going to splash out so we jumped on the handy shuttle bus, ate our lunch which was banished to the car, and then jumped back on our own personal shuttle bus to watch some more golf.
Dad and I thoroughly enjoyed our day, the weather was perfect, not too cold, not too windy, no rain, we came back slightly sunburned but all the richer for watching how the pros manage to pull off such wonderful games. It would take me about 17 shots to get to the tee in the time it takes them 4 or 5! Amazing!! I thought maybe i'd learn something from them, but i only learned that in the game of golf, you need to practice, practice, practice!!! The only time i'll ever see -8 is at the end of my life, piled up on top of me!! Heehee!!
I shall finish with a beauteeful little paragraph. If you'd like to iron out your golf woes, come over to the club and putter around a little bit. Don't turf your clubs if you're not up to par, but rather go to the woods and search for your swing and have a ball!!!