I took these six brave guys to risk the perils of the Renaissance disc golf course yesterday. Our first experience there in June with lightening should have clued us in. But it was a gorgeous, almost fall like morning with not a cloud in the sky, so I thought we were in the clear. Our first brush with hazard was fire ants on the second hole. While looking for his overthrown disc in the bushes, one of the brave men above was attacked by fire ants. When the others came to his rescue, they were attacked as well, and soon everyone was pulling off their shoes and swatting ants. A few minutes and a lot of ant bites later, they continued on.
Play through the woods was pretty good, but when we headed into the open holes of the back nine, I was worried. Those narrow fairways lined with brambles, blackberry bushes, and poison ivy are not pretty. I had walked the first nine, knitting. It's not that hard, really. You just have to have an easy project that you don't have to count too much on and a shoulder bag to keep your yarn in. You also have to look up in time to keep from tripping over the roots or sliding on the clay bank, but hey, I got several rows of a baby hat finished and I didn't even fall down once! Anyway, I knew when I saw the layout of the next nine that the knitting would go in the bag and I would become a spotter, walking ahead and watching to see where errant discs would land. Hopeful tee shots went awry, landing in no man's land, and we spent a fair amount of time searching for hidden discs. Fortunately, we only lost one. The last I saw of it, it was sailing beautifully over a tall cedar tree headed for a jungle of vines just beyond the swampy rough. One of the fearless golfers was determined to find it, but after 20 minutes of searching, I assured him it was not worth it. Besides, we'd found a better disc in the creek on an earlier hole....easy come, easy go!
It was hot and we didn't bring water, so my fearless golfers were beginning to tire by the 14th hole. We decided that we'd play until one of the two who were tied for the lead emerged victorious. It took two more holes and appropriately, Matthew, the birthday boy, at whose request we were playing this course, won out! We decided if we ever go back to Renny, we'll just play the front nine and leave the brambles and briars for other people's lost discs! It was fun, though.
The golfers were all refreshed by watermelon, salsa, apples, jam, and other samples at the Farmer's Market afterwards, and I came home with lovely tomatos, cucs, red potatos, and a watermelon that the seller assured me is sweet, ripe, and ready to eat this weekend. We'll have it when the guys get back from soccer this afternoon. As I write, it's cooling in the fridge.
Brave disc golfers revealed!
4 comments:
Sounds like fun! Patrick and I like to disc golf. We played a couple of courses here in Charlotte. The one at Reedy Creek is pretty good, but there's a lot of brush to loose a disc. We've only lost one there. We haven't been since Mallory has come along and we were just saying the other day that we hope there are courses in Johnson City! Patrick is much better at putting than me. I'm pretty good on the fiarways, though. We end up having pretty close games, but Patrick usually is the victorious one! I'm glad you all had a good time. Congrats to Matthew!
Who is that strange child in the orange shirt?
Melanie,
We really like Reedy Creek. After playing at Renaissance and Mint Hill, the brush at Reedy Creek seems mild. Sugar Creek is also a nice course and the boys have done Hornet's Nest once. Hope you find some courses in Johnson City.
ACK! You know how we feel about fire ants.
They live right next to the yellowjackets in our backyard...apparently we are living in the second coming of Egypt during the plagues.
Looks like fun!
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