I recently got to thinking about my golfing history. One of the most interesting was my time golfing in the Azores during my stint in the USN.
The golf course was perched at the top of the third island (Terciera) in a chain of islands situated off of the coast of Portugal. As time has a way of doing, my memories of the course and the golf that we played there has greatly dimmed. However, some memories linger on and one in particular (which I’ll get to later) will forever be etched in my sub conscience.
I remember the course was lush and always in tip-top shape. While certainly not the most difficult course I have ever played, it was challenge enough for myself and my fellow weekend hackers.
Two holes, specifically, come to mind. I remember these holes both for their uniqueness and what transpired on these holes.
The first was a short par 3 with not a lot of problems around the green. What set it apart was the fact that the tee box was situated in the neighborhood of 30-40 feet above the fairway. Most days it was reachable with a sand wedge. Except on the days when someone would declare the hole a ‘putter’ hole. On that day, all tee shots would have to be made with your putter. Needless to say, the GIR for out ‘putter’ tee shots was not very good. The exception being the time one of our group managed to land three feet from the hole. The birdie was made and, I’m guessing, somewhere in a large city in the mid-west US, this story has been retold many times over the years.
The second hole I remember well was a longish par 5 made unique by the fact that the green was set well below the fairway and was not visible until you were within 50 yards of the hole. Depending on where your second shot landed, the only thing visible was the upper most part of the flag stick. This hole was at one of the far ends of the course and was surrounded by a cow pasture. It was not uncommon to see cows, having escaped their enclosure, to be roaming around the fringes of the green.
On one occasion, we were not able to find the fourth ball that had been hit to the green. We were sure it was reasonably close to the green, but, we had no luck finding the ball. After assuming that the ball had somehow been lost, we were left in tears of laughter as one of the escaped cows sidled up to the green and spit out a well chewed Acushnet. If I remember correctly, I was forced to play this ball until the hole was over!
(to be continued)
