HEATHER HILLS GOLF COURSE (Mark)

This is the earliest photo of me with a golf club in my hands:

My mother took the picture; this would be about 1975.

I found the club lying on the side of the road as I was riding my bike home from my after-school job.  I put the club across the handlebars and kept peddling.  Several days later I rode to a golf course and I walked around the borders, picking up old lost golf balls.  I took these home and started whacking them around in the pasture and hay fields behind our house.

The first round of golf on an actual golf course happened in 1983.  I was a student at Loma Linda University and I had a roommate who played.  Rusty and I would play at the Crafton Hills Community College course.  For a dollar-fifty we could play as many holes as we could fit in our day.

This morning I played golf at Heather Hills Golf Course, here in Winston-Salem:

The course is what is called an "executive" course.  It has six par-four holes, and twelve par-three holes.  It is a little rough around the edges, but a joy to play.

I have what is called a "trolley."  I strap my bag onto it, and push it while walking the course.  I am generally the only one walking the course; almost everyone else drives a cart.  I much prefer the walk. 

The course meanders along this little river for a number of the holes:

As you can see from the pictures, we do not have a shortage of trees in North Carolina.  Staying out of them is important if you want to have a decent scorecard at the end of the round.  The worst thing about all the trees is in the Autumn, when the leaves all falling in can make finding a ball, even in the middle of the fairway, quite difficult.

May all of your birdie putts be this straight and short!