Playing golf with Dad

Dad will turn 90 in November this year. While he played a few rounds of golf with us last summer at the Moraga Country Club and showed some interests in playing in Toronto this spring, he had refused to play on the course until recently. His excuses have always been, "Mom's home all by herself" or "too tired to play."

I was able to get him to go to the driving range one afternoon, about three or four weeks ago. He hit a few balls, unsuccessfully and complaint about the old grips on his club. Joyce finally took action last week and send his club for re-gripping. While the new grips were supposed to arrive on Tuesday, they didn't come until Wednesday and then they told us that Dad's grip were unusually large and cannot fit normal grips. So, I took his club and dropped them off at a golf club fitting/re-gripping shop in Walnut Creek (called, "Kapler"). After the clubs were finally ready on Thursday, we went out for a nine-hole round.

Dad had asked me to book a 3:50pm tee-time, but showed up at my house at 3:10pm to pick me up. After picking up Michael, our third, we arrived at the MCC clubhouse at 3:20pm. Luckily, the course was empty and we were able to get on at 3:30pm. Dad's first drive was a beauty, which lead to many great shots for the day. All in all, I would say that 70% of his shots were good. In fact, he was the only one to get on the par 3 fifth hole in one while both Michael and I missed on either side of the green. He went on the par the hole, along with Michael.

He did even better on the short par 4, eighth. After a great tee-shot, he laid up just in front of the gully. This third shot, about a 50-yard chip, fell a little short, but took an incredible bounce, off a rock in the gully, over a bunker and landed in the center of the green. After a couple of putts on a tricky green, he made a bogey-five, a great score on this hole. The weather was perfect, sunny and mild. We had such a great time, we played 10 holes before quitting.

We played again today, at the Castlewood Country Club in Plesanton. Howard and Joyce, who have been members for over 20 years, treated us to another nine-holes of golf. We left home shortly after 9am and teed off at around 10am. The Castlewood Country Club's golf course is a little easier than that at MCC.

I again paired up with Dad on the cart, so that I can caddy for him. Again, he did well, hitting 70%+ good balls. As for me, it was difficult to concentrate, so I just play for fun. Weather was perfect again. As there were four of us today, Howard and Susan joining us, it took almost two and half hours to complete our nine holes. Dad had a great time again and looked interested to play a few more times before the end of the summer.