Night Golf

Recently I had a chance to play night golf for the first time. Going into it I wasn't really sure what to expect. The course we were playing at had a regular course and a 9 hole par 3 course that is pretty much 9-iron, wedge, putter. Finally a day before my mom and I were to play I found out we were playing the regulation course. Having played this course a couple times I knew this was not a short course where the front 9 had a couple par 4's and 5's. I thought to myself, how the heck do you find a glowing ball if you slice it right or left and a little out of bounds, which I have been known to do. But heck, what's $35 to have a new experience including golf, food, and BEER.

Night of the outing my mom and I pretty much loaded her car down with everything not knowing what to expect. We had clubs, jackets, machete', flashlights, and bug spray (course by a river with alot of swampy area). I eased into the night that started out with a meal, a cigar, and a beer. The food was pretty good with the exception of the roast beef that was like shoe leather, but the beer was cold. As I was spraying myself down with bug spray and smoking a cigar I was thinking, "you know a cigar with an aerosol can is probably not a good idea" flashbacks of Michael Jackson filled my head. Out to the course with my mom who hadn't played in 4 years, another guy who hadn't played in 10 years, and another guy who doesn't play much. Hey the beer is cold and it's a fund raiser for charity I kept telling myself. While heading out to the first hole I was told that the glowing golf balls don't fly as far as regulation so the chances of not being able to spot the ball was pretty slim. I was teeing up the glowing ball on the first hole and a zen like feeling came over me. I was in pitch black dark, looking at a glowing ball, there is no chance of looking at the club face, or to have anything else distract you or have you take your eye off the ball. I conjured up "the force" and let go my inner feelings and just swung the club and stroked it down the middle of the fairway. GOD what a feeling. The rest of the round was pretty much like that also. It ended up being the most fun I have ever had on a golf course. Luckily I had knowledge of the course so I knew where we were hitting the ball toward on the longer par 5's. Tee markers were marked with glow sticks and there were also glow sticks on the flags on the green. The beer cart was never far away and kept us stocked up (they actually had strapped in one of the drunk cart girls to keep her from falling out of the cart). Another good point is that you didn't have to search far for a place to get rid of the beer, you just walked away from the flashlights and let it fly. The only ball we lost was one that flew left into some DEEEEEP weeds and we didn't try hard to find it. The night ended up with us 3 over par which blew me away and we came in 3rd place. I had put on an invitation out to my friends to play golf, but having never played night golf, I didn't follow up with anybody since if the experience sucked I didn't want to get blamed. Next year I am bringing everyone I know with me so they can have as much fun as I did. And in this time and age where most golf tournaments cost a minimum of $100 a person to play, it was nice to just pay $35 for twice as much fun as I have ever had in a tournament.