Night Golf: the Downside

Yesterday I tried to get an earlier start at Candler Park, with mixed results. Lost three of my precious light up golf balls.

1. Hit a halfway decent mulligan, then a worm burner, then hit three shots up onto the elevated green level. Hit 4 good lag putts. “Bogey”.

2. Hit two decent tee shots with light up balls, but one rolled near a tree with leaves on the ground, and never found it. Chipped short, chipped long.

3. Hit one tee shot short that got a good roll, then a mulligan onto the green. Lags weren’t great. Bogey.

4. Flub, then an okay mulligan. Hit a third green light up ball that felt good, but when it hit it the light went out. Never found it.

5. Hit a good 6 iron to the front fringe. Hit a mulligan that bounced into a pile of leaves. Never found it.

6. Hit a decent 6 iron off the tee. Used a regular ball on my mulligan, and pulled it into the left brush. A goner. Decent 5 iron. Hit a couple of chips onto the green. Two putt for a “bogey”.

7. Hit an okay mulligan up under the trees on the right. Poked out with my 3 iron, though none were great. Pulled one 5 iron left, but the mulligan hugged the right side. Lost one ball but found another. Chipped onto the green. Two putt for a “double”.

8. Neither of my drives were great, but I hit a couple of good 7 iron approach shots. Three chips formed a 20 foot triangle around the hole. Two putt for a “bogey”.

9. My first hybrid sailed straight into a tree – and bounced back almost all the way to the tee box. Better mulligan. Three decent chips. Lots of leaves on the sloped green. “Double”.

My 60th nine of the year, Would be nice to play 75 nines next year. Heard the Bryson and the others played night golf last night. Totally different from my experience.

Wednesday: up early to lift weights at the gym. On the way to work I cashed in the McDonalds dollar deal of the day for a caramel frappe.

Tonight W&MC are taking Shivonne to the children’s theater performance of Frozen in Sandy Springs. Ceil is keeping Millie. I have small group.

We haven’t received many Christmas cards yet. Whitaker Kat & Joe, Hendrick, Sluder, and Watson. That may be it so far.

EDDIE MATHEWS [SABR Bio] is the only player to play for the same franchise in three separate cities: the Boston Braves—BSN (1952); the Milwaukee Braves—MLN (1953-1965); & the Atlanta Braves—ATL (1966). He is the youngest player to lead the majors in home runs for a season in the Live-Ball Era. In his age 21 season, Mathews hit 47 HR to lead the majors. An action shot of his swing during a night game graces the cover of the debut issue of Sports Illustrated, a weekly magazine owned by Time, Inc. dated 16-Aug-1954. SI is no longer issued weekly or even monthly, but it is still around. His minor league teams’ cities seemed to be predicting the future. In 1951 alone, he played for squads in AA Atlanta & AAA Milwaukee. Playing for the Crackers, Mathews was one of two players to hit a home run into the distant magnolia tree in centerfield of Ponce de Leon Park.