thanks to benjie, net, and tin, lolo bomboy had a week in august 2011 that he will remember and miss for a very long, long time...for the first time in his golfing life, lolo lost a round of 18 holes to benjie...in a golf course we played before under british open conditons with heavy rain pouring down on us, with lightning to boot at times, if memory serves me right....i clearly remember though that the golf course attendant at the time gave us the free use of roller carts as a reward to us,he said, for being crazy enough to want to play in such a stormy weather..,my first loss to benjie shows just how much benjie has improved his game after switching this year to his new golf video teacher, and converting himself back from a one to a two-planer, which he was when he started learning the game from his first video teacher...whose style of play or teaching i have since called the toronto swing....benjie's game has so improved that i found it hard in this round to match the length of his drives and his iron shots... as well as the accuracy thereof...all i could do was try..
then he and net, treated lolo to a round of golf in two beautiful and scenic courses of contrasting general features... the first, demanding shots to severely elevated greens, with the fairways framed by trees that make them look so narrow and difficult to hit, making straight drives that much more imperative....and the second, requiring shots hit mostly from tee boxes on top of hills to fairways or greens way down below and guarded by forbidding creeks, ponds or murky marshes, thickets, and tall grass, which all make length and accuracy of tee shots a definite issue...such that taking extra club is always an option....
these courses have their own risk-reward temptations... so unless one is really a proficient golfer, he will, more likely than not, find himself in frustrating situations of regret, or he is rewarded with great joy if he is able to overcome the obstacles....
but then again, that is where the great challenge of golf lies deeply hidden...it puts to a dire test one's ability to do his best under the most difficult conditions, to see whether or not he can come out of them alive, well, and still smiling, and above all else, happy, inspite of his mishits, errant shots ,missed putts, and worse, his imprudence in attempting shots well beyond his ability to even dream about...if golf were a game a little easier to play, pretty soon golfers will be bored playing it....
for who would still be excited to go out to the golf courses just to repeat the same old boring routine.... but since golf makes one hit shots he would instantly wish he had rather not have made, it makes one more liable to enjoy a corresponding sense of accomplishment in being able, every now and then, to hit shots in ways he did not even imagine he was capable of... much less, intend in the first place...
so, while we did not even bother to keep our scores during these two rounds of golf, the spirit of competitoin was just as intense...the sense of frustration and joy we experienced was just as sharp and keen....each time we made a bogey, or a par here and there.... or pulled our tee shots left or right, or into the ditches or waters, guarding the fairways or greens... in short, we all had fun, though, each in our own unique, peculiar, and quite personal or even strange and silent ways...
it was also nice being able to play with a very friendly canadian named mike in the game i played with benjie and net... and in the other game, it was nice for jojo to come along with me and benjie...
of course, everything was all part of tin's 12th birthday celebration...last year, tin and i played a round of golf in a par-3 course... that was fun too... and how can i forget the time we went swimming as part of her birthday celebration....of course, tin's birthday is never complete without us enjoying the company of benjie's family, lolo ben and lola lydia, and brother jojo....this year was no different, and our conversation was every bit as lively as those of the years past...i enjoyed the food as well even though i was not allowed to try the lechong kawali...a friend of net in high school who came to canada just a month ago was with us...
earlier today, back here, i wanted to go out and play golf here just to amuse myself in an effort to keep myself from missing the three--- benjie, net and tin--- too much...but when i went out, i got scared the heat might just be too much for me to handle, so i decided against it....maybe, tomorrow...
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