The 5th Hole At Monterey

The further we get into January, the more I get nostalgic about Stuart, Florida, where my mother Mary lived for almost 30 years.  When she moved there with my father Nelson  back in 1976, she did not play golf, but since the complex (the Monterey Yacht and Country Club) had a 9 hole course, which was the center of social life there, she quickly learned.  The photograph above is of my mother and I standing in front of the 5th hole, one of the prettiest on the course. It was always a scary hole - for me, at least - since you had to drive across a lagoon to reach the green, and if you fell short, you would lose your golf ball, which was always an issue back then.  The best solution was to use somebody else's ball - a floater - which had drifted to shore after being left behind by some other unlucky golfer.  That was always my system, and it always worked beautifully. And, I will have you know, if I actually did make it over the water and onto the green, I would always leave that person's ball where they might find it, and use my own on the next hole.  I do have my standards, after all.