New Clubs, Last Round
Saturday. Sunny, warm, the kind of day that feels like it's daring you to spend it responsibly instead of at the golf course. I did not spend it responsibly.
The new clubs arrived Thursday. I will spare you the unboxing play-by-play, mostly because I already used up my "I made emotional decisions about golf equipment" content a couple weeks ago, but I will say this: putting a ball with the right putter for the first time is genuinely a different sport than what I was doing before. I don't fully understand the physics. I don't need to. It just goes where I mean it to go now, most of the time, which after a summer of "most of the time" meaning "rarely," feels like cheating.
I did not know, when I booked the tee time, that it was going to be my last round of the summer. I found that out the boring way — by looking at a calendar and doing math I'd been avoiding. My stuff is packed. My car is packed. Move-in is Monday, 8 a.m., and there is a version of this weekend where I spent it doing something productive with that information. Instead I spent it on the back nine, hitting a ball with a putter that finally fits, memorizing a course I will not see again until Thanksgiving break at the earliest.
Sunday, for the record, was a wash — actual, literal rain, the kind that closes umbrellas out of spite. The course apparently stayed open anyway, which some genuinely dedicated people took advantage of. I was not one of them. Two months ago I would not have cared. Now I felt a real, physical pang of missing something, over a golf course, in the rain, that I wasn't even signed up to play. That's new. That's the whole thing this summer's been building toward, apparently.
So Saturday was it. Last round, first round, both at once — the newest version of my clubs meeting the last version of my summer. I made two pars I'm choosing to remember in detail and at least one shot so bad I'm choosing not to. My brother wasn't there this time. Neither was my dad. It was just me, the new putter, and a course that's spent the whole summer teaching me things I didn't know I wanted to learn.
I don't know exactly what this looks like from Ithaca. I know there's a driving range near campus I've already looked up, which feels like either commitment or a problem, and possibly both. I know I'll be back before anyone's forgotten who I am around here — specifically, I will be back for the Black Friday Scramble, because I have just learned this is a real, annual event, with golf and pizza and something called "hot hands," and I would like everyone to understand that I am choosing that over Black Friday shopping without a single moment of hesitation. My family will not understand this. I have accepted that.
See you at Thanksgiving, Oxford Greens. Save me a slice.
What's the last thing you did this summer before real life came back? Tell me in the comments — I need to know I'm not the only one who got weirdly emotional about a golf course.
One Last Round, First With New Clubs Sam just proved it — the right putter makes a bigger difference than you'd think, even on the same course you've played a hundred times. If her last round of the summer looked that good, imagine what yours could.
Grab a Seat at the Bar Got a gear opinion, a fitting horror story, or strong feelings about shaft flex? Come argue about it with the rest of us. Cold drinks, great food, and I promise to actually listen instead of just waiting for my turn to talk about my own equipment crisis.
🍁 Be On The Lookout: Oktoberfest Summer's not over yet, but I'm already hearing whispers about this fall's Oktoberfest Golf Tournament — one of Oxford Greens' most beloved events. Lederhosen and dirndls on a golf course. Who wants to miss that?! Dates and details are still coming together, so keep an eye out here for when registration opens.
Comments