Beware - Alligators!

I was up extremely early this morning as I was anxious not to miss my 8.27 a.m. slot at Indigo Creek Golf Club where I had booked eighteen holes of golf. I made tea for Sara and me and then set off down Highway 17 toward Murrell's Inlet. I had been told by the resort staff that the golf course was only a few blocks down the road; ten miles and 25 minutes later I turned into the Indigo Golf Village. I was a little apprehensive when I saw the numerous golfers already assembled there - all looking very professional. I entered the professional's shop and handed over my voucher. I also hired a set of clubs and bought eighteen golf balls. The club is very well organised and I was to join three other golfers to make up a foursome with two carts. My playing partner was Mike from Wisconsin who had an 11 handicap and was on a golfing vacation. I discovered that he worked at a golf course back home and with his GPS for golf courses was clearly bordering on the professional. He did tell me that he had taken part in Ryder Cup competitions in the past. Our two other partners were John and Joseph from New York - also on a golfing vacation. Quite clearly I was amongst some serious golfers - my one day a fortnight golfing with Richard was nowhere near the level of their dedication. Despite the massive gulf in our skills, Mike and the other two were most gentlemanly partners and proved that the game can be played together by people of different skills. We used two carts which we had to keep to the dedicated paths. We started with the back nine first. The course seemed to consist of half water and half fairway - massive lakes which made the 15th at Paulton's look like a puddle. It wasn't until I actually saw a basking alligator on the "shore" of one of these that I believed the warnings about alligators being about. It goes without saying that I didn't go looking too hard for lost balls - five in total. We finished at just after 1.30 p.m. - five hours in total. I played reasonably well - no massive double figure scores - but I found their fairways better than some of our English greens and my second shots let me down. Fortunately my putting kept me from embarassing myself too much. I drove back toward the area of our resort and had lunch of crab cakes and beer at Hooters! Sara and the kids were already back from the beach when I returned to our apartment. I had some quiet time reading my book and also playing some more golf on my Nintendo DS. Tonight, Sara, Mary and I went to the China Buffet a couple of blocks away where we had an all you can eat buffet for $10.99. I also had some more Snow Crab's legs - yummy. An early night tonight as we are off to Charleston tomorrow.