Carting it up at Cowra Golf Club

While Golf presents many challenges to the newcomer, it opens up many new ‘fun’ experiences. Last week, I crossed the Blue Mountains and tackled a ‘real’ country course, playing  a social game with my sister, Jenny on her home course in Cowra.

To make the most of the short time available to us, Jenny suggested that ‘carting’  was the only way to go. This was a first for me but I soon learnt that golf carts can add another dimension to your enjoyment of the game and as a bonus, mastered the basics of  ‘golf buggy driving for dummies’.  On a lovely Spring morning,  I  found myself a passenger, with Jenny in Formula I mode, zipping here and there, up and down in this little red rocket.

All I had to do was sit tight and enjoy the view until …  our balls landed on opposite sides of the fairway. Jenny  parked, grabbed a wood and hopped across the fairway where she  hit an imposing second shot. It soared and soared some more.  Meanwhile, I managed to dribble my  ball  a reasonable distance down the fairway. Not a bad outcome, I thought.

But then Jenny asked me to drive the cart over and pick her up. “But I can’t drive a cart” I replied.

‘It’s easy, all you do is put your foot down.”  Gingerly, I pressed my foot on the pedal (motorised vehicles and I, have not had a mutually rewarding relationship) and the cart inched its way across the fairway. The red rocket had become a red slug! “Harder” yelled Jenny. I pressed harder and the cart responded. It likes me, I thought as we zoomed over to Jenny. I could get used to this mode of transport, especially on hot, humid summer days!

It was so enjoyable playing with someone who knows the course well. When the greens are fast and the bunkers are lurking,  such knowledge is invaluable.

 Alas, they haven’t invented a personal golfing drone which can fly around you, assess your game and make suggestions for improvement as you are playing, but I think my sister,  Jenny is the next best thing.  For  weeks, I had been having trouble with teeing off and hitting on the fairway and I didn’t know what was wrong.  In practice, all seemed well, but as soon as I was on the course … disaster! What Jenny picked up was that I had taken some of the coaching tips too literally. I practiced my chipping, being mindful to put my weight on the front foot. Then, when I was instructed to tee off the front foot, I thought that meant that my weight had to be on the front foot when I did that too. I didn’t realise that I was trying to hit balls like a one legged stork!  Once I was playing on an even keel, everything was better. I was even able to hit out of the rough in front of Jenny’s friends, Robert and Warwick. Even though I felt like a murderer, beheading innocent daisies in the process.

Golf finished and some bargains found at the Pro shop, where the new golf Pro, Nathan Stubbs was having a sale, it was time to return home for a leisurely lunch.

Spring has sprung at Cowra and Jenny’s garden was bursting with colour.

I loved looking out through the rose arbour, over the paddocks and seeing them dotted with sheep and lambs.

And of course I had to say hello to Marjorie, Jenny’s pet lamb who is now a very large sheep. It was time for her annual haircut and it was funny to see how her friends in the paddock didn’t recognise her after Paul had  shorn her!

All too soon, our visit to Cowra came to an end but I’m looking forward to my next visit when perhaps I’ll tackle the whole 18 holes. Country golf courses are so worth exploring!