The End of Things

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. To celebrate, we spent the morning at a gorgeous little Par-3 golf course. The weather was perfect, the setting unbeatable. The only part that wasn't good was the fact that this was to be the final day of play at Aquadel.

Yet another victim of what we like to call progress, all 18 holes are set for demolition and development.

Only then, when we got home and read this morning's news, we discovered that two more recreational venues are set to close.

The Ridge Bowling Lanes, a long-established spot where old and young, disabled and able, gather to socialize, is one of the sites slated for the bulldozer. Accompanying it, of course, is the stalwart art-cinema, the Ridge Theatre. How will these be replaced? What else, with condos.

In addition, the Granville 7 Cinema has just announced that it will be closing early in November. Does this mean the Vancouver International Film Festival will be forced to end as well?

Truly, with all the people being gathered into condominiums for densified living, it's difficult to figure where they're supposed to go for entertainment.

All of this reminds me of when they paved over our local 'little golf course' so they could build a mega-mall, with Walmart. If they'd moved the mall just two blocks east (where land was -- and still is mostly undeveloped), all those people in the hundreds of new townhouses and condos would have some walking trails, a miniature golf, a driving range, and a lovely greenspace area that was once a gorgeous place to walk or have a place to play golf.

The end of things? The end of too many good ones, at least. Y'know, maybe those Mayans were onto something after all.

A day for firsts

Today is the first time I rode a golf cart around a course. There were even a few short bursts where I had to drive the thing (a definite first). Still, I was glad we didn't walk the course, as the dedicated bunch I was with decided to get their money's worth and played 27 holes. Hey, while the weather's good here, grab it! And yes, that really is snow lurking behind them on the ski hill.

My other first? Gnats. They seem to be a kind of high-flying sand flea, but at least they don't bite, something I was grateful for, as they loved zooming in under my glasses and climbing into my eyes. Gnatsty little things, that's for sure.

The other first today went to driver Dan Wheldon who snuck in from behind to take the checkered flag at the Indy 500. J.R. Hildebrand, the rookie who'd been leading this, the 100th anniversary of the race, nicked the wall on the final corner, but scrootched in for second. No winning bottle of milk for him.

I bet those race car drivers didn't have to deal with gnats. But then, they also didn't get to look at the kind of scenery I did, riding and driving around at Superior National Golf Course. They also didn't have to deal with the kind of weather we came upon next.

Big Break Sunday

After spending the last two days indoors at a conference, it felt good to walk around in a beautiful setting, Hazelmere Golf course, site of this year’s Surrey Invitational.

We caught up with Derek Gillespie (of this season’s Big Break XI, aka Big Break PEI)on the third hole, and for a while we seemed to be the only ones following him.

Here he is, nearly at the 18th green, looking all intent on just where the ball might be landing.

It’s too bad the greens were so hard. They really seemed to play havoc with the day’s putts.

We probably should have invited Derek over for supper last night. We could have helped him warm up on the ‘putting green’ on our deck.

Even if the video is mostly a sideways view, this is a pretty fun way to spend part of a summer evening.

Miniature golf the natural way

No tiny windmills, no indoor-outdoor carpet. No trolls or other hunks of concrete formed as creatures. Just lovely, grassy greens, complete with real sandtraps. Remarkable.

This magical place is Dundas, Ontario's Rock Chapel Golf Course, where even a terrible golfer like me can have a great time.

And the putting course is only part of it -- there's a driving range, practice areas for chipping from grass, and even an area of sandy bunkers set up for practising getting up and down onto the green. Oh yes, and a beautiful 9-hole executive course for playing on after you've practised yourself into it!

And to think our local course has the jam to say it was voted the best practice place in North America. Not a chance.