It may have been a cold gray day yesterday afternoon, but I enjoyed my nine holes very much. 

The quick tour of the front nine with Ralph and Bob sure beats the hell out of watching my beleaguered fantasy football teams, but Sunday was just a bit better than usual. My driver finally cooperated. The normally recalcitrant 1W hit five fairways and narrowly missed a sixth with legitimately solid 250-yard drives. Have no idea where that's been all year, but better late than never. I finished with a 42. Maybe not conventionally impressive but about as well as I've done all year for nine holes.

The pleasantness of the round and the steadily approaching end of the season, got me reflective. 

Covid, crowds, closures and crappy golf were so much a part of the spring and early summer. Losing KIttyhawk was hard. Particularly for an introvert like me, the place was the one social outlet I really had. No matter what time, one of Kittyhawk's courses would be available. The range was huge. Sometimes, I'd come just to chip and putt on one of the three big practice greens. The slate of events my old association had for us meant that a hacker like me could always compete in events with people like me and I got to know a lot of those guys. Those are all things that can't be replaced.

None-the-less, I'm thankful for how things eventually turned out.

Mostly, I'm thankful my new friend Ralph was willing to let me join him for his 2 p.m. tee times. Through him I met several other club members and made the business of securing tee times possible on a course that was jam-packed most of the season. Getting to know these guys over the season has been enjoyable enough to take the sting out my struggles hitting the ball.

I'm also very pleased to be a member at a course like Miami Shores where the City of Troy is actually investing in the facilities instead of closing them. Course conditions there had always been fairly decent. To that the city recently added a new driving range and new clubhouse. The range has been so successful that they are building an additional tee area at the far side of the property. Enough were using it that we kept running out of turf. The pro, Kyler Booher, and his staff do an excellent job.

I think I'll try to ramp back up with the handicap next year. Maybe if I get back to some level of decency we'll even give the Club Championship another try.

Either way, I've got a home course to do it at.