Baders on tour in a buggy

So this was unexpected and unplanned. Mike, the owner of our B&B in a lovely peaceful part of the Mendoza wine region here in central Argentina, happened to mention that there was a golf course nearby. I haven’t played much since the kids came along, and indeed my last round was two years ago with my friend and former colleague Percy up at Collingtree.  I wasn’t overly bothered until I reflected on the fact that over the last 30 years I had played golf in every continent, with the exception of Antarctica and South America. It seemed like an easier box to tick than seeking to climb the highest mountain in every continent, for example. We had a family huddle and agreed that I could play on the condition that the rest of the family could ride around on a buggy. Deal. 

The next morning was unique in the entire 19 years that I have known Jules, in as much as she woke up, drew the curtains and said something like “More lovely sunshine - good day for golf!” 

Mike very kindly lent me his clubs, which, I am assuming were probably his father's golf clubs.  Or at least some of them.  4 iron, 8 iron, 9, sand iron all of which were clearly cast long before the concept of peripheral weighted clubs had even been thought about, plus an old putter and a 3 wood that looked like it might fall apart if I hit the ball hard.  Nevertheless, I figured it would be against the spirit of our trip if I forked out £20 on a hired set, and only the previous day I had been talking to Frankie about the aphorism “a bad workman always blames his tools” because he wasn’t very happy with his table tennis bat, so I figured “how hard can it be?”

We set off to Algodon, the local course, and managed to negotiate a pretty decent rate for 9 holes and a buggy....and some old balls and tee pegs, as I had nothing at all.  There was no-one on the golf course at all, being around midday and some 35 degrees. Well, with the exception of a dog, whom we can therefore deduce, not unreasonably, to be at least slightly mad, particularly since he followed us around all nine holes.  Actually, he did disappear temporarily after I carded a 10 on the 5th.  I think it was for a pee, my entourage was convinced he’d had enough, so I was pleased when he returned on the next tee. 

My golfing entourage - including a dog!

It was a very enjoyable round, some good shots, some not so good, but a lovely experience, and the trusty clubs held together well.  It was made more memorable by the sight of my family careering around the course on a buggy, and Louis very ably managing his flag duties on every green.  The highlight was a stonking drive down a par five fairway, which, followed by a four iron off a bare lie and a chip gave me an easyish birdie opportunity.  Sadly I squandered this, even, with the extensive preparatory detective work.(see below).

Lining up my solitary birdie putt.  Even with Louis' help I managed to leave it short :(

Luckily there were no people around!

The boys had a little putting competition at the end which Louis edged by one stroke. Let's face it though, the boys weren't really interested in my golf, they just wanted to drive!!  It was very thirsty work and we all agreed that the bottle of Pepsi we shared afterwards was the best we'd ever tasted!