My funniest golfing moment

Ok, as you can see I have my groove back, just like Stella. Suddenly I have a lot of posts running around in my head and not enough time to post them all! At least it beats the dreaded bloggers block.

This specific post is dedicated to my funniest golfing moment. Not something I am especially proud of cos it was pretty stupid but it was very funny!

It starts off in a region of our country called Mpumalanga and more specifically a town called Hazyview. Now Mpumalanga is the home of the Kruger National Park amongst other things and also the forestry hub of our country. A beautiful place! It is also a mere 4 hours from Johannesburg, so a perfect place for a weekend away.

My Father-in-Law has timeshare in a Southern Sun resort called Sabie River Sun and it is one of our favourite getaways. The whole family goes and we stay in a bungalow and just have the best time. There is so much to do for the whole family. Depending which bungalow you get, you could look out at hippos in the dam, onto the golf course or one of the many swimming pools the resort has to offer. Truly a great place!

So on one of these holidays, my father-in-law Clive, my brother-in-law Mark and I were playing a round of golf. The golf was great and we were having a very nice round. Kyle, Mark`s son, and I were sharing a golf cart and he was doing the driving. This was against the rules because Kyle was under aged (11) and not allowed to but what the heck, I`m a rebel if nothing else.

We were at one of the par 3`s. It is a pretty tough hole. Roughly 160 metres with half an island green, the whole front and right side of the green is surrounded by water. The flag was on the right hand side of the green, about 3 metres from the water. So we all tee off. Clive goes to the left of the green and Mark hits into the green side bunker on the same side. I hit a pretty good iron and finish about 3 metres from the pin but with a tough little breaking putt facing me.

So now we arrive at the green, I pick up my ball and start cleaning it. Clive hits a great chip and then Mark gets ready to hit out the bunker. This is a pretty tough shot though. If he leaves it short, he`ll have a very tough putt for par and if he hits it too hard, even just a bit, the ball would end up in the water behind the hole. So Mark hits it but I see it`s too hard. Now keep in mind that Mark has already lost about 9 balls and is fast running out of replacements! I flick into action and rush to stop his ball from going into the water, very aware of the fact that I would get a lot of pats on the back for my gallant behaviour in saving a golf ball from drowning. Focusing on the ball, I have a good feeling about stopping it from going into the drink. In the nick of time I stopped it with my foot. Unfortunately my body does not stop with it but momentum carries me forward. Then I realise that I do not have any Terra Firma under my feet anymore and am in fact running on air. I forgot to focus on the edge of the green, which is followed by a drop of about one and a half metre into the dam.

At this point of time a lot of things go racing through my mind. I still have my putter in one hand, my golf ball and towel in the other and my legs are still moving as if running. Suddenly I am gripped by concern as to what is under the water. Crocs? There are crocodiles in some of the other dams on the resort, so why not this one? Sharp rocks? What if I hit the water and a huge rock shatters my leg on impact?
So, I did the only thing I could and went into the tuck position. I pulled my knees up and braced for the impact. It all happened very slowly. I hit the water and went down. I was completely submerged. I held onto my Odyssey putter and my golf ball cos it was a Titleist Pro-V1 and they are very expensive. Then I felt something solid under my feet. I was at the bottom of the dam! RELIEF! I decided to push up with my legs to get to the surface cos I had no idea how deep the dam was. It felt like I had sunk about 2 metres. As I did this I was out the water like a cork. I stood there, in thigh high water, soaked, my golf cap drifting away. If I had landed on my feet, my shorts would have been wet but I assumed the tuck position and now I was wet from head to toe. I looked up at my golf partners / family and they were literally rolling on the green laughing. Then the realisation hit me, I had just jumped into a dam on a golf course.

I was utterly embarrassed but I must admit it must have been hilarious to see. I waded out the dam, the long way around cos it was too high to get out where I had entered. I was sopping wet. After a minute or five, with my golfing partners / family still laughing hysterically I lined up the birdie putt and promptly holed it!

My dignity took a big knock that day but at least I saved a golf ball. Strangely nobody remembered that fact....