GOLF

This is the time of year to play golf, so make your plans now and just go play.

Some reading this may have regrets about not getting started playing the game in the spring. Others already in the game didn’t play as much as you would have liked in this spring and summer, so now’s the time to take your “mulligan”.

The reason that now is the best time of year to play is simple - the courses are in the best shape of the golf season and the most available.

Football season has amazing influence, so there are plenty of open tee times in the fall.

In 1983, I was in what should have been my senior year in college and failed to secure tickets to the Saturday afternoon football game. I was kind of bummed, but when I went to the golf course, I made an amazing discovery.

There was no one there.

I had the course to myself and played 54 holes that day. Football is still one of my favorite sports.

The lesson this week is simple. Just go play and play fast, so you can play more holes.

Many golf experts complicate golf and it frustrates me to no end. If you want to play better, just play more golf.

How tough is that? To play more holes, thus learning to play better, just play faster.

Since fall golf is the topic, the focus will be on high school girls’ golf the next few weeks. This is the tournament season and there are numerous programs including Lexington and River Bluff, Chapin and several other schools locally that we will follow for the next few weeks.

Isabella Rawl, a sophomore at Lexington, had a first last week. She had an albatross on the seventh hole at Columbia Country Club. Rawl collected her “albatross” when she knocked in her second shot on the par 5 7th hole on Lakeside.

The Country Club of Lexington, the Ponderosa Club, Golden Hills, Timberlake, Mid Carolina, LinRick, Columbia Country Club as mentioned earlier, North-woods, Oakhills, The Woodlands and several other courses locally host numerous high school events throughout the fall.

I personally want to point out that most of the golf courses do not charge the high schools very much and many don’t charge any fees. Most don’t realize it and just wanted to point that out as a fact that there are some good golf growing hearts running and operating our courses!

Don Byers, a member at Mid Carolina Club, had a hole-in-one one number four, 123 yard par 3 this past Monday.

The Irmo-Chapin Recreation Commission’s Winter Youth Golf Tour is now open for registration and the parent/junior orientation meeting is scheduled for Dec. 2 at Seven Oaks Park.

The “tour” will run Sunday afternoons Dec. 9 - Feb. 24, with several optional events on other days. Please call (803) 772-3336 or

(803) 345-6181 for more information.