GOLF VACATION
It was the golf vacation I had been waiting years for. A group of my buddies had been doing a golf travel outing every April to North Carolina for one of the long weekend golf packages. You know those golf packages where you play two rounds on Thursday, two on Friday, and two on Saturday. They had also always managed to work a round in on the way there and one on the way back. Eight rounds of golf in five days! What’s not to love? 

I had never before been able to participate in the golf travel outing because they always went on a weekend close to my wedding anniversary and the wife wouldn’t let me disappear on a golf vacation. 

What had changed? I did. I had left the wife the previous year. I had also just quit my job and was taking advantage of a few days off before moving from the East Coast to the Midwest to take part in the golf travel. 

I was all worked up for the golf vacation of a lifetime and nothing to hold me back; just me and the boys.

Our first golf outing wasn’t part of the golf packages we usually purchased, but that didn’t stop us. Beautiful sunshine, warm temps, and Carolina short grass was just waiting for us to abuse it as best we could. From there we’d be on our way to the final destination of our golf travel.

Our first round of the golf vacation on Thursday morning paired me with a gentleman I had never met before. I was told he wasn’t a desired partner on the trip because he was a scratch golfer. I tend to get my money’s worth out of every round, but I’m always up for meeting someone new.

He was not that difficult a partner for the golf round. He offered a few pointers and was not the ogre as alluded to. It ended up being a rather enjoyable golf outing. 

As the day drew to an end, we checked into the hotel that was part of our usual golf packages and cleaned up for the evening and then out to dinner. At dinner I had sat next to the gentleman I played the first golf outing with, figuring he wasn’t all that bad. The seat next to me was taken by another gentleman I had not met prior to this golf vacation, but as I said, I’m always up for meeting new people. 

Over appetizers we discussed minor details of the golf packages; the facilities, the weather, etc. This also provided the opportunity to get to know a little more about others on the golf travel outing that I had not met prior to this golf vacation. The talk turned to employment and I was boasting about how I had just quit my job the week before, and here I was, unemployed, separated, paying mortgage, rent, and attorney’s fees, yet chasing errant golf balls on a golf vacation in North Carolina and living the American Dream! 

I learned that the man I had golfed with that morning was a lawyer whose associate was handling my wife’s divorce. I quickly turned my attention to the right. My luck being what it was, he ended up being best friends with the partner who was the reason I left the company where I’d worked for the past fifteen years. 

Only I could go on a golf travel outing 300 miles away from home to escape all the trials and tribulations of my daily life with a golf vacation and sit myself between the boss of my estranged wife’s attorney and the best friend of the boss I couldn’t stand.

Thank goodness for the golf travel outing!