Always a Winner!!

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And just where have I been, you're wondering? This was the weekend for our miniature golf "major" event, so I was off (well, no more "off" than usual, that is), chasing my ball up and down the green carpet. I'm back home after a wonderful weekend, with the laundry done and drying and most of the sweat and suntan lotion scrubbed off. Even though I didn't win the tournament, I was a winner in many regards. First and foremost, the physical therapy showed just how well it works! Think about walking around on uneven surfaces for four-six hours a day, three days in a row, with a bad back. That probably made people with good backs wince. And yet, I managed to practice all day on Friday with no pain patches at all on my back. Both days I played with pain patches, but more as a precautionary measure than necessity. Equally great is seeing all my "brothers." I spend my summer with these guys, and have for the past 17 years, so they are family. We're a crazy bunch of people with a common love. Not the same skills (oh, we can all "ace" the holes, but the pros can play four rounds with a lower score than what I post in three!), but we are bonded by the love of the game. As for the tournament, my division had a great, tight race right down to the end. The first day ended with the defending champion having a one-shot lead, and places 1-7 separated by only nine strokes. That left lots of room for moving, and, oh, did we have movement! Saturday's third place finisher found himself in sixth after one bad round (and he never really recovered from that, falling out of contention). I moved up, and the top two went back and forth. With one round to go, there were five people separated by only seven strokes. Alas, nobody made a "big" move, giving us a new champion. I played well today, moving from 5th to 2nd. We had a tie for third. The pro division was equally exciting, just with much lower scores. The winner, Pro Putter Hall of Fame member Randy Reeves, shot a blistering 97 today to move from fourth to first! To show you the difference in skill level: the winning pro score, for eight rounds, was 200 (or 88 under par). The winning score in our division was 228, a measly 60 under par. It's so great so see these terrific players, to play with them, and to share the fun on and off the course. That means I'm always a winner, no matter where I finish on the leaderboard!