Fore-reezing!

Long underwear, gloves, coat and winter hat may be typical for a Friday night football game in October, but golf? Apparently so!

We were set to golf with another couple at The Ridges this morning as part of a fundraiser – Party for Pam – to help a woman who fell in her bathroom this summer and became paralyzed from the neck down. It was a huge 2-day event and today was the 2-Club Golf Scramble, set to begin at 9 a.m.

One thing we've learned as cross country parents is that when there is frost, the golf course owners do not want you anywhere near anything green. You'll kill the grass with your club, your cart or your foot traffic. So today, with it only being 25 degrees at 9 a.m., we had to wait a good hour and a half to get started.

It may have warmed up to freezing by then, but all the golfers were still bundled up in their winter gear, hoping they can still swing a club and not be like the little brother Randy in A Christmas Story who couldn't move his arms!

But today's biggest trick wasn't how to keep warm, but how to play with just 2 clubs. My new co-worker and friend Jeff and his wife were the other half of our foursome and none of us had experienced this format before. Each golfer can only take 2 clubs with them for the 9-hole tourney and cannot use anyone else's clubs. So I had a driver and an 8 iron while the guys each had a wood of some sort and a iron, and Jeff's wife Kathy had an iron and the only putter in the group.

Let me tell you, it sure looks a lot easier on TV when you see Tiger using one of his woods to putt. It takes some finesse, which I did not possess.

I believe our foursome finished with a score of 4 or 5 over par. Frankly, that wasn't bad considering we had some struggles. Good thing we were only doing it for fun!

And it WAS fun. Especially after we thawed out. Actually it's 9 p.m. and I still have my long johns on, so maybe I didn't completely thaw! It was a good time, though. I can see how really good golfers would strategize more with what clubs to use, but that would require some consistency in club use. That's not going to happen when you golf only 3 times a summer. But maybe next year.

Unless we get a November Indian Summer spell, it's time to hang up the spikes for now. I may need to invest in some hand warmers for the golf bag. Just in case...