Play in the City : My first attempt at golf

I had SUCH a good time this morning - I think golf is something I could really get into. Once I get better at it, of course!

My golf lesson at Brown Deer Golf Club was at 8 am today. The plan was to get up at 6 and to leave by 7, but I overslept and had to rush - but still made it with time to spare. I was told I could bring a friend, but not many people are readily available at 8:00 on a Wednesday morning. Luckily I have a built-in friend in my dear fiance, so once again, Dave accompanied me on my excursion. He served as my photographer and got to play a few holes and drive around in the golf cart with me - we had a lot of fun.

My lesson was with the club pro, Scott Evans. Normally, one would take about 10 lessons to go from not knowing what they were doing to being able to at least hold their own on the course, but I got an accelerated lesson since I was only taking one. He taught me how to stand and how to hold my arms when I swing and how to follow through and all that. Contrary to what I did at the driving range the other night, I actually hit the ball this time - and a few of them actually looked good! He was really helpful. I got some putting tips, too, and once our half hour was up, it was off to actually try to sink a few on the course.

John Quinlan, the Public Services Director for the Milwaukee County Parks System, was our guide and he was really cool. We played four holes and that was about all I could handle with my limited skills. I made some pretty good divets in the course, and I lost one ball in the water, but other than that I was alright. It took me about seven or eight shots to get the ball in on the par four holes - but that doesn't include the times I swung at the ball and missed. Who knew it actually counted as a stroke when you missed?

Once we were done golfing, John led the way in his golf cart and we followed behind and took a tour of the rest of the course. I had a ridiculously good time driving the cart around - I had never driven one before. I asked Dave, "how fast do you think these things go? Twenty miles per hour?" and he just laughed and laughed and I realized how stupid that sounded. A person can run and keep up with a golf cart - they probably go about seven miles per hour - tops. It was fun as heck, though.

The course was absolutely gorgeous. I had never actually been on a golf course and I can see why people love it so much. Everything is so green and quiet - and today could not have been a more perfect morning. It was heavenly!

We snapped some pictures and learned a few things, like that the course was built in 1929 and that Tiger Woods made his professional debut there. John said that Brown Deer Golf Club is the best public course in Milwaukee. (It's located about five or ten minutes North of downtown off of Good Hope Road.)

The US Bank Championship will be held at the course July 18-24. BRETT FAVRE is going to be there on July 18 and 19 and I'm going to go see him. Seriously, my heart pounds fast just thinking about it. For years when I was younger and Brett Favre was new to the Packers, I honestly thought I'd grow up to marry him. I would be SO excited to meet him!

Anyway, after our tour we had lunch with John in the clubhouse and then we departed. It was such a nice morning - I will definitely go back. Now that I know how to hit a ball, I'm going to go back to the range and practice up!