It seems as if we just opened and now it is almost time to close.
We finally got open on April 23 and just for 9 holes (after the flooding). I am looking back on the year and trying to figure out what we did right, what we did wrong and what we can do to improve for next year. Slow play, green speed and where is the refreshment cart seem to be the biggest concerns.
I was thinking about some of these things just the other night when the television started to cover a story on our young men and women fighting in Afganistan (yes it is a war!). I felt very uncomfortable as I watched them hike up a mountain knowing that any place ahead could be a bomb or the enemy sighting in on them with weapons. I am sitting in my living room and I can change the channel if it gets to hard to watch, but our soldiers cannot. They are there protecting us against enemies that want to destroy us.
I remember being at the golf course that horrible day 9/11. We were all glued to the set in the 19th Hole. I am not smart enough to figure out all that is going on in the world, but we have to try and do the best we can and support our men and women that are risking there lives so we can enjoy the free life here at home. I carry some guilt as I did not serve in the military. If I could rewind the clock I sure would.
So to wind up my last article of the year - thank you to all of you who serve and have served our country, the veterans and the men and women of the Armed Forces. You are in my thoughts and prayers. Your families that sacrifice are also in those same thoughts and prayers. May God bless all of you and keep you safe.
Tip of the winter - Keep off the couch (except to watch golf!) and try and work on keeping your flexibility.
Rule of the winter - Great time to browse the USGA Rule Book!
Schedule - Monday Oct. 19, closed one day for snowmold spraying, weather permitting. Spring is just 153 days away! Nov. 1 will be the last day of the season.
Quote of the winter - "War-tiime, in which there is so little golf and none of it serious, is well adapted to looking back at peace-time, when there was so much and so desperately solemn: when short putts missed were really tragic and life's chief ambition was the mastering of the swing 'from the inside out.' It is easier to see the wood for the trees." - From the book by Bernard Darwin "Golf Between Two Wars: 1944 Publishers, Chatto & Windus, London.
Keep it in the fairway.
(Steve Kottsick is the golf professional at Souris Valley Golf Course. He writes a column for The Minot Daily News throughout the golfing season. Kottsick can be reached by e-mail at sports@minotdailynews.com)