HAVE A MERRY & GREEN CHRISTMAS

Interesting Golf fact:
Why is there 18 holes ?
Around 1764, St. Andrews converted the course from 22 to 18 holes but
18 holes did not become the standard, until the early 1900's.

I find it fascinating that Golf, as we know it, has been around almost 262 years and the game itself was invented over 550 years ago.




Christmas Dinner
Paul Stookey, 1963


And it came to pass on a Christmas evening
While all the doors were shuttered tight
Outside standing, lonely boy-child
Cold and shivering in the night

On the street, every window
Save but one, was gleaming bright
And to this window walked the boy-child
Peeking in saw, candle light

Through other windows he had looked at turkeys
Ducks and geese, cherry pies
But through this window saw a grey-haired lady
Table bare and tears in her eyes

Into his coat reached the boy-child
Knowing well there was little there
He took from his pocket,
his own Christmas dinner
A bit of cheese, some bread to share

His outstretched hands
held the food and they trembled
As the door, it opened wide
Said he, Would you share with me Christmas dinner
Gently said she, Come inside

The grey-haired lady brought forth to the table
Glasses two and her last drop of wine
Said she, Here's a toast to everyone's Christmas
and especially, yours and mine

And it came to pass on that Christmas evening
While all the doors were shuttered tight
That in that town, the happiest Christmas
Was shared by candle light

~

Hello Friends,,
Today, I want to share a few excerpts from Brent Kelley's
Where and When Did Golf Begin?

"It's definitely true that golf as we know it emerged in Scotland. The Scots were playing golf in its very basic form - take a club, swing it at a ball, move ball from starting point to finishing hole in as few strokes as possible - by at least the mid-15th Century."

"In fact, the earliest known reference to golf comes from King James II of Scotland, who, in 1457, issued a ban on the playing of golf and football (soccer). Those games, James complained, were keeping his archers from their practice. James III in 1471 and James IV in 1491 each re-issued the ban on golf."

"But the game continued to develop in Scotland over the decades and centuries, until 1744 when the first-known rules of golf were put down in writing in Edinburgh.
Golf as it was then played would be easily recognized by any modern golfer."

~end of excerpt~

Little White Golf Ball
(c) Tom Krause

Little white golf ball please tell me of the trick
to hitting you down the middle with this skinny little stick.

I try to keep my left arm straight - my head is always down -
but still I see my best attempt go dribbling on the ground.

Why do I pull you to the left, or slice you to the right?
What will it take to hit you straight until you're out of sight?

The money spent on lessons - all the practice balls I hit
only adds to my frustration when it doesn't help a bit.

For even when I do things right it only lasts a while.
It never seems like very long before I lose my smile.

Little golf ball please tell me of the trick
to hitting you down the middle with this skinny little stick.

~Gj
it's not easy being green.