la primera ronda de golf en en Argentina

It didn’t seem too hard of a task to buy a travel case and pack my clubs, so why not take them with me to Argentina. There is surely some excellent courses to play there and they have produced one Masters champion (despite the fact he’s currently in prison) so why not give it a go.

Problem 1 – we have packed 12 bags already…can we consolidate them to make it easier to transit airports in Melbourne and Dallas? No we already reduced by 1. So do I leave my clubs and risk 90+ days of golf withdrawals? Do I leave my 3yr old’s car seat and hope my wife doesn’t notice? (insert death stare here). Ok, 13 bags it is…we’ll have to make it work.

Problem 2 – which clubs do I take. What are their courses like? What bounce wedges should I take? Do I risk taking my (current) favourite putter? South America (in general) is not know for its integrity when it comes to baggage handling.

Problem 3 – finding golf courses on Google is one thing, but how do I arrange play them? Many are members only others charge $100 USD a round. This doesn’t bode well if I hope to play daily whilst our toddler is in kindergarten. The only answer seems to be to hit up my wife’s friends (or friend’s friends) to see who is a member and can introduce me as a guest.

Problem 4 – avoiding the 1st tee embarrassment after 2 weeks without hitting a ball & two long-haul flights that didn’t help my spine alignment. Do I try to find a practice range to hit balls, hit some in the back yard of our borrowed house or just man up on the first tee and see what happens.

Result – We were invited to stay with friends 1.5hrs out of Cuidad de Buenos Aires for a long weekend (Argentinean public holiday) at an estancia that was once the largest private zoo in Argentina. Of course it helps that our hosts know pretty much everyone here and after a brief chat with Marcos the starter, I’m given the green light to just show up whenever and tee off as long as I don’t interrupt the club competition. This was hardly going to pose a problem as on a busy weekend I’m told that maybe a total of 20 members play. The real worry was the Ñandus (Argentinean Emus) that roam wild on the course and surrounding fields. Up close they were a lot smaller than Emus and they didn’t try to steal anything out of my bag or run off with my ball.

Hoyo #1 – no practice, just proceed to smash a drive on the first 275m down the middle. I take that every time & especially as in front of my sister-in-law and her novio who were came along for a walk and to keep me company (they may have been afraid I’d get lost). Backed it up by hitting the pin on #3 with a 139m wedge and stopping inside 2m…wild applause followed.