THE NEW YEAR: EXPECT THE BEST IN 2017

Brian & Christie celebrating the
New Year with "aunti" Jan

The beginning of 2017 was pretty "cool", one in my book of memories. We first celebrated at the club with a small group of members who made the evening a very memorable one; part because it felt almost like a large family (only about thirty people attended plus staff) and partly because it was a truly fun evening.... then, the first tee shots of 2017 were not too far down the morning, and just about 6 hours or so later, I met with four of our kids who would officially hit the first shots of the new year.

L-R: Tate Trotter, Tres Hill,
Travis Poole, Haylee Poole

As it turned out, it began with a crooked tee shot that hit me right in the gut. No kidding here LOL!

The whole thing was funnier than anyone would have thought, considering what happened and of the millisecond I felt some sharp pain in my gut. 

To some, it would have been  a sign of bad luck, "what a start!" they would have said. Not me, to me, it was a sign of good luck... consider this, the ball could have hit my expensive camera lens, it didn't; it could have hit my head, it didn't; it could have hit my hand, elbow or forearm which most likely would have caused me to drop the camera and lens on the pavement, it didn't, it could have hit me lower or on the knee, it didn't. The only place, and least exposed place of my body when taking a picture is my gut, particularly from the angle where the ball came from, and the ball found it's way in the narrow opening and hit me where it least hurt.

There it comes!

Earlier in the week, I had asked several of our junior "regulars" to show up on Sunday, January 1st, to "officially hit the first tee shot of the season". I didn't make an official invitation to all the kids (I should have done it), and it was more a thing I thought of when two of them had visited the club a few days before and a text I sent to kids that came to mind very quickly at that moment.

It was a cool, but beautiful morning. Some clouds on the east and a nice colored sunlight showing.
Four kids showed up (some had texted that they were out of town): Haylee Poole, Travis Poole, Tate Trotter and Tres Hill. As we were walking to the first tee, I decided, that we should have an "Indianapolis Start", but there was not enough room for four golfers, so, we had a "ball toss" to see which two would hit first and which two would hit second.

Getting closer! Haylee praying!

Haylee and Travis won the "ball toss" and they were the first two to hit. Haylee on the south side of the teeing area on #1 (the left side) and Travis on her right. The idea was for me to take a picture of the first tee shot of the first group who "inaugurated" the season, so I positioned myself on the cart path ahead and just right of the tee box. Twenty seconds later, I had an "owie" on my belly and another twenty seconds later, we  were all laughing after Haylee had caught the ball with the toe of her driver sending the ball almost straight to the right, where I was, and where it caught me in the gut, as described above.

Worried that she had hurt me bad, she ran towards me, probably faster than the ball had come. As she was coming, I started laughing, as in "Dang it! That one hurt! How come you dummy (Alex) did not position yourself at a different angle?" Meanwhile, as Haylee began running towards me, probably thinking that she had hurt me bad, her original face expression was a worry and being sorry, then, of total surprise and relief when she saw me laughing. Then, we all laughed. She apologized, but it was me who had to apologize, there are a number of things I could have done different and still have the kids hit the first shot without such an incident...

Ball found a target.
Haylee worried.

I was also grateful that it was not a bad accident that anyone would have had to regret (if anything, any regret would have been mine, not for planning this moment, as I would never want to be the source of anyone thinking they did something "wrong" where they hurt someone badly when I could have done something to prevent it).

In retrospect, I should have thought of asking all four kids to hit a few warm-up shots, not because I thought of wanting to avoid an accident, but because they would have felt much better if they open the season with a nice shot and would not have been as nervous... and considering the result, it would have surely avoided a first morning "stiff" swing.

After the "ice was broken" and everyone was lose, Tres and Tate hit near perfect shots down the middle of the fairway.

Had I seen the ball coming, this is
what I would have looked like

When I was taking the picture, I never saw the ball come towards me. All I remember feeling the contact. However, I knew that I had taken seven or eight pictures in a span of one and a half seconds, so I was fairly confident that the camera had taken the ball in flight, and it did (see the pictures posted above) and decided to make a composite for my young friend and "executioner" and for me, both, as a reminder lucky we were and, thinking, if this was a sign of things to come, bring them on!

Thank you kids for coming to share a short moment with me... I can say, without a doubt, the start of the year could not have been any better!