Golf the Best Ball Way

By Sandy Coppendale
rggolf.com/

Golfing is a favorite pastime of mine, and I can see the
humor in the derogatory term, pasture pool. It's especially
humorous to me since the municipal golf course in my small
Midwestern town is located on the outskirts, right next to
the pasture of Sherman's dairy herd. The cattle enjoy
watching golfers on the 4th and 5th holes which share a
fence line with their pasture. I worked as assistant
greenskeeper on this course when I was a teenager, and it
was the best summer job in the world.

Each morning, the head greenskeeper gave his crew any
special instructions for the day - plugging the greens,
moving the holes, raking the roughs - and by six o'clock we
were at work, beginning every day by mowing the greens. I
loved those cool mornings before the heat of the day
descended. The smell of fresh-cut grass takes me straight
back to that summer when I was young and the physical
effort of a morning's hard work was just a warm-up to
golfing a round at the end of the job.

By 10:00 we were expected to be done working and off the
course. One of the many perks of the job was that we could
golf a round if the course wasn't crowded, and it rarely
was. The greenskeeper's son Billy was too young to be on
the staff, but had a good business selling lost balls that
he recovered in and around the water hazards. He would quit
hunting balls and join me to golf if the day wasn't already
too hot to bear. Billy was only in grade school, but was
already a terrific golfer. That summer he taught me what he
knew, and I've been golfing with enjoyment if not expertise
ever since.

Since being coached by a 10 year old was the extent of my
formal training, I've never taken my game too seriously.
It has always been purely a pleasure - except when my
sister comes back to town for a visit. She always wants to
play a few rounds of golf, partly because there's not much
else to do for outdoor recreation in the corn belt, and
partly because she knows I enjoy golf, and thinks she's
sharing my interest in the sport. Here's the thing, if you
only golf once a year, you're always going to be a rotten
golfer. Golfing with Judy was so painful until I learned
about the game of 'best ball.' You've probably heard of it,
and even played it. It saved my sanity.

Used to be, when Judy and I went to the course together, I
spent most of my time standing around watching her swing
and miss and swing and walk 50 feet to where the ball
landed, leaving a divot in the ground behind her big enough
to bury a Chihuahua. I gently told her that custom was that
she didn't need to keep score after the 12th stroke on any
given hole, in fact what the heck, let's not even keep
score. Now, I don't like to complain, and I sure didn't
want to hurt anyone's feelings, so it took a while before
the subject came up among some friends and one of them was
given the opportunity to share some information that would
change the course of events. A friend explained the basics
of 'best ball.'

The quick description goes like this. From two to four
people can play. Everyone involved tees off. Then the
'worst balls' get picked up on the way to where the 'best
ball' landed. The owner of the 'best ball' takes the
stroke, and marks the spot. In turn, the owners of the
'worst balls' drop them on the spot and take their swing.
The 'best ball' among those gets played next, again picking
up the 'worst balls' along the way. The owner of the 'best
ball' goes first, of course. Repeat the process on down
the fairway - hopefully only a small number of times -
until a ball or balls land on the green. Putting doesn't
use 'best ball' rules, except as a starting point for
anyone who didn't have theirs land on the green.

The game is still rather slow, zigzagging all the way down
the fairway picking up 'worst balls.' And even in a good
'best ball' game, you wouldn't want to include your score
in any handicapping calculations. But it is definitely
more fun for both you and your guest. Besides, every once
in a while, Judy's is the 'best ball.' She hits a good
stroke and I love to see the radiant smile on her face. I
am familiar with the pleasure she's experiencing - feeling
and hearing that perfect "thwock," and seeing the little
white orb sail straight and far over an incredible length
of brilliant green grass.

Sandy Coppendale contributes to rggolf.com">The Golf Newsletter , the
leading golf resource on-line. Visit www.rggolf.com/
to find more articles by Sandy Coppendale.

Home |Golf Drivers |Golf Woods |Golf Irons |Golf Wedges |Golf Putters
Golf Shoes |Golf Bags and Carts |Golf Accessories |Golf Books
Golf Balls |Golf Caps |Golf Apparel |Golf Glovess |Golf Magazines
Used Golf Clubs

Link to Us

Copyright © bestgolfsupplies.com
All rights reserved.