On Friday morning my Dad and his buddies picked me up and we headed south to Indiana for some golfing. The first stop was in Angola, IN for lunch. Tri-State University was right across the street and their course, Zollner Golf Course, looked like a good place to start the golf season. $30 for 18 holes and a cart wasn’t too bad a price tag either. The weather wasn’t all that great when we started, but it was comfortable with jeans and a golf wind-breaker. All four of us got off the first tee and I was golfing in March for the first time in my life. What a great feeling!

After a few holes the sun came out a little bit and I took off my jacket. I ended up shooting a 46 on the front and saved a 51 on the back after taking a 10 on hole number ten. I sunk a few long putts and chipped in from the fringe to save on a par 3. My putting stroke felt great and I was striking the ball pretty well for my first time on the course. Hell, I was just happy to be on a course!

After golf we took off further south towards Columbus, IN where one of the guys had a son living. For over 2 hours we were following the craziest storm I’ve ever seen. The lightning was non-stop in the sky the entire time. Turns out we just missed all the bad weather and were just a little bit behind it. Some F2 tornadoes went through and we saw a semi that had been flipped by the wind.

On Saturday we hit at Otter Creek Golf Club, which is just a few miles outside of Columbus. I couldn’t believe how green the course was for it only being April 1st. Did they use some kind of green dye for an April Fools joke? The course was extremely wet and a cart path only rule was in effect for the carts. The storms dumped a lot of rain on the area, but the greens were still surprisingly fast. I guess that’s what you get when you play a Robert Trent Jones course. I thought the price of $50 was a bit steep for a twilight rate so early in the season, but now I can say I played a RTJ course. My putter still felt awesome and I ended up shooting 48-48. On the back I started out horrible again with a 9 and 8 on the tenth and eleventh holes. Ended up with two birdies on the day and was hitting some great shots into the greens. The weather was a bit chilly, but playable.

On Sunday we took off north and found a course called Valle Vista in Greenwood, IN. It was under $30 and the course was again in great shape, except for the fact it was soaked from the weather. As we walked onto the 8th tee we saw some large lightning and got the hell out of dodge. I was on pace for a mid to high 40s round and was finally going to beat my dad on the weekend. Oh well…there’s always next time.

We ended up driving all the way home that night because the weather for Monday wasn’t supposed to be good at all. It was a fun trip and something I’d definitely think about doing to start off the golf season each year.