Praying for Par at Chapel Hill

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Hi Blog!

The last time we went golfing was in Myanmar with Matt and William over the Christmas Holiday. We were hoping this spring to hone our golf game so that we would be ready to golf again with Matt and William when they return to the U.S. in July. However, Covid-19 closed all the golf courses and driving ranges back in March. Things are just beginning to open up here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. We are looking forward to getting our game on. 

Just a few miles from our campground is the Chapel Hill Golf Course. We were able to arrange a tee time and payments over the internet.

Chapel Hill Golf Course began as a driving range and chip and putt in the late 1980’s.  From the late 80’s to early 90’s the current golf course was under construction and by 1992 Chapel Hill Golf Course was completed.  Boasting trees and plenty of water, Chapel Hill was designed by Donald Holloway of Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania. The entire course and property has been owned and managed by the Holloway Family since Chapel Hill’s inception. There are lots of homey touches around the course.

Since we haven't golfed in months, we decided to take it easy on each other. We opted to play best ball and share the score for each hole. We also opted to tee off from the easiest tee box. For most of the day, Dave's drive was always 20 yards longer than Kathy's. However, Kathy had her fair share of approach shots.

As Kathy rummaged through her bag for a pretty ball, she found a bright pink Flying Lady with "Gaila" printed across the surface. The last time this ball saw action was in 2016 during our Boomerville - Tuff Golf outing. If you are curious about desert golf, click this link. Unfortunately, Gaila's ball did not make it to the turn. She lived a short and happy life and died by drowning in the creek that runs through the course.

In order to promote social distancing, only one golfer is allowed in the club house at any time. Masks must be worn in the buildings. Only one golfer is allowed per golf cart, unless you are sheltering together. The golf course management warned that there may not be enough golf carts to go around. However, they were more than happy to let us walk the course, and we were more than happy to do so!

We did our best to keep ahead of the next set of golfers. Even using the short tees, we had four holes over 300 yard and the longest was 387. By the time we finished, we had walked more than three and half miles.

After losing Gaila, Kathy pulled out a bright blue ball called "Van Gogh." This was Nan Finlayson's favorite ball. It, too, found a watery respite from the heat.

Hole 17 is a par 3. It was only 107 yards to the pin. However, it was 107 yards straight up a steep hill. This picture taken from the green doesn't do it justice.

After climbing the hill at 17, we were beat from the heat. We finished with a double bogey on 18.  Our final score was 88 on this Par 70 course - for a solid bogey game. It was a good start. We celebrated completing the course with burgers and beers as we watched the afternoon golfers tee off.

We have had three nice weather days this week. Today's round of golf completes our trifecta. We paddled on Monday, fly-fished on Tuesday and golfed on Wednesday. 

The weather is not looking good over the next few days, so it may be a while before we blog again. 

Until then, stay safe my friends.