Just minutes before, three tiny fawns had scampered across this green. How cool is that? It was around 7:30 a.m. on a warm and sunny Thursday morning when my buddy John and I headed over to the driving range at Semiahmoo Golf & Country Club. Our tee time was scheduled for 8:10 so we had a half hour to “use up all our good shots,” as my daddy likes to say. The starter happened to swing by to do a little housekeeping and told us that there was no one scheduled to go off before us so we could head over any time we wanted. We’re talking early July… sun… Semiahmoo… and no one is scheduled to tee off between 7:30 and 8:10? This is ridiculous for the “moo” but amazingly awesome news for John and me so we wasted a couple more good shots and moseyed over to the first tee. We both hit pretty nice drives and were in position to go for the green in two on the relatively short and very hospitable Par-5 opener. John landed the back of the green and I missed a little short and wide to the right… with an ugly look over a gaping bunker to a green sloping away. Predictably, wanting to clear the bunker, I landed the green and rolled about 40 feet past the flag. Advantage John; but you know how golf goes. I was still away so rolled my putt over a little rise with a fairly serious right to left break and dropped it dead center. Birdie boy!! John didn’t fare quite so well but as we like to say, never whine about a tap-in par. So started a truly great day on one of Whatcom County’s nicest courses. No one in front of us; no one behind us; and a huge glowing ball in the clear sky above us with only a hint of dew clinging to the freshly mown fairway grass. This was going to be a good day. It wasn’t until the eighth hole that we ran into a group in front of us. Three adorable spotted fawns were scrambling across the green and into a sand trap with mama grazing and keeping an eye on us from just behind the bunker. Did I already mention this was going to be a good day? We continued around the course with smiles on our faces and while I was limited to that one birdie on the opening hole, still managed to scratch out a reasonable round in the mid-80s. In fact, both of us played pretty close to our potential and as usual, on a couple of holes that got away, would liked to have had back a few of those good shots we left out on the range! Dad was 100% right as usual. Our round took just over 3.5 hours and we were in the clubhouse ordering a sandwich by 11:30. This is how the game should be enjoyed. Good friends, good course, good weather and a fabulous pace of play. Take note that Semiahmoo is a semi-private course so the public can only play on odd days of the month, but do not miss the opportunity to get out there. It is in spectacular shape. I’m planning to take on its sister course, Loomis Trail this next week. It is also semi-private and can be played by the public on even days of the month. Quite a conundrum isn’t it? Darn, I can’t play the “moo” today so I’m going to have to settle for Loomis Trail. If only life could overflow with such choices. Go. Play. Golf.
