Monday, March 29 – Wednesday, March 31, 2010-

Here’s a post to make all you golf lovers jealous! Who just got to go golfing at one of Tochigi’s finest courses before April even rolled around? Sam did!

Yesterday, Wednesday, I was invited to the Biwaike Golf Club by my host grandparents. This is an incredible coincidence seeing as the last round of golf I played back in Minnesota was at the Biwabik course, The Quarry. Crazy, huh? The two courses soon proved to have one great thing in common: a beautiful 72-par course set in scenery that can take your breath away. It was an incredible pleasure to play with two people who were so easy-going, cheerful, and quick to laugh. Their love of the sport was evident in their snazzy golf gear and membership to one of the finest clubs in the region, yet they still took everything lightly, never hesitating to take a mulligan or “close enough” putt. That is exactly the kind of golf I enjoy the most! I shot one of those “close enough” games of 108 and for never having been a great golfer, and for not having played in over seven months that was fine by me!

To make our day even better we had fantastic weather, the lunch at the club was delicious, I was a decent match for my host-grandpa’s clubs, and I won a piece of Japanese pottery and a bar of aloe vera soap on hole 15 in a driving contest! Haha I’d call that an afternoon well spent. I’m looking forward to my summer job back at the Northfield Golf Club again this year. So here’s to hoping the Northfield course gets off to just as great of a start as I had today

The Crew!

Pro Shop

Practice putting green

With scenery like this it's never a bad thing when the group in front of you is a little slow, it gives you plenty of time to take in the surroundings!

An old, old tree right in the middle of hole 16

The "Tako-Tee." My host grandpa had a bunch of these. They're supposed to look like a little octopus with the ball as its head! Funny funny (fyi, octopus in Japanese is Tako!)

This is actually hole 18 leading up to the club house, we did the back 9 before lunch...

which was in the club house (thank god I don't have to wear that outfit for the NGC!)

and then headed out to the front 9 after a great meal.

The mountains of Nikko in the background

Random, but you know my humor. This is a nice little Tanuki enjoying a day out on the course!

Also random, a snap shot of some blossoms I spotted while on a walk today