Well firstly, first blog in a while! About 4 months ago I moved overseas to start a new job and haven't really had the time to blog so far. Am not going to say exactly where I am, only that it's in the Middle Eastern region.
Anyway, now I'm getting a little more settled in am starting to look for other activities to get involved in; but it seems one of the most common ones out here is golf. Only problem is, most of this area is desert. Yes, some grass courses do exist, but my experience today was on one of the desert courses.
Now I have played golf on and off when I was younger. I used to play fairly often about 15 years ago. I also managed a round last year also on the desert course on a visit to the region before I ended up working here. It's an interesting experience with its own unique challenges!
The main thing out here is the heat. On a golf course, you've very little opportunity to get into any sort of shade. Temperatures in the shade at the nearest known monitoring station were pushing the low 40s (degC), so I dread to think what it was out in the sun. Thankfully, the desert course is now very quiet since they opened the grass course next to it, so when you do come across shade you are able to have a sit down for a little while without holding people up or getting out of turn. It's also an advantage given I'm unlikely to give Tiger Woods et al. a run for their money any time soon. The heat also means you need lots of water. Sadly, because the desert course is played by so few people it is becoming neglected and I am told there is rarely any water available. However, we were in luck today as there was a butt of water sat in a shaded position at the 5th tee. It even had water in it!
One thing that probably crosses the mind when talking about desert golf is "Well isn't it just like playing in one huge bunker?" Thankfully not... The desert around here is more hard baked earth with a fine coating of dust, so you're playing off a fairly hard surface. Of course, this does pose another problem - how do you play without wrecking your clubs. The fairly simple solution is that you carry a piece of astroturf around with you. You get to your ball, lift it, place the astroturf under it, the put your ball back down to play your shot. (The tee shots are taken off a fixed mat using rubber tees.)
So then we move on to the hazards. Bunkers do exist, usually marked with black/blue posts. The also look like bunkers from a distance, but when you get close up you realise a lot of them no longer contain sand. However, if you land in one, you have to take the shot without the use of your mat and just hope there is sand in there, or try not to ground your club too hard. There are even water hazards on the course! Of course, there is no water in them, but one is an open-topped tank that is sunk into the ground and the others are just ditches across the fairway; all of which are also marked with posts so you know where they are. Despite the fact there's no water in them, you still have to treat them as if they do and so landing in one incurs the standard penalty and dropped ball.
Finally, you (eventually) get to the green; or rather the brown! Keeping in with the desert theme, instead of a lush carpet of green grass to put on you instead contend with an area of sand, compacted and mixed with oil. This has some interesting side effects. Firstly, the browns tend to be quite slow which means you need a fair bit of power in your putt, especially when putting uphill. Secondly, you end up with a nice trail showing where your ball travelled. This has an added benefit that if your opponent asks you to move your ball you don't need a marker. All you do is tap your ball a short distance in a different direction and you end up with a nice V, the point of which is where your ball was laid. Finally, because every footstep leaves a mark on the brown once you have finished you are required to "sweep the brown". This involves taking the 1m wide brush from the side of the brown and dragging it behind you, sweeping a circle centred on the hole and doing enough circuits to brush an area 2-3m from the hole.
Sadly, I can't give you a final score from today's round... It was too hot for me to complete the full round. I daresay I'll acclimatise eventually, or it will start to get cooler as we head towards winter (relative terms out here), and hopefully my game will improve such that my scores will look like I've only played 9 holes instead of 18!