Octoberfest: Day 6 "Caddyshacking"

Golf Swing! (not bad)

When I woke up today, I had my heart set on going to the driving range for my Octoberfest activity. The temperature outside was in the 30s and the crisp, chilly October weather almost thwarted my plans. But alas, Des Moines is home to a large indoor Dome that serves as a driving range and miniature golf location. Longview Golf Center was the destination for today's activity. I enlisted the help of my friend Sarah who is an avid golfer and I warned her that this activity could take some patience. I've never been to the driving range. The only golfing I've done is of the miniature kind and even then I'm not great. I'm one of those people who just gets lucky from time to time with a good shot. Let's blame it on my left handedness again. I asked Sarah if I had to wear anything specific for this...like golf shoes or something. I am a self-professed shoe hoarder but to noone's surprise I don't own any golf shoes. Sarah told me I was good to wear whatever so I threw on a pair of boots and I was set. I was tempted to go with wedges but it was too cold outside. What?! Wedges are comfortable! At least I didn't say I was thinking about wearing heels to the driving range. I love me some high heels. So the dome was an interesting place. It was a bit chilly inside but nothing like outside and once we took a few swings, we warmed up. It was only $10 for 30 minutes and we could hit as many balls as we wanted. Or in my case, we could swing and miss horribly as many times as we wanted. I have to say, however, that I was pretty impressed with myself! I hit quite a few really good shots that went far! I of course had quite a few misses, and a couple of times that I thought I might break something but overall, I think I did pretty good for a beginner. Thirty minutes was the perfect amount of time because my hands were getting sore by the time we were done. I learned if you don't hit the ball just right, it does vibrate bad off the club which makes your hands a little numb. I guess I should have worn gloves but again...I don't have any golf gloves in my closet of accessories. They wouldn't exactly go with much.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the driving range today. It was interesting because I really thought that I would do terrible but I didn't. I think sometimes we underestimate our ability to do something really well. But the more you keep swinging, the more you can get the hang of something.  My friend always tells me that you miss 100% of the shots you never take. The more I focused on the ball, the better I did. The important part is to never give up. If you're determined, you'll eventually hit the ball sailing it over the target. And that's an exhilarating feeling.

We worked up an appetite at the driving range so we went over to Legends in Johnston and had lunch and a beer. I mean you didn't think I was skipping that part of golf did you? Rest assured, I definitely have my priorities straight. I was a true golfer today, through and through.

At Legends for lunch (not golfing)