Sun makes me happy. Being able to golf year-round is one of the reasons I live in “sunny Southern California.” The ending of Daylight Saving Time every year saddens me. It marks the beginning of the end of twilight golf for the season. I know – people have real problems, and I feel guilty feeling depressed about something so innocuous while people and communities are still trying to survive the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. But this is a golf blog and this is a golf problem. And, hey – people are playing football and gambling on the games and life goes on all around us.
So, I’ll allow myself this annual pout.
While I’m at it, I figured I could add something you may find useful in this time of unimaginable trouble. In case you haven’t seen it already, this nifty tool is simply called Sunrise Sunset, and gives you that and more for your choice of golf course! It’s pretty handy for personal use or for club pros and golf course web designers. It tells you when the sun rises and sets, gives you local twilight times and other settings you can customize. I love finding such handy info on a course’s website! If you’re looking to find (or set) twilight rates and hours, this is your tool. Right around when the time changes (like today) you might be wondering when it’s going to get dark at your favorite course and whether or not you’ll have time to play after work before the sun goes down. This can help.
The site has specific course information for a massive selection of USA, Canada, and England (I’d be surprised if your favorite course isn’t there), as well as major cities in other countries. You can see in the first image the options you have once you’ve chosen your course. The other image is just a clip of the calendar I created here. Give it a try for yourself and have fun squeezing in rounds if you’re lucky (and smart) enough to live in place that hasn’t been buried in snow yet!
My next (scheduled) pout will occur on December 21st, the shortest – and saddest – day of the year, irrespective of circumstances, of course. You know, that painfully dreary winter solstice right when I’m thinking it’s almost time to start my last minute Christmas shopping. And, as the dreadfully upbeat people like to tell me, that just means every day after that will have more and more daylight. Pththtp!! 😉 Leave me alone. You can’t fix this. That is, unless you can make it so that daylight saving time becomes permanent. Then I’d love you long time. Day or night.
I’m pretty good at ignoring what goes on around me at the range. But one person’s hovering seemed to be getting closer and when I saw someone approach my golf bag in my peripheral vision I decided to pay attention. A guy actually grabbed a club out of my bag. Before I could even say anything, he stepped toward me and took the club from my hand! I was stunned and probably had my mouth open as I stood there in disbelief. He handed me the other club, squatted down and touched my leg! He was giving me some kind of instruction about my stance or what he wanted me to do but I couldn’t hear a word he was saying. What kind of idiot hands a woman a weapon and does that? He was not just some random guy offering tips or perving around. He was a teaching pro at the course. Think he’d attempt the same thing with a man? Even an unsolicited tip or offer of assistance? I doubt it!