Playing Through

The Offer

You get up to the third green, fix your pitch mark, and throw some change on your ball. A quick glance at the fourth tee confirms that the group who’s been playing slow for the first three holes is showing no signs of acceleration, as player one hits his drive about 40 yards.

You decide you’re going to roll in this birdie putt and send your wife the courtesy text letting her know you’ll see her in 6 hours. Then you get the wave.

“Hey, you guys want to go on ahead?”

The Acceptance

After an intentional pause to avoid looking too eager, you reply with an overly enthusiastic, “Yeah, sure if you don’t mind!”

Then everything speeds up in your mind as you sort through everything you need to do to pull this off.

Finish this hole, get up to the tee quickly, figure out what shot you’re hitting, choose a club, execute the shot, and get out of there like you’re trying to sneak in another 9 without the pro shop seeing you.

You turn back to your putt and suddenly you have no recollection of reading it. You proceed to blast it 6 feet past on the high side. You sidesaddle, one hand the next putt in a way that indicates you’re counting it no matter what. USGA rule 94-3: automatic gimmes when you get asked to play through.

You scurry back to your cart and burn out like a NASCAR driver to the next tee.

The Pressure

You get to the box and things start to get real.

It’s a par 3. 164 yards straight away. Not much to it. Plus you’ve played it 4 times already this week.

But that doesn’t matter in the face of playing through. You feel four sets of eyes on you from the group that decided that you were better than them. Faster than them. Probably better looking than them too. Was it a unanimous vote? Did one guy strongly object? Is it going to cause a strife in this group now?

You now feel personally responsible for justifying their decision.

The Contemplation

You grab your 7 iron and tee up your ball. You notice the swirling wind and your headspace follows suit. Is it playing 170? Am I starting it out over the bunker? Do I even have the right club? Some call this the Amen Corner of the local muni circuit. Most don’t.

You conclude that you have the wrong club, and you have about 3.5 seconds to decide whether to change it or not. As time expires you decide in favor of clubbing up. A bold move with four guys staring you down, but you need to execute now more than you ever have in your life.

You set your club down and run back to grab your 6, sensing the internal groans from the generous group, particularly the one that objected to letting you through. It’s probably the guy in the Sunday red and black pants on this 90 degree afternoon.

The Execution

You get back and rush your pre-shot routine just slightly. But it doesn’t matter because you’re locked in by pure adrenaline. You flush it, hold the finish with a slight club twirl, and walk back to the cart keeping your eyes on the green and narrowly missing tripping over the tee marker.

No acknowledgement from the gallery but that’s ok. Some artists are just ahead of their time. Sunday Red is definitely behind that disrespect.

The Aftermath

The ball ends up going about a full club too far, but you act like it’s the shot you wanted to hit. You throw your club back in your bag don’t look back. Whatever they thought of the shot is between them and the golf gods. As far as you’re concerned, you’ve successfully played through and this chapter of your round and your life is behind you.

They’ll forget this moment and you’ll become a distant memory to one another when you roll in the 40 foot birdie and they play the hole in a combined 9 over. Your brief, uncomfortable intersection has run its course.

That is until they catch up to you on the next hole to return the 7 iron you left on the tee.