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Presented by goodr Sunglasses
"I'm not sure you're gonna be able to get 18 in, bud..."
Challenge accepted.
Twilight golf is the best. No doubt playing at dawn has its appeal - unblemished greens, cool temperatures - but if I had to pick a side of the day to play, it's the late end every time. This is the time of year where a 5:30 pm tee time is not only possible, it's preferred.
The day's waning hours add a cosmic layer to the normal elements a golfer must battle. Racing against the dying of the light pits a golfer against not only the golf course, but the literal Sun. The implied message - to make the most of one's time on this side of the divots - is enough to cause wayward drives, chunked chips and yipped putts.
Fortunately, there's not enough time during a twilight 18 to ponder the greater implications of human existence. There's just enough time to look at the target, give a courtesy waggle (absent the luxury of a full practice swing) and fire. Stripping away all the usual wasted time between shots, it's no wonder that we tend to play some of our best golf when the solar clock is ticking. At twilight, a golf cart becomes a polo horse, barely slowing down enough to let its rider strike. There's a lesson to be learned in the fight-or-flight cadence of twilight golf that millions of us could take to our morning and midday rounds.
Sometimes, on a clear enough evening, twilight golf grants brief, grasping glimpses of the sublime. There is nothing like late light to showcase the splendor of a scene, be it an ocean, a mountain vista or just a particularly well-rumpled fairway. Show your appreciation; tip the bag boys generously.
Comments (1)
35 years ago I played my first ever round at the Old Course in St. Andrews...late evening with the summer sun going down. On about the fourth hole I glanced to the right and see an older gent playing the New Course with his best friend and playing partner, a golden retriever. I watched as he walked down the hole, pulling his clubs on a trolley with his friend trailing along behind him in the evening light. That scene remains a vivid and fond memory and in my mind it is the essence of twilight golf. Both literally and figuratively.