Tee for two

Well, I wish I could drive like Cate, and I think Cate wishes she could putt like I do. And that was the upshot of our first husband-wife full golf outing, part of a pretty packed Sunday this weekend.

As I said when Cate and Jennifer went golfing a couple of weeks ago, we haven't been golfing together since a pitch-and-putt outing sometime in the mid-1990s. And by full outing, I mean nine holes of a par-three course, but hey, it was time outside and without the kids.

I only had two holes of my personal nightmare. I've always feared I would be unable to make solid contact with the ball and would end up dribbling the ball up the fairway 20 yards at a time. Then Cate gave me a couple of pointers (oh, you mean I shouldn't stand centered over the ball?) and I finished with a par and back-to-back double bogeys. Hey, for us that was a high point. We each parred the 71-yard sixth hole, and Cate bogeyed the opening hole, but other than that it was fairly dismal. We finished one stroke apart; definitely would consider it beginner's luck.

Stuck behind a fivesome that included a 3-year-old, it took us just about two hours to play the nine holes. But the kid could swing and had at least one drive off the tee that was better than mine. Made for a lot of waiting, though.

Thanks, of course, to Neil and Alicia (again) for the use of their clubs and Kyle and Jennifer for watching the little ones. And there's one more Pretty Packed Sunday post to come, probably on my lunch break.

A hole in three

It's been two and a half days and Cate is still talking about her golf outing from Friday.

Cate hasn't picked up a golf club since she and I went to a pitch-and-putt sometime in the pre-Web age. She used to golf much more regularly as a teenager, took a few lessons, but didn't have anyone to golf with.

Meanwhile, our friend Jennifer had the day off on Friday, like most of us, and has been looking for a golf partner herself. She's been threaten... promising to take Cate out golfing since we got here 11 months ago and on Friday, the planets aligned.

Cate had just a great time. She's been talking about things that I've only heard on television, like doglegs and that sort of thing. It was a nine-hole par-three course and it seems Cate and Jennifer were a good match, as they finished within two strokes of each other. Both came back raving about the fourth hole, which Cate parred after both got on the green with their tee shots.

Thanks, Neil and Alicia, for lending Cate your golf clubs.

"I'm consistently inconsistent," Cate said. She'd also like to thank "that great man, Theodore Wirth, who had the great foresight to include a park with a golf course in North Minneapolis."

No photographers were permitted at this outing.