Week of Avon, CT
July 25, 2001

Avon, CT is a very pretty town about four hours from the Manalapan, NJ location the prior week. But many of you who have traveled the George Washington bridge eastward, know of the traffic problems you can occasionally (commonly, we hear) encounter. We were backed up with the knowledge of a flashing sign that read "accident 5 miles ahead, traffic slowdown". So we waited, and so did the other 10,000 cars around us; I don't know how people have time to just sit in traffic so much of their lives.

We arrived at our friend Mary Johnson's home, who has housed us for each of the three years we've played in Connecticut. Mary graciously opens her home at Farmington CC and lets us make ourselves at home with breakfast each morning and the convenience of washer and dryer in the basement. It is a 15 minute drive from Blue Fox Run CC.

This week had two unique things that happened prior to the first round. The first was on Tuesday afternoon when I prepared to play in the 1 pm shotgun scramble. It turned out that the 25 or so players were all ready with their teams, and MY TEAM did not show up! So for the first time in three summers of FUTURES competition, I was excused for the afternoon! Fortunately I was able play on Wednesday morning in an early shotgun and review the course we had competed on the last two summers.

The other thing that happened was on Wednesday night when I went back to the course to practice and left my key in the car, as the practice area is close. But when I went to putt, I inadvertently locked my doors, and was locked out. So another player, Cheryl Fox, drove me back to housing to get Val and the AAA card. We called them, waited for the wrecker, and finally at dark in a light rain, it took only a minute to pop the lock! Thank you AAA.

Blue Fox is a pretty course along a small river, with one nine on each side of it. There are many similar open and straight holes to begin with, and then #7 is probably the narrowest par 4 of the year. The back nine gets very hilly and has treacherous greens to make for a very challenging par 71. The weather, like New Jersey, was the three of the nicest days we have had.

I played pretty consistently with 73 both the first and third days. But my 77 on day two had a good start but followed with a few costly bogeys. I really thought I had missed the cut and would not be able to play on day three, but it turned out that I would still have my opportunity. My 73 was okay considering both of the players I was paired with on Saturday shot over 82.

Mary Johnson and Beth and Dave Salzman watched Saturday, and it was nice to have the support. Beth stepped over one of the short yellow cart restraining ropes, but tripped and skinned her knee quite badly. I did not know she went to the medic at the turn, and got all bandaged up to begin the healing. Golf can be a dangerous sport!!!

Since this event ended on Saturday, we actually got an extra weekend day. Salzmans invited us to their lake cottage in NH at Lake Winnipesaukee. It was just such a pretty weekend, and we enjoyed seeing their daughter Lori from the Boston area, and her new Labradoodle: Shayna. This little three month old puppy was born in Australia and was just shipped to Lori on Wednesday of last week. She is cute, very soft, and just has a great little personality already. Plus the Salzmans good friend Sona from NYCity was in and brought large lobsters in from Manchester! What a feast we had, and many laughs too.

I did try one new sport while there - attempting to row their scull. For all of you crew fans, you know how hard this is to do for the first time. With the extended length of the oars, the overlapping length at the handles, trying not to get them too deep, and then the seat sliding back and forth, it reminds me of learning to drive a stick shift - many things new at once. I got the hang of it, and surprisingly am not sore!

So we just have 3 weeks left and the first is in Syracuse. We enjoy staying at the Kinsella's guest cabin, which you will hear more about in next week's letter.

Thanks to you all who made last week a very memorable experience.

Sue E.

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