Is it ever going to stop raining?

This holiday weekend is traditionally a good golfing weekend here in Western New York. The weather is still warm enough to enjoy a round or two. The courses are still in nice condition. And some people are even fortunate enough to have off from work on Monday.

Unfortunately, we weren’t so lucky this year. My Facebook feed and email were flooded (See what I did there?) with messages about courses being closed due to standing water. It has to be pretty bad for courses to completely shut down. Usually if people want to brave the conditions, they’re welcome to — albeit without a cart in most instances.

The only bit of good news is that I was able to sneak a round in early in the week before the rain came. The even better news is that it was a super enjoyable round.

Matt, Damien and I got to play the Hillview side of the street at Vineyards Golf Course in Fredonia. I’m still not sure what they will be calling the course, but you can bet I’ll have an official story when all the dust has settled on the merger.

First off, I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that people stepped up and saved the Hillview side from destruction. It was the first course I ever played. It’s the course I’ve played the most in my career. I have some wonderful memories of playing with friends, family and even strangers at Hillview.

To make a long story short, all three of us played quite well. When we finished Matt guessed that he had shot a 54. In actuality, he was at a 49. I only had two pars, but the rest were just bogeys, so I wasn’t killing myself and ended with a respectable 43. Damien’s score was extremely encouraging. This was his fourth round ever. The previous three were all at Vineyards, which is a par 33 course compared to the par 36 of Hillview. Yet even given the increased challenge of Hillview, his score actually improved as he shot a 64. He struggled at times, of course, but he also put together back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 7 & 8. No. 7 is one of the more difficult holes on the course, but he played it like a savvy veteran.

To make a long story long, it was a textbook “game of inches” day for me. It started right away on No. 1. After a straight but short drive, I hit a positively beautiful hybrid shot that I thought was on the green for sure. It hit some long grass in front of the green and died right there, within a foot of reaching the promised land. A chip on gave me a look at par…which I missed by an inch.

You’ll never guess what happened on Nos. 2, 3 and 4. I missed par putts by no more than the span of my hand. In fact, my putt on No. 4 was the biggest kick in the teeth of the day as it not only lipped all the way around the cup but came right back at me. Bogey-bogey-bogey-bogey isn’t the worst start to a round, but I felt like I was playing an awful lot better than that. Sometimes the ball just doesn’t go in the cup. If you’ve played golf before, you’ve had days like that.

Thankfully I was able to drop pars on Nos. 5 and 6, but the missed putts continued on Nos. 7 and 8. No. 9 was a little different in that I felt lucky to get a bogey after playing it like a chump.

The courses WILL dry up. There WILL be more nice days to enjoy the sport we love. In fact, I have plans to play with a reader who has never golfed before. That article should be coming next week as long as the weather cooperates.

Until then, golf is great. Go get some.

Stefan Gestwicki is an OBSERVER contributing writer. Comments on this article can be sent to golfersdiary@gmail.com.