Including golf, I have two real hobbies – board games being the other one. Both activities are social events in which the fun factor is almost totally dependent on other people. Either one could be ruined by the wrong company. On the flip side, the right people can turn a horrible round/game into an enjoyable experience.

Thankfully for me, I have my good friend Matt, who came down from Orchard Park last Sunday afternoon to get some golf in.

After working a new mail route (a shockingly difficult task) for the better park of two weeks, I was looking forward to this round of golf perhaps more than ever before. When I wake up Sunday, it’s raining cats and dogs and continues all morning. Lovely. It being my birthday, I can only describe the complete change in weather as Mother Nature giving me a present. The skies cleared. The wind died. It turned into a perfect golfing day (sans the slightly wet grass).

Matt and I headed out to The Vineyards Golf Course in Fredonia – a place Matt hadn’t played in several years. Long story short, he was thoroughly impressed by the improvements the course has made over the past few years. I’ve given them props before, but Warren, Scott and crew really do know their stuff.

Okay, let’s move onto the golf, shall we?

As I’m prone to do, I started terribly. I really need about three practice holes before the real round starts. I can’t be alone in this, either. I suppose that’s why people like to hit a driving range before playing. The scorecard showed bogey, bogey, double bogey for the first three holes – not good. After a par, it was another double bogey – really not good.

Yet going back to my opening, I didn’t really care. Sometimes I let my frustration get the best of me when I’m playing that poorly, but I was just happy to be out playing golf with my best friend since fourth grade. It was especially nice since I spent all morning thinking we wouldn’t be able to play because of the rain.

The “back nine” went much smoother and included a picture perfect birdie on No. 6. It was beautiful. Monster drive. Approach shot right on the green. One putt. Seeing that in writing, why is it so hard to do?

While I was playing a little worse than average, Matt was actually playing quite well. He only gets out maybe four or five times a year, so he never really gets in a groove, but he was striking the ball well on Sunday. What was especially impressive was his lack of “blow up holes.” You know, the ones where one mistake compounds into four terrible shots in a row. We also call them “go home shots” in my circle because…they make you want to just go home. Yeah, we’re not terribly creative.

When I play the double-nine style of round with someone, we play almost cooperatively. For instance, on the front nine, I shot a 42 and Matt had a 47. So on the back nine, we were trying to beat that 89 that we shot on the front. We were happy every time either of us shaved off a stroke while dreading when either of us did worse on a hole. It’s a fun way to stay invested in each other’s games while only being competitive against yourself, not each other. I really enjoy it.

For what it’s worth, we shot a 40-46-86 on the back nine, so mission accomplished.

I have two more people who have never golfed in their lives interested in playing. So stay tuned to see if I get either my dad or my brother-in-law hooked on this game that we love.

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.