Late Breaking News On The Links . . .

All this happened yesterday.  For whatever reason blogger.com was in a read only mode yesterday . . . that meant I couldn't write this till today.  So the news is breaking even later than I planned.

The day started with a brief light shower . . . about the time I was gettin my mower fueled up & checked.  Decided to mow the areas around the driving range.  Always best to do that area in the morning.  Fewer golf balls laying around.  Took me probably a bit over an hour.  Then I went over to mow the area tween the #1 tee and fairway.  I was in my own little mowin world when I noticed a couple golfers on the tee waiting for me to get out of the way.  The tees are up on a hill and the fairway is at the bottom.  Really don't see anyone approaching the tees even if you are looking, which I wasn't.  In addition to watchin where you are mowin, ya gotta watch out for the golfers and flying golf balls.  My mower has been hit by golf balls a couple time and I've had a couple close calls while mowin.  Then I started mowin on the rough tween the first and second fairways, then I took care of the rough at the end of the fairways and and their greens. It was getting close to 11 AM when I started working on the rough tween the #2 & 3 fairways.  Grass doesn't grow well there and it is hard to see where I've been.  Definitely not one of my favorites spots on the course.  

I'm mowing a strip next to #2 and see Greg, who was mowin the second fairway walking toward the shop.  I figgered his mower was givin him trouble again.  Then I see through the trees the back of a white 'Bronco" type vehicle sitting on the driving range.  My first thought was that it was a Bryan police car . . . but we are in the township.  Then I see that it belongs to the Bryan Fire Dept.  and I see an ambulance.  Before I was able to see the whole picture, I was thinking who was having a heart attack in the middle of the driving range.  

When I got up to the green, this is what I saw.  The van wasn't anywhere close to the road and I'm wonderin how it got there, cause the driving range  has a fence and pine trees along the road. 

The driver was givin the emts a hard time. When the rescue truck came with 6 firemen in full turn out suits and he saw them walkin across the range, he calmed down real quick. It was kinda funny . . .

So here is what happened . . .  A sewer line is being put in along the road.  There is a sign on the road saying it is closed to thru traffic.  I think the guy had a few too many (there was a strong odor coming from his van) and was driving way too fast, came over a slight rise and didn't notice the sign till the last second.  He swerved to the left, went down into and through the ditch.  He took out the pallet of used tires we are trying to sell.  It was a perfect strike.  The tires were everywhere.  One damage so badly that we can't sell it.  He missed the utility pole and a tree.  

This is a blurry pic of where he came off the road and hit the pallet.  You can see the road closed sign in the background.

Next obstacle was the back tee to the third hole.  It is a raised tee, probably a good 3 feet, maybe more.  He still had enough speed to leave a deep 'divot' and launch into the air.  If you look close, you can get an idea of how high the tee is.

His van came down a good 20 feet or so on the other side of the tee, leaving an even bigger 'divot'.  He never touched the tee box.

Now he is rolling out onto the driving range, leaving parts, whole and broken everywhere. He even destroyed an irrigation head.  He hit the 225 yard sign on the range.  The wrecker had to push the van off it before hooking up, It was wedged on the sign  We had to work a bit to get it out of the ground.  It is something that is set out and taken in almost every day. 

If you look close, you can see the red rescue truck in the background.  That is where he went off the road.  He had to be moving pretty good, there were no skid marks anywhere, to get that far onto the course.  The driver was treated and released.  

Bein a professional mower driver isn't as simple as you might think.Ya hafta be payin attention when drive a big mower around a golf course lookin for grass to cut.  There are the golfers and flyin golf balls, my mower has been hit twice over the years.  One time at the other golf course, I got too close to nesting geese, and thought I was a goner.  I was on a small, slow, very close to the ground mower.  Later that summer, I was mowing a fairway and a couple geese made low pass over me, dropping a couple 'bombs' in my direction.  They hit my mower, but missed me.  To this day, I think they exactly what they were doin.  Then in the fall during the rut season, deer are runnin around doing unpredictable things all over the place.  One afternoon I looked up and a single deer was going somewhere fast . . . about 20 ft. in front of me.  Then there is that steep hill behind the clubhouse.  Gotta be real careful so ya don't lose traction and slide into the creek.  Did that a couple summer ago.  I had a plan.  I was gonna ride it as long as I could then jump at the last second.  I fought it till the last second and said to myself, "we're goin in!"  Almost made it to the other side without gettin too wet . . . me, not the mower.  Legs don't have the spring they used to.  When I saw my camera bag floating downstream, I had to wade in to get it and I got pretty wet anyway.  That day wasn't one of my better days.  

Now I gotta figger out what I'm gonna do when I see a speeding vehicle comin at me.  I'm normally mowin that area about the time all this happened.   When I'm done, it is time to eat and I'm close to where my lunch is . . .