Golf is a game of lucky and not so lucky bounces. The movement of the ball one-inch in any direction can be the difference between a birdie or a double bogey. Anyone who plays golf regularly calls this the ‘rub of the green’. We have all experienced it and today was one of those days.

After my tee shot on the par 5, 9th hole, I was sitting about 240 yards from the pin. My second shot was wide open, so I decided to go for the green with my 3-wood. That was when the fun began.

From where I stood, the pin was just left of the 100-yard marker and the sand trap. Playing out of the rough, I was lucky to have a fluffy lie and was able to make solid contact. As the ball flew towards the green, left of the pin, something strange happened!

All of a sudden my ball took a hard right kick towards the pin. As we walked towards the hole, I noticed the five brown posts used to direct cart traffic away from the green. Walking forward, my playing partners said it the top of the far left post!

I continued to walk in disbelief, but there seemed to be no other explanation. Upon examination, I realized my ball hit top of the post on the surface closest to the bottom of the picture! I found it difficult to comprehend that my ball could hit a two-inch surface from 215 yards (the post was 25 yards off the front of the green) and then bounced towards the pin.

But, that is exactly what happened! My ball bounced off the post and rolled directly behind the pin. You can see the ball sticking out just above the bottom of the pin! The above picture was taken from the far left post described above. I kid you not; now I am putting for eagle to go 1 under for the front nine!

As I continue to walk towards my ball, I am grateful for the lucky bounce and started to focus on my next shot. Getting to our balls, my friend Mike looks right at me and says with a straight face, “What, you could not judge the distance any better than that! Your 25 feet past the hole!” As all three of us started to chuckle, I just shrugged my shoulders; for once I was speechless!

I wish I could say that I made the eagle putt to really cap off this amazing story, but I will never begrudge a tap in birdie! As we walked to the 10th hole, I was even par and looking forward to a great back nine! I finished the round by shooting a 2-over par 74. What a great day on the links!

Today, the one-inch was in my favour; tomorrow, who knows! Lucky bounces are part of golf and make the game interesting. It is one of the reasons I love and sometimes hate this game!

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!