I was recently going back through some old golfing photos, back when Chasing Par was just a dream, and I found some from a round of golf in 2012 at Riverway in Burnaby.
One of the nicest public courses and relatively straightforward to play. Keeping your shots straight and having a good idea of your distance on each of your clubs will help you have a good round of golf. The course will test you (or your ball will get wet) if you stray too far from the middle of the fairway.
The most memorable part of the round was less about the golf and more about the wildlife. Being a course near the water, there’s plenty of suitable habitat for animals nearby. On this day, in the middle of the fairway, we got a little help from a bird. This big bird was interested in giving my drive a little extra yardage.
Apparently, this bird was a Sandhill Crane and was known to be on the course looking for food (that last quarter of the tuna sandwich you picked up at the turn and couldn’t finish before the next tee).
As I’m watching my shot go to the right, I was wondering if the ball would end up in the rough, when the bird started to approach. It didn’t open its beak, but nudged the ball forward (thankfully, in the direction of the hole). It didn’t make much difference, but did improve my lie for the second shot and I gained about 5 yards. I’ll take any help I can get.
Remember that there can always be plenty of wildlife on the course, and one-eyed alligators or not, they can seriously disrupt your round for better or worse.
Sometimes no matter how hard you play, you just can’t get a birdie… but a bird might be waiting for you on the 10th fairway.
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- A Bird (Not a Birdie) at Riverway in Burnaby - March 24,