Back when I was unable to gamble legally I accompanied my parents on summer vacation to, among others places, Reno, Nevada. As Mom and Dad were not heartless monsters, they found fun things for us underage types to do or better yet, activities we could all indulge in that didn’t involve one-armed bandits, roulette tables and such.
One of those activities was mini-golf at a stupendously elaborate mini-golf course outside the city. In retrospect it may have been outside of Las Vegas but I remember it definitely being in Nevada. Each hole was elaborately dressed with windmills and tunnels, hills, chutes, all the zany obstacles you expect at a deluxe mini-golf course. I’d always wanted to play again and finally, over 30 years later, I did just that today with Jeff.
The course we played on is far more modest than that Nevada wonderland — the 18 holes at Eaglequest Coquitlam (by coincidence we did indeed see an eagle up high in the sky overhead) are all rated at par 2 and while they feature a variety of layouts, slopes and obstacles (rocks or pilings) they’re pretty basic as mini-golf goes. But while the presentation wasn’t quite up there (including a mostly non-functional stream that was barely filled with some stagnant water) the holes were still zany good fun.
Neither of us managed a hole-in-one though we both had our moments. Neither of us managed par very often, either. 😛 I scored a solid par 5 on four holes, while Jeff took 6 shots on a pair. In the end we finished a mere point apart, with Jeff edging me for the victory 62-61.
Here’s the scorecard to make it official. I have added the date using advanced computer technology:
The weather was downright balmy, with temperatures in the low 20s, quite unusual for the first half of May. It felt as if we had been transported two months ahead and landed directly in summer. The best part of the game is neither of us landed balls in the stagnant water or on someone’s head.
We shall do this again. And then for a real good laugh, we may try real golf. I can already smell the sand traps.
