Here’s one for all you golfers who won’t be able to play again until April.
On Saturday I had my first look at the one and only golf course on the island. Rounding out our foursome were Joe and Rich, the two new public defenders, and Tua, an investigator at the Public Defender’s office. Tua golfs lefty and generously brought his extra set of clubs for me to use, which I really appreciated- there aren’t many sets of lefty clubs on this island and the course doesn’t have any for rent.
This view from the first tee gives a good look at the condition of the course, as well as the rain that bothered us off and on through the front nine.
Mt. Matafao must be in the background of at least half of the pictures I take. It’s visible from almost everywhere on the island.
Apparently Samoan guys don’t like to share golf carts. Tua insisted on having his own, so I was also solo in mine. The group playing ahead of us consisted of eight golfers- and seven carts.
Rich with a nice shot out of a deep bunker. He’s from Rochester, MN and was wearing a Twins cap. It was really cool having someone to talk Twins baseball with.
Just like everywhere else on the island, dogs and chickens running wild everywhere. I forgot to ask Tua what the course rules say about your ball landing near a violently defensive mother hen.
Joe lining up a putt on the 18th. I don’t know if you can tell from this picture, but the greens were terrible. They were so bouncy that any idea of trying to read them was a joke by the time we got to the fifth hole. You just have to hit it straight and hope for a good hop.
This would be an ocean view on a less-rainy day.
Did I play well? Let’s just say that I would’ve needed a graphing calculator to keep track of my score. It turns out that after only playing about five times in my life, and not at all in the last six months, I’m still terrible at golf. I had a great time, though. And since it’s only $15 total for 18 holes and a cart, and I only work three hours a day, the only thing standing in the way of me getting a lot of practice this year is the serious lack of lefty clubs on this island.
Our Year in American Samoa 