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カワナミゴルフスクールのアドバイザリースタッフであるJim　Fletcher氏
によるインターナショナルな話題を英文で皆様にお伝えします。

〈Playing golf with the cows〉

At three years of age I started playing golf at Spanish Point Golf Club in County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland. Located half way between the world renowned golf courses of Lahinch and Doonbeg, Spanish Point Golf Club was founded in 1896. As my mother is from County Clare, I spent many of my childhood summers living in a caravan right next to the clubhouse, and that is where I started playing golf at the age of three.

So, one may ask what is so unusual about the nine-hole Spanish Point Golf Club. Well, first of all, the land the course was built on was shared with a dairy farm, so on weekdays it was not unusual to find cows on the course. Barbed wired fences were built around the greens to stop them being damaged by the cows.

Much like golf when it was originally played in Scotland, where the sheep ate the grass, little maintenance was required as the cows took care of keeping the grass short on the fairways.

The cows brought with them however, one unusual hazard, uncommon to most golf courses. Quite often the fairways were strewn with hot fresh steamy cow patties, which when dried out actually act as a good fertilizer for the course. Sometimes golf balls would end up in these fresh patties, but a local rule was created to help resolve the situation.

"Balls may be lifted, cleaned and dropped without penalty if they are deemed to be in objectionable refuse".

No doubt you have figured out now what the "objectionable refuse" is. Lifting, cleaning and dropping the ball from this situation is not the must pleasant thing to have to do, but we must remember that golf is a challenge against nature, and playing golf at Spanish Point Golf Club provides one of the more unusual challenges against nature!.

それでは、皆さん次回をお楽しみに！　See You next！