Top view

As promised in my last post, here is a picture of the hand painted golf ball I was given. The other half of the ball looks just like the half in the photo. As you can see from the side view, the designs are positioned so they fit together nicely, like a good oriental rug.

The ball was given to me by a guy I was paired with on a day that I went out to the course alone. We had recently moved to our present home and I didn’t have any golf buddies here, so on July 5 I went out to the nearby course to see if I could get on. The guy who gave me the ball was visiting some of his in-laws with his wife for the July 4 holiday and was looking for a break.

Side view

We ended up paired with 2 other guys in similar situations. One was a recently retired guy who had just taken up golf, and the other was a guy who had the day off work. He was the only one who had ever played the course before, so he gave us a running commentary on where to hit and not hit the ball.

It was a pleasant round of golf with guys I’ve never seen again. The ball painter and I were about equal in skill level and enjoyed each others company, and he gave me the ball at the end of the round. He creates these in his spare time as he watches TV or is otherwise bored, and was playing with one during our round.

I’ve never played a round with mine, although I’ve pulled it out on a green or two just to see what reactions I get. I save it as a reminder of a nice day on the course with guys that fulfilled Harvey Penick’s comments about always finding friends on a golf course.