Steal of the night

When my brother and his friend suggested going to a driving range tonight, I looked up prices at Tee Time, a golf practice center right down the road from our hotel.

When I went to the website, I saw that it was actually cheaper to play - $5 for nine par-3 holes, as opposed to $10 for a large bucket. Sold. No way you find a course in Western New York where you can play for five bucks, even Delaware Park.

So we immediately drove to the course, and the guy behind the counter was friendly right away. I told him we would have three players for nine holes, and I took the $15 from my wallet, ready to play.

What does he say? "$5 is good for all of you."

"Total?"

"Yep."

Wow.

So we paid $1.67 each for nine holes of golf, and we didn't do anything dishonest, or anything that could be considered 'beating the system.' Just offered to pay full price like we normally would, and the guy must have been in an incredible mood.

That deal will put the customer in a good mood right away, as well.

So we played, and even though the greens weren't the greatest, what the heck can you expect for less than 2 bucks a person? The round was cheaper than a Honey BBQ sandwich at KFC - and that sandwich is a deal and a half, in my opinion.

I even managed to elude the threat of losing to Alex. Par-3 courses are probably his best chance to beat me, and I continued to delay the inevitable with a 31 that bested his 34. But one of these days, it will happen. Just not yet, not in Indiana.

We even got a water park for our money. Playing one of the mid-round holes, the greenside sprinklers started to go off as we were putting out. I managed to make my par before the sprinklers kicked into high gear, luckily. Then I watched from the comfort of a 'dry zone' as the sprinklers went into full blast as Alex was lining up his 8-footer for birdie. He missed. Maybe the golfing gods were on my side today, making sure the inevitable would be delayed another day.

Golf gods, I appreciate the help. If you could help Gove, Uresti or K. Johnson out at Victoria National this week, I would appreciate it.

Uresti gets going early tomorrow, at 7:45 a.m. I will be following him in the morning, and then I'll try to catch Gove and/or Johnson in the afternoon.

Look for a story on Uresti's round sometime early afternoon (but it could be pushed until late afternoon depending on timing), and then a story on Gove or Johnson later on. I'll also try to accumulate some notes in regard to the course setup, and from talking to fans and marshals. If I can talk to any other players along the way, I will do so.

The temperature looks to eclipse 100 again tomorrow. Should be good.