Winter is now getting closer, which means those of us up here in the northern U.S. put away our clubs for the season, while those in the south bring them up from the basement.
However, there is a huge difference in the two respective off-seasons: while one can play summer golf down south as long as you can handle the heat, we in the north cannot play winter golf when there is eight inches of snow on the ground (not to mention temperatures in the 20s and 30s).
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Enter El Nino 2015-16. When I saw the historic El Nino developing in the summer of 2015, I knew I had my chance to accomplish something very, very difficult: playing 12 consecutive months of Michigan golf. While most golf courses here shut down for the season as winter approaches, there are a small handful of southeast Michigan golf courses that open in the winter as long as conditions permit.
And if my forecast of a mild winter ahead proved correct, those courses would be open.
The string started easily enough last October with my son, Jared, who had just shaved his head for a cancer fundraiser, on a beautiful day with temperatures in the 70s – nothing noteworthy there.
Then came November, and another sunny day with temperatures in the 70s...I very much enjoyed that round with good pal Roger Weber. My coldest round of the entire twelve months came in December, but that’s because I had to work on the warmer days. But I still got out for nine holes with Jared, on a day with sunshine, light wind, and a high of 39 degrees…it was a little chilly, but not as bad as you think.
Things then got very interesting for the winter months of January, February and March. Parts of each month were completely snow-free at my “winter course,” Sylvan Glen, and temperatures were crazy for midwinter: 50 degrees for the January round, 59 degrees and sunny for the February round, which I played in a golf shirt on that sunny day, and 62 degrees for the March round. I knew that I was home free after the 62 degree April round.
Playing in May actually was a bit of a challenge because I had an extremely busy month…we all know how life sometimes gets in the way of golf. But I managed to rush out to Glen Oaks in Farmington Hills one day and hit the back nine with a cart just before the morning golfers made the turn. With nobody in front of me, I got around in about ninety minutes…which is basically all the time I had.
June and July were uneventful, weather-wise. The June round was my annual Father's Day round with Jared and our good friends Tom and Stephen Vorenberg. August was played at beautiful Indianwood Country Club’s Old Course, where I always play in Frank Beckman's March of Dimes Golf Classic.
But September, the twelfth month, had to be extra special. It had to be a bucket list round. And it had to be on my birthday. Fortunately, Mother Nature smiled down on this meteorologist, and provided a good day for my birthday, and dream became reality when, thanks to members Mike Hainer and Ted Stacy, I was invited to play the historic South Course at Oakland Hills Country Club, and also encouraged to bring two friends, which I did. Red Wings radio play-by-play announcer Ken Kal and WJR's Ask The Handyman producer, Dave "Kingpin" Riger pounced at the opportunity. Walking to the first tee and seeing the row of boulders with the winners of each of the sixteen major championships played there gave me goose bumps. Just a couple of weeks earlier, I had been walking that course as a spectator at the U.S. Amateur Championship. Now I was playing it. More chills.
After spending a lot of time on the practice putting green, I thought I had the greens figured out. I was draining long putts, and feeling pretty good about myself. Until I three-putted the 1st green. Old Donald Ross, who designed the course in 1917, certainly was smiling.
Walking those fairways in the steps of Hagen, Sarazen, Snead, Hogan, Nelson, Palmer, Nicklaus, Watson, and so many others certainly gave me chills, as did the moment I had to momentarily bring my once-in-a-lifetime round to a stop so I could take a picture next to Oakland Hills Country Club’s official weather station on the course. Sorry…I should have forewarned you with a Weather Geek Alert.
On the Par 3 13th, I hit a tee shot that ended up in the grass between two of the greenside bunkers (this round of golf is the first time in my life where I marveled at the bunkers…they are spectacular). When I got up to my ball, I saw that this rough was the snarly 4-5” stuff that the pros hit out of at U.S. Opens. Any thoughts of an up-and-down were long gone after I finally got the ball onto the green three strokes later.
And later, as I walked up 18, I marveled at the magnificent clubhouse as it came into view…a view cherished by so many golf greats in some of professional golf’s most historic moments. I cannot adequately express my gratitude to Ted Stacy and Mike Hainer, and everybody at Oakland Hills for extending such memorable hospitality.
What a magnificent end to a crazy journey. Twelve consecutive months of Michigan golf requires persistence and luck. And by the way, during the winter, after seeing one of my social media posts about knocking off another month, a viewer, John Peters, e-mailed me his wishes for good luck and told me that he had accomplished it twice with his father: in 1982-83, and 1997-98. What a coincidence – those were the last two winters with record strong El Ninos.