Coming Home in the Dark at St John's Golf and Country Club

My buddy, Marvin, and I played St John's Golf and Country Club between Jacksonville and St Augustine yesterday. We've played the course before and have thoroughly enjoyed it. The staff are friendly and accommodating. The course is well-designed and very "playable", with enough room off the tee, enough water, bunkers, and trees to make you think, greens mostly open on the front to allow you to run it up, and fast greens that can initially be a shock to your system depending upon where you normally play. (I four-putted the first hole.)

We had a 2:20 tee time, so beating the darkness was always going to be a challenge at this time of the year. The starter was good enough to get us off a little early by pairing us up with Randy and another Marvin, two brothers from Jacksonville. And it was quickly apparent that these two brothers, though grizzled veterans like us, could really play. They were not just pretty faces.

Suffice it to say, we had a grand time, making a few birdies and a few "others." But, as we feared, we ended up finishing in almost complete darkness. The strange thing was we played really well in the gloom. On the last hole we drove into total darkness, found our balls and the three of us--my man, Marvin had quit because he was freezing--hit our second shots to a green we couldn't see. Marvin suggested I aim at the left edge of a back bunker and gave me the yardage. My buddy, Marvin, used his phone to illuminate my ball and I flushed one into the dark. Randy said he flushed his as well. Marvin had made no comment on his, so we had no idea whether it was a good one or a stinker.

Upon arriving at the last green, we found all three of us on the dancefloor. Marvin was about twelve feet from the hole, slightly long and right of the pin. Randy was about four feet left of the pin, and I was three feet past the pin, directly behind the hole. I could have holed it for the same money. Just goes to show you that playing in the daylight might be slightly over-rated. Still, St John's is best enjoyed in the light of day.

We exchanged numbers and will hopefully get to play again sometime this winter. Those brothers were not only pretty damned good players, they were good company.