E-Sports over Golf...a sad day

[Darrell KSR]

I have a peculiar reason I am trying to contact golf coaches in the Monroe, Louisiana area, and I visited my old alma mater high school website.

I was not prepared.

First, I saw that they had a girls and boys soccer team. Fine. Soccer has become much more popular today that it was when I was in school. Then I started looking, and looking, and looking. I could not locate the boys golf team. It was not there.

They have eliminated the boys golf team. No girls golf team either (didn't have a girls team when I played, but thought they might today).

But they do have an "E-sports" team. I know, that's the wave of today, but it's just depressing to think of that in athletics and basic, affordable golf no longer available. Playing on the boys golf team allowed me to play golf every day, carry my golf bag, and walk approximately four or 5 miles a day while shooting generally very high scores. But it was a great sport, something that has carried with me even today, has allowed me to play with others in business, as well as my own children.

Fortunately, my children's schools had golf teams, so they were not deprived of this. My son and daughter both played at middle school/high school levels and got the benefit of learning the game.

I know that real estate is also so valuable now that there are fewer and fewer affordable golf options, and I suspect that that trend will continue.

I'm not even saying it's wrong. Just sad.

[KentuckyWildcat]

I left the college world just before they started the E sports club.

[Darrell KSR]

I should also add that I have nothing against e-Sports. I think of it more as a club activity than athletics, though. And I doubt that the school "chose" e-Sports OVER golf; just both things happened.

We had a 9-hole golf course that was 5 minutes from campus that was our practice facility, and occasional place for matches. Our "home" course for tournaments was maybe 15 minutes away.

The city did away with the 9-hole course in 2007, and I wonder if the school made a decision to end golf then. The 18-hole tournament course may not have been accommodating for a high school golf team to practice daily there.

Funny story--two years ago the City decided to allow the University to have the property. So they're turning it into a 27-hole state of the art golf facility. It will be fun to go back and visit.

I guess I should tell the reason for why I'm searching.

I'm actually looking for a scorecard from the "old" course. It was renovated and the holes changed before the course was abandoned, so even if I find somebody with a scorecard, it's likely the wrong one. I'd love to have an original scorecard, but even a picture, .jpg, etc. will do.

I found the daughter of the old golf pro that was out there and talked with her several times and she was very friendly and willing to help, and I know they have one(s) somewhere. But she seems scattered a bit and despite following up numerous times where she was going to talk to her brother, go to some place to look, etc., she never seems to get back with me on it.

One of the things I do when I can't sleep is I mentally "play golf." It may be a recent course I've played (I play VERY seldom, though), but more often, it is one of three courses I played when I was in high school and college. Those I played a million times. What I'm interested in, other than the nostalgia of seeing the old scorecard, is the distances of the holes.

Hole 1 was a short, straight par 4, followed by a par 3 that had 30 yards difference depending on which tee you used, one long for then of almost 200 yards (they had two sets of tees to play 18 holes at different distances), then a medium par 5. Hole 4 was a tough long par 4 over a ditch, which I'm sure looked like a creek on the scorecard, but was really a 400 yard long ditch--and you had to decide whether to take your tee shot over it or your approach shot. Sometimes my tee shot decided for me. Then there was a driveable par 4 (in the summer, for me, with rock hard fairways), with large trees all around it--it had to roll in, or else. Good tee shots could put you in awful positions behind trees, which made up for the fact that it was so short. The toughest hole was next, the one by the road, with two "lakes" -- two squared out ponds--in the middle of the fairway, with no room on the sides to speak of, maybe 10 yards. I didn't have the distance to clear both ponds, so taking an iron and landing it between the ponds was the play, IF you had your distances dialed it, because the ponds were not far apart. The last 3 holes were pretty straightforward, two par 4's that weren't terribly long and ended with a par 3 about 150 yards if I recall correctly. Total par 35.

I'd like to see all the distances, and picture my inconsistent drives going different distances, and then using different clubs into the green. I know it sounds dumb, but it's a lot better than counting sheep, and often successful in putting me to sleep.

[KentuckyWildcat]

I should also add that I have nothing against e-Sports. I think of it more as a club activity than athletics, though.

Same and same. I mainly didn't want to be responsible for the technology side.