I used to live on a golf course which allowed us access after 5 pm or when there was no one around to go for a walk and take some balls and a few clubs along. This was perfect for me as I always like to practice chipping or bunker shots. With no one around eyeing out your every move you can do it with out embarrassing yourself.
I think the house was on the 16 th fairway which was a par 4 and if you hit it correctly from the tee the ball had a chance with the sloping fairway to bounce up close to the green. The funny thing is I never bought golf balls as where the houses were situated we used to receive them for free. On a good day I would pick up around 20 or so and if you left it for a week you didn't really have to look.
The downside was it was pretty dangerous sitting outside or swimming in the pool and we have all had near misses. I was talking to someone the one day and a ball went in between us and hit his bottle of beer on the table. It is easy to do as I hit a ball from the 16 th tee into my garden and found the ball afterwards in the pool.
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Turned out I was the only one using the facilities after dusk as everyone else was too scared. I had no idea, but then again I was armed with some golfing irons and fancied my chances.
During the summer months the sun stays out longer and I used to nip down to the par 3 15 th. It wasn't difficult ,but this particular evening it was already dusk and I planned to try and shoot about 50 balls to see how close I could get to the flag. I couldn't quite see the balls landing and I saw a few ripples form where a few didn't quite make it. The balls were free so I was just giving some back.
When I approached the green I couldn't see any balls and the closer I got it looked like someone had seriously damaged the green as there were holes everywhere. The Golf Club had been watering the green and the putting surface was extremely soft and my balls had given this green a serious case of bad acne. Every hole in the green had a ball and I plucked out the balls I could find and high tailed it. Whoever was playing the next few days was going to have a rather crappy green to play on.
This taught me to always check first as it was a perk living by the course and I didn't want to get everyone banned. From something that should have been so ideal it eventually turned out to be a nightmare house because of the crime associated with the golf course. Criminals used the Golf Course to attack houses that lined the fairways and no one was safe. Houses that should have cost Millions were now standing empty and idiots like me who had no idea were renting them.
