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Poppy Ridge Outing - 12/17
Yes, Natural golfers are tough. We actually had 6 Natural Golfers today with GeneO making a late appearance at hole 18 ( more on that later ).
The day started fine enough with the first hole with minimal rain drops. We were pretty high up in the mountains so we could see the rain far away in all directions. It did look like it was going to pass us by. We all teed of well enough and the course conditions were wet, but not really bad. The bunkers were like concrete though.
Everything was fine and people were plugging along until............we got to hole # 3. Let me just say that in a rating of a scale from 1 - 10 with 10 being the worst rain you've seen, I think we got hit with a severity 7 rain. It was unbelievable the amount of rain that landed on us on hole 3. We were soaked in a matter of minutes and still trying to keep a stiff chin, but conditions were pretty miserable. Still....we played on. 
It rained on us for about 30 to 45 minutes non stop. Everything was wet, glasses wet, cart soaked, hands freezing, could not grip the club, grips slippery, putts wouldn't drop, you name it. My hands were so cold, I went to the rest room and couldn't even pull my zipper down. Okay fine too much information.  and still, we played on .
After we finished hole # 9, Bill (aka, Thor from the previous NG board ) highly recommended his rain gloves and he said they were keeping his hands/grips from being slippery. The rest of us (5 golfers) all went into the pro shop and bought the rain gloves which made a HUGE difference. DO NOT PLAY IN THE RAIN without gloves made for these special conditions. I am serious, I could only swing about 50% strength without the gloves because my clubs felt like they were going to slip out of my hands. I also had several shots were my hands slipped and I sculled the ball. After I put on these clubs, my hands were warmer and I felt that I had a very good grip. It made a world of difference.
We did much better on the back 9 because of the gloves and because it wasn't raining on us. It was still tough due to standing water, putting greens soaked, and the freaking wind... Anyways, so we were finishing and Mr. Moderator GeneO met us at the 18th hole, he had just gotten to the course. He had a morning commitment and couldn't make the morning tee time, but was going to play in the pm. So now guess what??? Yup, me and 2 other Ngers on our group paid to play 9 more holes...yes we are gluttons for punishment. All in all, we played alright considering the conditions and had a good time the majority of the day.
That's all folks, don't think I will do this again soon but I don't regret having the experience. BTW, I had to leave at the 9th hole since I had a dental appt. but GeneO and Thor stayed to continue playing. I Hope they didn't get too much rain, but as I was leaving it was starting to rain pretty hard and thunder could be heard.
Article contributed by Mojo23
The Ridge Outing - 10/26
On October 26th, BANG had it's third outing as a group, this time at The Ridge in Auburn. Previous outings were held at Spring Valley in Milpitas and Sunol Valley Golf Club. We had 8 people playing, including 3 wives/significant others who had not yet met. It was a spectacular fall day in Auburn and the course was in good condition, although the greens had recently been plugged, which added a little mystery to the occasion! We decided to have the 5 men tee off in front of the ladies, feeling confident that our play would allow us to keep a good distance between us. Surprisingly, the ladies were actually pushing us a bit! But we had fun. Bill had an off day and shot an 80 while the rest of us were struggling with various phases of our games, especially the short and sand shots. But, as usual, even the struggling had a silver lining in terms of eliciting tips and techniquies from our colleagues, giving us some practical things to work on in preparation for the next outing. After the golf, Bill and his wife, Bridget, had all of us over to their home in Sacramento for a delightful BBQ. Everyone had a wonderful time and we all felt that some solid friendships were beginning, perhaps the best benefit of all from this splendid game.
Article contributed by Mike - SJMike
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