In a taxi on my way to drop another pile of cash to play golf. It's still a bit dark out leaving my apartment at 5:30am. If I tee off before 7:00am the cost is nearly $100USD cheaper, and it's still fairly expensive. I've been feeling great about my golf game recently and I'm expecting a better scoring round to happen soon. If not today, it will happen eventually.
Golf here in Hangzhou is a weird dynamic. There's most certainly a supply and demand thing at play that's not comparable to life in the states. There are nearly 16 million people in the greater Hangzhou area and two golf courses that are within a reasonable distance. Hangzhou is a wealthier more affluent city in China because it's the home to Weixin. Jack Ma started his company Alibaba here which led to WeChat and AliPay. There are only about 8 million people in Washington state and more golf courses than I could count. There's only 200,000 people in Whatcom County and 10 golf courses. Yes, a much smaller percentage of people play golf here, but there's plenty enough demand that easily could keep more courses busy. The kicker is that China has a moritorium on building new courses. The Lake Hill (also referred to as Nine Bridges) course doesn't need my business.
Last weekend this crazy thing happened...
One of the electric cart batteries exploded and the entire cart building went up in flames. If you've wondered why airlines are so adamant about checking for larger rechargeable batteries in your luggage, this is why. This meant anyone who wanted to play last weekend had to walk the course. When I inquired about the cost I was told it was the same regardless. When I asked about Aiyun coming with me to just watch I was told she would have to pay a full greens fee just to be there even if she never left the cart. More signs they don't need my business.
Round played and in the books. Caddie today was Xiao Chen. Assuming she was another kid. Umm. No. She was in her forties.
Played most of the round with a Canadian gentleman named Keh Li. Nice guy. English was okay. Golf was much worse. We had a good time. He walked the entire round and I tried to join him as much as I could. My legs got tired at the end and are feeling sore, like, achy sore. Driver was still snapping left, but I only lost one ball today. Got a bit lucky a few times. Irons and short game were solid. Went 40-42. Nearly birdied the 18th. Lipped the putt, but glad to finish strong. Oddly enough lipped the birdie putt on the 1st as well. Still feeling great overall with my game and know a low round is coming soon, but probably won't get to play for a couple weeks. Needing to budget a bit.
Watched the high school boys soccer team from my penthouse view over the field in the afternoon. Took a nap, then hit another 100 wedge shots after the field cleared. Swing thought of day was trying to pull my hands down more in my swing in sync with the hips. Resulted in more length and accuracy both. Not bad. Looking forward to giving that a whirl with longer irons on a range.