Bermuda Stories

Stories from the Road
November 29, 2013
Bermuda

It was windy today at the Belmont Hills Golf Club. On the 17 TH hole, a par three, I hit a high seven iron at the pin, only to watch the wind take it and deposit my ball on the far end of the green. We had a fun day with few people on the course. There were a lot of workers around, as there will be a tournament next week. To a person they were friendly, approachable, and funny. On one hole I hit a ball into some thick rough and couldn’t find my ball. A man working in a sand trap reached in his pocket and tossed me a new Titlest he had found and said, Go ahead and use this one.”

We were joined by a couple of Scots for the last two holes. One now lived here in Bermuda, and his brother was visiting from Aberdeen. They had just returned from Scotland, where they played some of the famous courses like St. Andrews. They were upbeat, friendly, and played their golf quickly.

A lot of families on the island send their children to boarding school for high school. Our driver, Derrick, told me his son was at a golf academy in Florida. He took academics in the morning and played golf in the afternoons. He is hoping to be a golf pro. Derrick was powerfully built and looked very athletic, and if his son were like his father, I imagined that he must be a wonderful athlete.

I will miss playing on the Belmont Hills course.  Playing there is like walking in a beautiful park for a few hours. The vegetation is lush, the homes surrounding it are pained in a variety of attractive pastels, and other than the sound of the wind, noise is absent. My favorite hole was on the back nine. We had to hit over a small pond filled with ducks to reach the fairway. From there the rich, verdant grass reached out to the green, 160 yards away. Beyond the green was a beautiful white cottage.

Tonight we’ll dine at Café Blu, one of the hotel’s restaurants, which is located at the golf course a few miles away. The hotel provides shuttle service. We have eaten there a couple of times, and the food is excellent, though pricey. When I told my nephew Lucas, who with his friends lives frugally, some of the prices here, he gasped.

Have a good evening.