Yeah, I know it’s a sport and should covered by a different writer, but please first hear me out.

You see, my wife wonders what that funny looking tall bag full of expensive metal sticks with big fat ends are and what they are doing in the back of my car all summer long. She thinks that the only thing required to participate in golf are a couch, big screen TV, a couple of six packs and a sunny Sunday afternoon. She thinks that the TV remote is the ultimate golf club and the only one needed to play the game.

The problem is…….she might be right.

Now, how does golf become an outdoor activity?  Well, recently three of my hunting companions and I had the opportunity to play a round at the very beautiful (and expensive) Saratoga National Golf Club. 

Absolutely and without a doubt worth every cent to play this course at least once. Playing it on a regular basis depends greatly on your investment broker and how successful he or she has been investing your money over the past couple of hundred years.

As hunters, we are very accustomed to being in the wilds of the surrounding area.  That is where this round of golf transcended from a sport to an outdoor activity. 

Should you ask anyone who has played this course or anyone who has inquired about its layout, you will more than likely get a one word reply, that being “WATER”. 

Since the course was constructed in what was once the wetlands surrounding Lake Lonely, it is natural for it to have, and that you should expect, the presence of water…..a lot of water.

But, if that was my issue, I would be telling you that this was a boating activity instead of an outdoor activity and for you to bring your canoe. You see, there is a second element of this course that tosses it in my direction as the outdoors writer for this newspaper. That element is the rough.

It is impossible to note as you play this course, that there is water in sight on most of the holes.

But, the water does not come into play on all of these holes.  The rough does.  Every hole has it to one degree or another.

As hunters, we are accustomed to following tracks and blood trails off into the wilds in search of deer or other game. If you have ever tried to follow a blood trail, you will know that it is very difficult and can be very demanding because the itsy bitsy little drops of blood are the same color

as the red leaves and very often blend into the forest floor and are instantly washed away by the slightest of rainfall. 

Given even these conditions, more often than not, the game is found and the end results are a success. 

On the other hand, at Saratoga National, trying to track and find a bright white golf ball in the well cared for green grass of the courses rough can, and does, prove to be far more difficult with a far less success rate.

Four experienced hunters spent a substantial portion of the day, not on the short grass of the course where the game is intended to be played, but rather in the wilds of the rough frustratingly searching for elusive golf balls that did not want to be found, and that’s how golf becomes an outdoors activity. Had I known ahead of time what it would be like, I would have asked my search and rescue team for assistance.

There was one more element that came into play (so to speak).  Again, as hunters, we are accustomed to being out in the rain, and when we are, the hunt usually continues. Well, fortunately, the day we played golf, the rains came along with a lot of lightning and the course management, in fear that one of us might be struck down, rapidly ended all play thankfully sparing us any additional time in the wilderness, I mean rough, looking for lost balls.

Should you decide to venture into the wilds of Saratoga National, consider it as both a golf outing and an outdoor adventure.

Bring a lunch and a compass, they supply the GPS’s…..oh yeah, and lots of extra balls.