I am not a golfer.  I never have been and at this stage of my life the odds are that I never will be.  If someone asks me if I want to “split a bucket” I take it as an invitation to go to KFC.  I still play softball because when I hit a ball, I want someone else to chase it.

However, I was looking for something the other day and came across a three game ticket for Putt-Putt and I was reminded how much fun I had going to Putt-Putt when I was growing up.  If memory serves me correctly, Wednesday was Dollar Day when you could play from open until 5:00 for $1.  My friend Chris and I would make the mile long trip on our bikes hoping there would not be much traffic on Markey Road and cutting through business parking lots to avoid riding on North Main Street to arrive at Putt-Putt behind Peffley Ford and adjacent to Forest Park Plaza.  There we would putt the day away stopping maybe for a can of soda pop and some beef jerky purchased at the counter.  When we had finally had enough, we would stop for an Icee at the Stop ‘N Go on the way home.  No cell phones, so our parents pretty much had to trust us that we went where we said we were going and would return by the time we were expected to be home.  In my high school years it seems like there were a lot of summer Sunday nights that a group would head to Putt-Putt after church.  

This wasn’t one of those fancy mini-golf courses with volcanoes and waterfalls.  This was just plan old Putt-Putt.  It had three different courses just like the courses you could see on television on the weekends when they televised the Professional Putters Association tournaments.  I guarantee you that I did not make that up.

Perhaps the reason that I never caught the golf bug is that I was never very good at Putt-Putt.  I believe every hole was a par 2, so 36 was a par score.  I think there was only a time or two I ever had under 36.  So, perhaps I learned early that golf was never going to be an enjoyable past-time for me.  Too bad the Putt-Putt in Dayton is not there any longer or else I could put this ticket to good use and maybe even sink a hole in one or two for old times sake.