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A droplet of sweat trickled down my back between my shoulder blades, but I barely noticed. The ball gleamed up at me from the tee, its white dimpled surface reflecting the sun like fractals in a crystal. I lined my driver up, adjusted my stance, straightened my arms and pulled back over my shoulder. Thwack!
The ball sailed up from the grass and arced away from me for the first time all afternoon, landing only 100 feet away. My heart swelled in jubilation, and I suddenly understood why people pursue golf in spite of constantly striving to improve their game.
Many strokes followed, which were not counted because we were just there to have fun. When we got to the green, I pulled out the putter and gently knocked the ball into the cup with a satisfying hollow thunk. The breeze blew away tension and cooled my neck. All was right in the world for just a moment.
It took five hours to play the first nine holes at the newly reopened Caroline Country Club Golf Course, mostly because I have never played before today. Still, the afternoon was a delight. The sun was warm, the grass was green, and the company was pleasing.
A friend of mine had promised to teach me how to play and was spending the afternoon encouraging and instructing me. We allowed more seasoned golfers to play through around us and took our time as I learned how to stand, how to chip the ball out of the rough grass, and which club was appropriate for each situation.
The ball I started the afternoon with is the same ball I finished with, and I’m told that is an excellent thing. I didn’t expect to enjoy the game as much as I did, but there I was, getting excited about how much I had improved over the course of the afternoon.
As we played the 9th hole, I noticed a tent was set up with rows of white chairs, and the Choptank River flowed lazily in the background. The Clubhouse is a wonderful event venue, with freshly updated decor and renovated facilities. The pro shop sits off to the right of the clubhouse and tidy golf carts were lined up outside waiting for golfers to come in and rent them. The pro shop is stocked with a variety of golf balls and gloves, soda and water. A couple of very polite young men took our names and sold us balls and a glove for me and rented me a set of clubs to play for the day along with a golf cart.
We drove the golf cart back to the pro shop so I could return my borrowed clubs and ran into the owner of the facility, David Dickieson. He told us a story about a young couple who had stopped in because June 20 is their wedding anniversary, and they had met on this very golf course and fallen in love. Coincidentally, June 20, the soft opening day of the golf course, is also the six year anniversary of Dickieson’s purchasing the property in 2019.
The Country Club closed down in 2015 and sat empty, the grounds going fallow and saplings growing up in the middle of the greens. It has taken Dickieson these six years to be able to refurbish the grounds and the club house, and it is still a work in progress. The neighbors are excited to have the country club reopened and very understanding about the long process of restoring the golf course.
The goal now is to make the Caroline Country Club and Event Center profitable again. Dickieson said it would take growing the membership, the public use of the golf course and filling the event center calendar.
Events can be booked through the Facebook Page, Caroline Country Club & Events Center, or at www.theknot.com under Denton Wedding Venues. Events other than weddings can be accommodated. Memberships can be explored at caroline-countryclub.com along with booking tee time for a round of golf.
Be patient with the course while it is continuing to be brought back to its former glory and enjoy the day in the sun. And just like that, you’ll fall in love too.
