Golfing at the 9th Annual Cabin Classic

Golfing at the 9th Annual Cabin Classic

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for September 13, 2015

Luke and Avery started their junior year of high school this week and attended their first football game where they drove themselves.  They're growing up too fast for me!

I drove down to Clear Lake, Iowa on Friday night to participate in the 9th annual Cabin Classic golf tournament with a bunch of other wild and crazy dudes.  

My old friend, Jason Alexander, started the event back in 2006 as a way to get old friends back together for a weekend of fun and golf. I don't know if debauchery was part of his original plan, but somehow that always ends up being part of the event also.

We played 27 holes of golf at a place called Slippery Elm golf course in Klemme, Iowa.  Well, they played 27 holes of golf and I played about 15 or so.  I'm not a very strong man.

I had never played on the Slippery Elm golf course before, but it was beautiful.  Klemme, Iowa is a tiny little town in North Iowa and the course is literally located right in the middle of a cornfield, but you'd never know it.  It was very well maintained and just an absolutely gorgeous course.  Unfortunately, it was pretty pricey for the area.  We paid a whopping $30 for 27 holes of golf.   Lucky they threw in the cart rental for that price, otherwise I would have had to feel like they were gouging us.

   It's very peaceful playing golf next to a cornfield, until you remember all the scary children that are running around in there.  Then you just to balance the fear while you concentrate on your golf swing.

They recently had 6 inches of rain in less than a week, so there were a couple of soggy areas.  The guy that was mowing the lawn tried to navigate through one of those areas, but unfortunately got stuck.  A couple of the guys in my foursome were nice enough to help pull him out.  While they did that, I was nice enough to video tape the incident just in case one of them fell face first in the mud or something.  I'm sure they wouldn't have wanted me to miss that.

During one of my rounds, I had the opportunity to play with Kevin Dirks and Steve Carew which was nice.  The only problem was that Kevin is kind of obsessed with Steve and literally follows him around everywhere and watches his every move.  He gives him lots of compliments like "You have the smoothest stroke, Steve." and "I love the way you handle that shaft."  I know he's just trying to be friends with him, but quite honestly it gets a little creepy sometimes.

After a couple of really fun nights and struggling through a bunch of bad golfing, it was time for me to pack my bags and head home to Minnesota again.  

The boys had a fun time while I was away hanging out with some good friends and taking turns making Blue try to stand up and walk like a person.

On Sunday, we took Sunny and Blue to the neighbor's house to go swimming and they hooked up with Blue's parents and brother while they were out there.  5 Golden Retrievers all going after tennis balls in the lake can get just a little bit out of control, but it sure is fun to watch.