7.10am found Huttonian on the 1st tee of the Duns Golf Club. 24C already and not a breath of wind. Not even a Zephyr and certainly not enough for a beaker full of the warm south. Not a soul in sight except for a green keeper turning on the taps at each green for the sprinklers; necessary now with no rain for the past week. Surely a record for Duns.
I decided to play a horse free round-going up the first (the horses haunt the second) and then cutting across to the eleventh to play a total of 9 holes; quite enough in this Gulf like heat and humidity. At the seventeenth two pairs of long ears appeared 200 yards ahead on the green of a very tricky par three protected by a wee burn. They were attached to Hares. I don't think I have ever seen a brace of Hares in July before. Another sign of global warming? What a target! Dead straight drive clearing one pair of ears by a yard or so. The Hares stopped munching grass and started twittering amongst themselves in a silent sort of way (at least at that distance it seemed silent) Anyhow there was much snuffling and twitching. Perhaps they were gay hares? If so it may have been a mistake to have played my expensive high visibility pink ball. It was. One hare pounced and ran off with the ball gaily pursued by the other giggling and twitching. Ah they were heading for the hole-that could be good news if they dropped it there. It could even be an unusual hole-in-one. I shouted encouragingly. Hare One dropped the ball and it was playfully pounced on by Hare two who ran towards me chewing the ball thoughtfully before gentle dropping it into the stream. They then bounced off laughing, metaphorically holding hands and discussing Gay8 matters.
I found the ball some thirty yards down stream, under a foot bridge. A six was quite a good score in the circumstances. The ball had sweet little teeth marks all over.Didn't matter as I lost it at the next hole. If the Hares find it again I hope it chokes them. Sincerely I do.
