Dogged Does it. If not quite

I am afraid this is a successive second post about Golf. But that what being in Norn Iron is all about. And actually I would not have done so except for the curious instance of the dog that didn’t bark at all.

Returning on an empty course (well it was 8am) I hit a longish drive on the 15th-straight towards the top of Slieve Donard but fortunately not quite as far. Looking for it in lightish rough and well clear of the imported Gorse bushes I came upon a little heap of 4 very good balls and one of this new fangled brush tees in a posh plastic case. Who on earth could have lost four balls and a tee within 6 inches of each other?

Then I heard a snuffle. It was Ally the dog seeking Alsatian. He was still some distance away with his master, who was in his wellies searching the lake on the adjoining fairway, a good hundred yards distant. So it must have been yer man or his beast who had found the balls and left them in a little pile with the tee to pick up later. But funnily enough they did not seem at all concerned about a stranger being so close to their pirate’s hoard. And then strangest of all they moved off out of sight living me in possession of the treasure trove. It can’t have been theirs all along.Some one, a golfing benefactor, a Leprecaun perhaps, who had long since gone.

Moral dilemma.What to do? Should I take the lot? ‘Finders Keepers’ is the rule on golf courses even if one deplores the systematic search and rescue industrial approach of Ally and his keeper. But somehow taking all 4 balls, even 4 very good balls, seemed somehow wrong. So I took 2 and the posh brush tee (having lost mine on the previous hole) and moved on leaving the remaining two balls for some other lucky person.

I looked back just as I left the 15th green. Exactly where I had been stood Ally. Even from that distance it was clear he had two balls in his mouth. And he was whining. He also seemed

to be looking for something


‘Why’ asked Watson did the dog not bark at all ?

‘His mouth was full,
Stupid’

Said Holmes.


PS The image is nothing to do with the 15th. It is the drive at the 4th on the Annesley Course (MPBUI). Slieve Donard is a good line but if you reach it you are out of bounds.

Labels: Ball findingAlsatians, Golf, Norn Iron, Royal County Down

  ¶ 11:12 AM