On one of our golfing days other than Ladies Day a few of my friends played an unusual Halloween game called the Orange Ball Express. This event was at our Mill Creek Golf Course in Salado, Texas. I had twelve gals who expressed their desire to play on Friday October 26th for this day of trick or treats. I had prepared three boxes of treats for each foursome but inside each box was a trick. It also included a set of instruction for the game we were playing which I called the Orange Ball Express.



When the day arrived it was one of our first cool mornings but brisk and sunshine greeted all who showed up. As they arrived I asked each for a fee of fifty cents to play our game of the day. I handed the early arrivals the box so they could read the instructions for the game. There were some surprised comments and laughs as they found out that they would have to alternate using that orange ball they found inside. I had arranged the score cards in alphabetical order of the four teams. As we were waiting for all to arrive it included much visiting before we were ready to head out to the golf course.



On each score card all the players were listed with a special spot at the bottom of the card was a place were I wrote in orange the score for that orange ball. Each person could keep their own score for posting for handicaps but only one score would be used for this game and that was of the orange ball. In the instruction of the game we would find out how far each team got before they lost the orange ball or the lowest score of those who completed the full 18 holes and returned the orange ball. We soon were on our way as we gathered for the first tee and my team was the lead off team. I wanted to finish first to tally all scores as they completed their 18 holes.



Our team sailed along just fine, it turned out we only had a threesome as one of our players was called out of town. This lead our team to have to use that orange ball three times for each nine holes played. The picture above is Lillian one of my team members teeing off on one of her holes of play. We all played exceptionally well and cleared all the water holes but not without some tension as we knew it was important we not lose that ball. We finished in good time with our orange ball scoring a 92. We then waited for the remaining foursomes to complete their rounds.

It seemed to take a long time for the next teams to reach the club house. They spent lots of time looking for that orange ball in the rough and even fishing it out of the water where possible. They did finish with a score of 104 so our team was in the lead. There were many comments about that orange ball and I had to admit that all those balls were old balls I found in my array of found balls from my yard. One of those orange balls was one I had made a hole-in-one with many years ago so it too was old and not with much spirit left in it. I know we have many colored balls these days but I needed orange for Halloween so we all had to use those old balls.

The last foursome finally came in but had lost their ball in one of the water hazards this led to many remarks about how bad they played. It seemed the stress of having to play one ball for the team was a factor in some cases. This is a different way to play a game within your regular golf game. It is not one I would like to do often but once in a while it adds a little color to the game.




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