So, after pounding down my snack i had so smartly packed, i was ready to leave for "Player's Club." They told me to take a golf cart over there with a "leveler" so i went to where they were hung up in the shop with the rest of the tools and there was one left. It had a broken handle, making it pretty short and small, but i didn't think anything of it at the time. The metal leveler part was pretty loose and shaky too. Little did i know..i should have thought A LOT about it.
i Tossed it happily into the back of the motorized golf cart, made sure i had enough gas, checked that my full lunch box was in the cart, and took off down the road. To be perfectly honest, i was quite nervous about the directions of where i was going. They didn't want me to take the main road all the way down to Player's Club, naturally. So, there i was tearing along at about 8mph(?maybe slower) on some back roads that had a speed limit of 25 because there were a lot of houses that were so close to the street. Even though the directions weren't clear i somehow found my way at the golf course and was told they had "started on the back" (if i'm remembering right) which meant i would have to find and follow this cart path i had never been on and try and find them soon so i could help... Why was i so eager and excited? i Wish i could tell you. If only i had known what i was getting myself into..After passing the first few last holes, (i was going backwards from 18) i found them resting in some shade. Let me just reiterate once again about this job. It was one that tested, tried, wore out, tired, exhausted, taxed, strained, challenged, and stretched a full grown man to his breaking point. Of course, i had no idea about this. After a few minutes of sitting on our carts, we drove to the next green where i was told what to do. "It's pretty simple...we're just pushin' these plugs. See that?" The big oafish gentleman said to me pointing at the green. There on the green there were countless pieces of grass stuck together in sort of the shape of a slug and about that long too. Please feel free to read up and become learned in "picking up aeration plugs on golf greens" "Mhm yes sir," i said still happy. "Well, all you do is this," and he demonstrated for me by pushing down on the leveler and walking at a fairly strong stomp of a pace.
Starting in the middle as they all showed me, i pushed down and began strutting across the green. The first several seconds were a breeze. The plugs stayed in front of my tool and i pushed away. About halfway across from where i had started, making it about a fourth of the way to my destination on the "collar" of the green where we pushed the plugs, i suddenly felt an immense weight in front of me and i had to push down with significantly more force. Then, i began losing consciousness. i Thought to myself, "If i'm busy doing this for another hour or two, i think i'll be done. In all meanings of the word." However, i struggled on with this leveler and tried my hardest. After an hour or so of pushing plugs to the collar, i also had to help pick them up with a plastic, big, snow shovel. Very hard work as well as once you get the shovel full you must hoist it up about 4 feet to throw into the back of a truck.
This went on for a while before one of the guys who had joined us later said to me in broken english, "You work with a small one?" i Figured out he was talking about my leveler and how it was shorter than everybody's. It had been broken at the top but i still had no qualms about it. If only i knew this kind Hispanic would be changing my life. He gave me a bigger one and suddenly... i Could go to TOWN on these plugs. Basically, i could "PWN these n00bs." Essentially, i could "take them down to China Town." What i'm trying to say is, i owned it.
We stopped for lunch (2 hefty size hamburgers from a local place) for about 20 to 25 minutes and then tore into it again. By about 3:45 we had another break and i had a healthy portion of the leftovers, which i thoroughly enjoyed by the way. Superb.
All in all, i was eating, sweating, drinking, eating, and sweating so much my body didn't know what was going on. The day stretched on and i just kept pushin' them plugs until about 4:30 when i got to clock-out. On reaching home, i had never felt relief and just plain "dog-tiredness" as i did on walking through that back door.
Epilogue
Well reader, you have come to the end of this little/extremelylong story filled with much blood and tears, but i thank you for reading this adventure in my life. It was one i shall never forget. Whether it was the strange conversation i shared with some of these older guys, or how much difference it made to have a regular size leveler, i was thankful for the experience. If there was something i learned that day (in all honesty, i believe i learned a ton), it is to "never give up, even when you think you can't push any longer, push 'til the end for it will be the end sooner than later." And, "Eat lots of food."
