I spent Monday morning volunteering for Main Street at their annual big fundraiser – a golf tournament. I felt pretty lousy from the vaccines, but I popped a few Motrin and headed out.
The golf event was held at Woodmont Country Club which is located less than 10 minutes from our house. I’ve never been to this country club, but I’ve driven by it weekly through my childhood and adulthood. It’s located on the Rockville Pike which is a huge road artery through town which has things like: the Container Store, REI, LL Bean, Hooters, the Party Store, etc. In the midst of all this, there is an enormous lawn (probably 2-3 football field size) that has a loooonngg driveway that disappears behind some trees.
I don’t know what happened because this is a $80,000 initiation fee country club, maybe I’m jaded by Instagram, but I wanted the Country Club to be fancier as I walked through the property. In what way, I can’t really put into words? Because, it was super fancy already. I just wanted a little photo filtering on what I was seeing.
This was a tremendous amount of work to coordinate – food, entertainment, prizes, 230 golfers (they sold out), volunteers, so much to put together and I was happy to volunteer and will continue to do so.
Have I ever been on a fancy golf course? I’m not quite sure. There are like 7 types of grass, the finest grass nearest the hole. I learned many things about golf and country clubs, the most interesting one is that for a couple, the CC membership is only under one name because if the couple splits, they do not want to be in any argument of who the owns the membership.
So, my general observations on Country Club life: it is nice and fun in a particular way. I could see how it would be fun. And I had fun – lots of jokes, lots of food, beautiful grounds, lovely company and conversation, etc. But man, it’s like a throwback to the 1950s. Almost all the golfers were white men, almost all the volunteers were white women and our role was basically to provide light and fun conversation. All the staff were people of color. Sooo…not my favorite scene. Cigars! Really?! Yes, there were cigars. I also was not dressed properly. I mean, I did not stick out, but I had obviously not understood “country club casual” which I was instructed to be – no denim. So I wore black flats, a black summer strappy cotton dress with a fitted bodice and large skirt and a white linen button down unbuttoned. But everyone else wore sneakers, shorts, a golf shirt and a fleece jacket. I thought all these items (save the golf shirt, as…you know, it’s for golf – but only for the players and not the volunteers), would not be appropriate. And I see how the flats were not the right shoes because I ended up tromping over hill and dale after my shift was over to avoid riding golf carts and to go for a walk. Golf – a good walk spoiled.
Edda was home on Monday, but is at school today! She’s almost back to her old self. We are trying to pull an earlier appointment for her to see Eric up at CHOP.