Shoes, glorious shoes

I was saying to a friend of mine a few weeks ago that the moment the waterproofing on your golf shoes goes, it’s time for the shoes to go.

As if by some sort of cosmic joke, the next week my best and favourite golf shoes gave up the ghost.

After a wet week that Sunday morning at Benoni Lake Country Club was more than a little damp and I knew I was in trouble.

By the time the front nine was done, so were my feet. Each step was a chore, each hill a mountain and every move painful.

I soldiered on and finished the 18, why wouldn’t I? But by the time I was done, I’d been done for a while.

When I took my white adidas off it looked like I had some World War II trench foot.

It was ugly.

Those shoes did me well, they’ve carried my load all around the country’s best (and worst) courses for over a decade.

They can ride off into the sunset knowing that they did their duty and more.

So on Thursday when I went to the Joburg Ladies Open at Modderfontein I wore takkies because I would out and about on the course and need to protect my dogs.

Walking five kilometers in flip flops is not my idea of a good time and my new (waterproof) golf shoes haven’t arrived yet (3-5 working days my ass).

What I hadn’t taken into consideration was the rain and while this pair of adidas are supremely comfortable, they have never been waterproof and waterproof is what I needed as a steady drizzle (later to become a serious downpour) soaked me (I left my umbrella in the car like a …) and the ground.

The lack of thunder and lightning a blessing as the golf could at least continue for the majority of the day until the course became waterlogged.

After a couple of hours watching the best of the best do their thing around the 18 holes I had to find a seat inside to try and get dry.

Not easy …

The ladies out on the course didn’t have that option, they had to keep going - they had a job to do, umbrellas up, waterproofs on and sunglasses firmly in the golf bag.

There was no respite for them.

It was a hard day out there and conditions certainly didn’t help, although the scores were as low as ever.

These ladies are class, drivers piped down the middle, irons pin-seeking, chips burning the edges if they didn’t drop and putts happily finding their “home” at the bottom of the cup.

I just hope their shoes completed their mission as well.