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Hole in None?
Published: 12/31/2006 1:22 AM
Last Modified: 12/31/2006 1:22 AM

Rather than make a New Year's Resolution I do not have the will power to keep -- give up Mountain Dew, for instance -- I am going to issue a New Year's plea: Will somebody please stop a golf course from dying? It appears one of my favorite courses is on the endangered species list.
I grew up in Mayes County and have played more rounds of golf at Pryor and Adair than probably everywhere else combined. The Pryor course -- during high school, I lived in a house about a tee shot from the club house -- is alive and well and still a favorite, but rumor has it the Adair golf course will be downgraded to cow pasture unless a buyer can be found for the property.
Ever seen the Adair golf course? It's a track of land just to the east of the turnpike. It won't be confused with Pebble Beach and that's part of its charm. No sand. Only a few water hazards. Wide open. On many holes, you can slice two fairways over and still have a shot at the green.
I am a mediocre golfer on my best day, but I once shot 78 at Adair and, if I had any sense, should have retired on the spot.
Adair is where you go to get the kinks worked out. A buddy and I shelled out a play-all-day fee once and got in 80 holes each before sundown. Play 80 holes in one day and you can fix a slice, gain a hook, fix a hook and get a back-ache all in a span of a few hours.
I was too chicken to pick between my friends when I had to choose a best man for my wedding, so I let the Adair golf course do it for me. I took my friends to Adair and the low scorer was automatically best man.
Many golf courses cater to those with deep pockets. The Adair golf course caters to anyone with pocket change. The only dress code is that clothing of some kind should be worn, although I'm not sure anyone ever tested the alternative.
Many golf courses will pair you with a group of strangers if you don't have a foursome (this never happens at a restaurant, so why should it happen at a golf course?) I have never needed a tee time or been paired with strangers at Adair. It's every man for himself and it's more blue collar than Paul Bunyan's ox. It's where you go to put a rubber snake in your friend's bag and curse at semi truck drivers who honk during your backswing.
I like putting on collared shirts and playing at prim and proper courses, too, but sometimes it's fun to just be an unshaven, uncouth hacker who swings for fences with cows on the other side of the barbed wire. Has Tiger Woods ever coped with a bovine hazard?
This is not an advertisement to help the Adair golf course find a buyer. If it's meant to be, the course will survive. But it seems a darn shame to waste a good cow pasture on cows. I played there Wednesday. I had a good time. I hope it wasn't goodbye.







Reader Comments 4 Total
Eddie Prince (6 years ago)
JT,
I know one of the owners of the Adair course. He is looking forward to retirement but is sad that no one stepped up to buy the course. I too am very sad that this is going away since Ray gives me the "Fellers Discount" since I work here at Fellers w/his wife Dollie. I have experienced some of my finest shots on this course. It was well worth the 30 min or so drive to tee off at 7:00 am and be back on the road by 9:30! My brother and your peer, Patrick, has played there many times with me. I will miss everthing about this course, including the owner!
jimmie tramel (6 years ago)
If I had the money, I would buy it myself, cut down the trees, drain the water and try to break 80 again.
hgkawtju@mail.com (6 years ago)
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jimmie tramel (6 years ago)
If Mr. Mxyzptlk had uttered the phrase in the post below, he would have been jolted back to the fifth dimension.
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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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