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Every now and then, it's good for us to be reminded about who's in charge. How we individually see him, or her, we are told that God made the world and everything in it. However, what is not made clear to us every day, is that God left Mother Nature very much in charge of day to day operations.

Living on an island, as we do, in the middle of the Atlantic, we know of Mother Nature's strength all too well. When we plan an outside event, we sometimes bury our heads in the sand and hope that the weather will cooperate on the appointed day. But hope is not a strategy and Mother Nature cannot be fooled. We can plan all we want, dot every "i", cross every "t" but if Mother Nature wants things to be a certain way, we all must bend to her wishes.

So it was with the inaugural BGA Team Medal Championships this past Sunday when inclement weather caused a last minute cancellation of the event.

As is often the case with cancellations, the minute the decision is made, the rain clouds start to clear, birds begin to chirp and the sun starts emerging from obscurity. So it was on the day and, as it happened, there was no more rain Sunday afternoon.

But that does not mean the course itself would have been playable, or that people would have been looking forward to what should be, and indeed will be, a great event.

There had been a lot of rain overnight, which had continued all through Sunday morning. Thunder, with some lightning, on Sunday morning would no doubt have put people in the "I really don't feel like playing in this stuff" mood.

Bunkers would have been partially washed away and some would have had standing puddles in their low points. Golf balls would have picked up mud when they pitched on the ground and mud, as we all know to our detriment, causes havoc with the flight direction of golf shots.

There would have been casual water throughout the golf course and golf carts would have been restricted to cart paths to protect the golf course. There is nothing worse for a golf course that has been subject to heavy rainfall than to have carts driving up and down its fairways.

So even though the rain stopped and conditions above the ground were playable, conditions on and under the ground continued to be unplayable. The decision to cancel the BGA Team Medal Championships was correct.

Rescheduled

The good news is that the BGA Team Medal Championships have already been rescheduled and will now be held on Sunday, 31 January 2010. This means that the various Clubs will now have about four months to get their two teams together.

It will also provide the BGA with more time to educate its members on this new event. After all, the event only came into being in August of this year. While lots of information about it is now in the hands of the various Clubs, this additional time will enable the BGA to complete the education process.

There is much to look forward to in Bermuda golf. Those of you who receive monthly email handicap updates will receive the BGA October Newsletter with their October revision, which will once again be worth reading.[[In-content Ad]]

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