Greetings Golfers,

Tomorrow is Halloween. The ancients Celts celebrated this as the festival of Samhain – meaning the end of Summer and the “first of Winter”.

I never liked Fall until I was about 40. I just wanted non-stop Summer. Fall made me sad and I just couldn’t appreciate the beauty of the season.

But life has the same cycles as the seasons, and they all need to be appreciated. The Celts honored their dead with the passing of the seasons … and for them, Samhain was the season of death and renewal.

And for us at Deer Run, this is also a time of death and renewal – we close the golf course, yet renew the golf course with projects.

This month had an extra special project. A group of Deer Run neighborhood guys have built a bridge to the tee-box on hole #4. The reason it is so special is that it is a memorial to one of their best friends – Joe Smith. Joe passed away this Summer from ALS.

These neighborhood guys refer to themselves as “The Band of Idiots”. In this case, that moniker is off-base. Led by Ron Smith, the BOI have built something that is very meaningful – and what better symbol than a bridge? In terms of the Celts and this time of year … a bridge of death and renewal. Perfect.

Slan leat,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com