After her first hole-in-one, Peggy Payne points out that golf isn’t for the birds: It’s for the Birdies! (Photo by Betsy Weig)
Ann Lange
It’s a birdie … It’s a Payne … It’s One-der Woman! Peggy Payne, a member of the Dancing Birdies’ Nine ‘n’ Wine golf group, flew her ball right into the nest on hole number 6 at The Preserve for her first hole-in-one on Nov. 14. As 2023 was beginning to draw to a close, Peggy was eager to reach her quota of birdies necessary to keep her status as a Dancing Birdie. She listened to the little voices in her golf bag that told her the best of her 14 problem clubs to use was the 7 wood. She carefully aimed her Kirkland ball to the white flag and swung as slow and smooth as a perfect pour of wine. But be careful—you just might get what you aim for!
There was no two-step or three-stepping around on the dance floor, just a well-choreographed technical dance move known as the one-step, leading right to an ace. The other Dancing Birdies in the threesome, Betsy Weig and Karen Statz, eagle-eyed the ball as it gracefully swooped down to its landing place. Although a stroke short of the goal of a birdie, the group didn’t hold it against Peggy, since a hole-in-one on a par 3 is an eagle, and an eagle is a birdie in its own right. They would have given Peggy the bird, except this serious, somber, and sober golf group posts accurate scores, so she had to take a one.
The bragging bevy of Birdies summoned the others by calling Nine-Wine-Wine. But by now, they were several holes behind, busy with their birdie-turned-bogey putts, and didn’t hear the fluttering and flapping of the bird call. Birds of a feather flock together, so eventually the trailers made it to the happy hour aviary to join the trillers. Slightly feather-headed and pondering why today was Peggy’s lucky day, the celebrating covey found the same answer at the bottom of every wine bottle. Most golfers make the game too hard. It’s actually as easy as one-two-three, and today Peggy made it as easy as one.
With a glass in her hand, a feather in her cap, and a hole-in-one crossed off her bucket list, Peggy tweeted Archie, her one-and-only, to tell him about today’s one-and-only. Stay tuned for more adventures of One-der Woman and the Dancing Birdies’ Nine ‘n’ Wine group. There may not be very many birdies, but there will always be plenty of wine.