By Roger Bluhm 

OK, folks, the call is going out.    I understand how hard it is to find good golfing partners. For the past couple of years I’ve had a few different people to golf with, but now my family and I are moving to Valley City and, well, the search begins again.    The problem is simple. Golf partners – like fishing partners or wives – are key for a good time while golfing. If you’re not a drinker and your golf partner isn’t happy unless his swing is fortified with lots of “liquid courage,” than that’s not a good golf match.
    If you’re allergic to smoke and your partner is a cigarette or cigar smoker, that’s not a good match.
    If you shoot 120 on a regular basis and your partner has won the club championship each of the last two years, that’s a GREAT match for a tournament, but not so good for every day rounds of golf. After all, a scratch golfer will make a hacker mad after about a week of playing together – especially if the scratch golfer makes comments like, “Your swing looks good. I don’t know why your ball goes right each time.”
    If you’re a talker – enjoy visiting while playing – and your partner is more inclined to sit silently, enjoying the day, it’s not a good match. A conversation requires two participants, not just one and eventually the pairing will split.
    So, I’m putting a call out now for a Valley City golf partner.
    Let’s be clear. I don’t own a cart. I don’t have a scratch game, but it’s not as bad as 120 a round. I do enjoy talking (but not during swings or putts) and I don’t mind tobacco use. I don’t drink, but I don’t mind those who do.
    To me, a golf course is a place to unwind. It’s the best place in the world to be. A golfer is one who would rather golf than anything else. I’ve walked away from NFL games on TV, poker games and an opportunity to go fishing to play a round of golf.
    Golfing calms me like nothing else. It’s a four-hour relaxer. No matter how much stress I’m under at work or home, a round of golf puts a smile on my face, a spring in my step and a relaxed attitude. I can go home to kids screaming, a dog barking, the better half having a problem and I’ll just smile through it all.
    Of course, I’ll be thinking about that par putt I made, or that beautiful drive. I’ll smile and know that no matter how big the problem is, I can handle it because I’ve been able to do something on the golf course I don’t normally pull off.
    That’s the secret of golf. Even a hacker like me can look back on the two or thee good shots and forget the 97 bad strokes. The allure is trying to find that magic in all the strokes during a round. It’s getting that magic just a few times that keeps pulling me back onto the manicured fairways, looking for that round that I know is there.
    My best score is an 89 on a day when the stars aligned, the wind was calm and every bad bounce had a silver lining. If I golf regularly, I can get my average to about 95. I want that number to go down. I want to golf at least twice a week and get my average to 89 and my best score down to an 84.
    I’d like to play in some tournaments and meet some people to golf with all the time. So, this is an official request. I need golfing partners. I need golfing information.
    More than anything else, I need spring to arrive so I can get back on a golf course. Contact me here at the newspaper if you are willing to give me an audition as a golfing partner. I’m doing this now so I don’t have to beg in April.         Don’t make me beg. Please.

Bluhm is publisher of the Valley City Times-Record.