Golf column, Where’s the white ball?

We’re spoiled here, let’s face it. Our days of golfing in December

wearing shorts and polo shirts we sometimes take for granted, especially

those who grew up in Orange County.

While sleigh bells are heard in malls around the country with real

snow falling and temperatures never get above freezing, we can tee it up

in golf’s sunshine paradise.

Sweaters are suggested for some days, like Wednesday, but others are

down right disgusting for much of the nation from a Weather Channel point

of view.

For those who still swing the sticks at Christmas time, imagine what

it would be like elsewhere.

A recent online survey by the USA Today/National Golf Foundation “Golf

in America” revealed avid golfers have pretty thick skin when it comes to

playing in bad weather, including rain, wind, cold, lightning and even

snow -- all of which stop many Newport-Mesa types from lacing up the soft

spikes.

How fanatical are golfers when it comes to playing in less than ideal

conditions? Almost 600 golfers, mostly avid players (those with an

average of 36 rounds per year), participated in the survey.

Sixty percent of golfers don’t mind playing in the rain, but even

those who don’t like to, will. Eighty percent said they have started a

round while it was raining.

Even more, 60% said they’ve played during partial snow cover; 15% have

actually played when the ground was completely covered.

But what might be the most compelling sign that golfers are a

resilient group is that over one-third of the those surveyed said they

will still tee it up when temperatures drop below freezing.

Tim Clay posted the following on the online survey site and could take

the National Golf Foundation’s Player of the Year Award: “For the last

two (summer) months, I have been playing golf at Thule Air Base in

Greenland. The temperature is usually in the 30s to 40s and when it’s

really nice, it’s in the 50s. There are two outdoor nine-hole courses.

One is on the main base ... the other course is on top of Mount Dudas and

they have an annual tournament there every summer. The hard part of the

tournament is that you have to climb the mountain to participate.”

Think about the mountain climbers next time you complain about local

weather conditions on the links.

The Newport Beach Golf Course will host a Holiday Pro-Am Dec. 23.

Keith Wyrick, the course’s longtime affable starter, is operating the

event to benefit charity. Details: (562) 987-1378.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.