Fantastic February for golf

The Midwest is stuck in a deep freeze and there’s roughly 10 feet of snow piled atop the East coast. There are ice and wind chill warnings in Florida.

And on Monday afternoon in Polson, it was 50 degrees and I was golfing.

That’s not how I normally picture mid-February.

Northwest Montana is supposed to resemble that shaken-up snow globe that has buried the Atlantic seaboard. It’s supposed to be below freezing and dreary. Skiers, snowboarders and general winter weather enthusiasts are supposed to have another month and a half of unadulterated fluff to play around in until the sun comes back in April.

In short, it’s supposed to be winter.

So, when I looked ahead to this week on the calendar, I had a completely different column planned.

This week, as far as sports are concerned, is slow. With the swimming and wrestling state championships over and most of the knockout rounds in basketball at least a week away, I figured I’d have some leeway to look elsewhere this week.

Figuring it would be cold and dreary, I looked to brighten up my work week. I talked to the local indoor golf range that doubles as a digital course for the snowed in, asking how their business has been in a season that saw a bunch of snow early.

It was going to be one of those shining beacons of what’s to come in the spring, trying to remind at least myself that it will get warm again at some point in 2015.

That point came earlier than expected.

Above normal temperatures for the last few weeks have been accompanied by more winter sunshine than I’ve seen in three years.

Then this weekend, with most of the area’s snowbirds still away from the nest, Polson Bay Golf Course opened for the season. Naturally, I paid a visit.

Any snow that was on the course a few weeks ago has disappeared. The course and its views were as beautiful as they’ve always been. Had I not just looked at a calendar I would’ve assumed that it was any early season day in April that I decided to venture to the south end of the lake.

There was a good amount of people on the course. I played with two other guys and there was a foursome ahead of us, with two more behind.

I hit my first drive down the middle of the fairway.

And just like it was mid-season, I dunked my first shot on a par three into a lake.

At least I knew it wasn’t a dream.

According to rodent meteorologists and other important scientists, there’s probably a few more weeks of winter weather still to come this year. Maybe even some snow for those looking to get a few more weeks of play in the mountains.

That cold snap facing the rest of the country will probably roll back our way and all these warm-weather shenanigans will have to be put on hold for a few more weeks.

That’s fine. At least the shining beacon of spring will still be fresh in my mind.