The White Caps on Carter Lake

View from #2 Fairway, Shoreline Golf Course, Carter Lake, IA


Friday afternoon we saw white caps on Carter Lake...the wind was howling.

I've seen lots of things at Carter Lake -

Dozens of Bald Eagles and greyish Hawks soaring overhead.

A bald eagle in its aerie with little eaglet heads bobbing up and down the #1 and #9 fairways.

Hundreds of three-foot long dead carp washed up along the shore of Shoreline Golf Course smelling like, well, hundreds of dead three-foot long carp.

I've seen fish skeletons and portions thereof, with shiny fish scales glistening in the sunshine, like diamonds strewn about the #2 fairway.

Jet skis and motorboats and water skiers and Creighton sculling teams out there on the water.

I've seen the fairways covered in goose droppings when the geese decide to spend time by the lake. "The fairways will be greener with that added nitrogen," we say as we walk by avoiding the droppings on those late winter and early spring days when the course is open.

I've seen baby foxes in culverts looking out curiously at me as I walked by.

My golfing friend Jerry and I saw a horse grazing on the #17 fairway one day, and the horse allowed us to play through.

I've seen Bob, and Jerry shoot eagles on par four holes -- not the bald eagles soaring over the area on those spring and fall days when they are around, but the golf kind, you know a 2 on a par 4 hole. I've had a couple out there myself.

I've seen concrete chunks protruding from sand traps and fairways -- a reminder of Shoreline Golf Course's origins -- an old construction landfill site--- most if not are gone now. I've heard a story about the guy who knew where the old corner stone of the now destroyed Woodmen building was buried in that landfill and about how he sold his knowledge to the builders of the new Woodmen Building for $10,000 so they could include that cornerstone in that "new" building.

I've seen the Shoreline Springs, not the water kind, but the remains of an old mattress hidden in the woods along hole #8 -- sticking about halfway up in its lengthwise vertical orientation. I told my friend Mel that he could have a free drop there one time. You shouldn't have to play with your swing impeded by old rusty bed springs.

I've seen snow, sleet, ice, rain, wind, fog; I've huddled with friends behind clumps of bushes with umbrellas opened trying to shield against the cold blast front of a thunderstorm; I've been out there in below freezing weather and above 100 f.

So, I've seen it all at Shoreline Golf Course in Carter Lake, Iowa, but white caps are an unusual sight.