During our first visit to the Holbrook Country Club a few years ago, a crow — either hungry or simply mischievous — took advantage of our concentration on the putting green and helped itself without any hesitation to some of Rob's unguarded breakfast. It then joined its friends up in the trees for a hearty cackle about it as we made our way around the green and back to the cart.
The crows were there again when we returned to the course back in May. When we published the Holbrook flyover, we made sure to include a little warning about the course's nuisance from above:
"Just a suggestion: If you're enjoying that delicious egg-and-cheese sandwich that you brought with you to the course, don't leave it unattended and unwrapped in your cart as you try to two-putt for par. A team of crows perched around the course will be eyeing it, and they won't hesitate to swoop in and indulge. They'll throw in a few mocking calls for good measure when your par putt rims out, all while conspiring to steal your next snack."
Unfortunately, the crows took more than breakfast from Newsday reader Joseph Governale, a Holbrook resident whose bid for his first sub-80 round was sabotaged by the fearless, feathered foes. He detailed his encounter today in a Newsday guest column.
I reached into my pocket for a tee — the longer kind made for today's larger club-heads. Not finding any, I was walking back to the cart when a crow of gargantuan size suddenly swooped down, pulled my bag of tees out of the cupholder and flew off. Screaming, I followed the bird to a nearby tree. It sat on an uppermost branch about 40 feet up, the booty dangling from its beak. I cursed and raved. Almost flung my club at the thing. The beast just looked down at me, one eye at a time. — Joseph Governale, Newsday, 11/12/2011
Click here for the full column. And to read more on the Holbrook CC, check out the course flyover.