Chapter 20 – Gabby Golf Tag

One of the sillier games games we played with Gabby was invented when she was four and we were visiting my mom in South Carolina.

Gabby loved to play with big inflatable play balls. My nephew Brodie and I were in my mom’s yard in South Carolina and I had a big ball.  It did not lend itself to throwing and I could not throw or kick it far enough to make for a good chase.  The sandy earth brought it to a stop too quickly.

I saw an old golf club, a driver, on the porch.  I had an idea.  I got the driver and drove the inflatable ball with it.

The ball went flying high and far, and Gabby took off, her little legs moving so fast you could hardly see them, kicking up a trail of dust behind her.  It must have gone 100 feet. She loved chasing it that far!  We all laughed a lot.

Brodie and I decided to make it a game with rules.  If I could hit it far enough that it stopped before she could get to it, I got a point.  If she touched it before it stopped moving, Gabby got a point.

Thus was invented, “Gabby Golf Tag.”

Gabby loved it.  When Brodie went and retrieved the ball, I put it down in front of me and as I prepared to tee off, Gabby danced back and forth anticipating my swing, ready to take off.

We played for about 30 minutes and I think it ended up a tie.

Gabby with an inflatable ball

This video shows Gabby playing with an inflatable ball like we used for Gabby golf tag.  As you can see, she loved it from the time she told me to kick it for her.  You can see she chases it down very quickly! She was five years old here.

She bumped it down into the woods behind the townhouse. She had fun bumping it through the brush, so I let her keep at it a while. I recorded it as I followed and watched over her, making sure she knew I was close by and she was safe.