Karl Overcomes Shilohfallsophobia

Being afraid of something that can cause harm is a normal reaction. However, some people show strong persistent and irrational fears of particular objects, activities or situations. When this behavior interferes with normal everyday functioning, the condition is called a phobia. Encountering the phobic stimulus results in intense anxiety, causing increased heart rate, difficulty breathing, shaking and sweating. Although the phobic may acknowledge the anxiety is disproportionate to the threat, this does little to reduce the fear and they are highly motivated to avoid it. Karl suffers from Shilohfallsophobia(fear of golfing at Shiloh Falls).It's been over a year since TFF has traveled to Shiloh Falls, yet each Thursday night Karl is in a state of panic as he anticipates the much dreaded call of where TFF will play on Friday. When Mike made the call this week, he couldn't tell Karl where they were going, but Karl knew and immediately he began to react to his phobia. After a sleepless night, K was picked up by Ron and got in the back seat with LT who was attempting to overcome one of his phobias,Lygophobia (fear of darkness). The four drove to the church to pick up Sam whose primary phobia is cherophobia(fear of being happy) and this explains why he loves to golf. Sam was glad to see that Ron was driving because when Mike drives not only Sam but K, R, and LT all suffer from amaxophobia(fear of riding in a car). Alot of Mike's driving problems come from one of his phobias, erythrophobia(fear of red lights). Ron is perhaps the best of the five at hiding his phobias, but it has long been suspected that he has defecaloesiophobia(fear of painful bowel movements) as well as arachibutyrophobia(fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth). Ron has also shown signs of phronemophobia(fear of thinking). Ron and his longtime partner,LT, both suffer from ecclesiophobia(fear of church)on Wednesday night but Ron has been attempting to overcome this fear as of late. Well, TFF arrived at the course just as the sun was coming up and Mike spotted a couple of other golfers in the parking lot and immediately insisted that everyone hurry up so that we could beat them to the tee box. Without a doubt, Mike's greatest phobia is macrophobia(fear of waiting). It had rained alot over the night which meant golf paths only and LT's phobia of ambulophobia(fear of walking). As Karl teed it up on #1 he attempted to remember what his sports psychologist had told him. It seems that Karl's shilohfallsophobia stems from two other phobias that he possesses, both dendrophobia(fear of trees) and leukophobia(fear of the color white and in Karl's case fear of white stakes). Shiloh Falls has alot of trees, but according to Karl, the white stakes out number the trees 2 to 1. For the past year, Karl has been undergoing hypnotherapy. In this particular treatment for phobias, the patient is deeply relaxed while the therapist talks to the unconscious mind. They are also given relaxation cues to call upon when they next encounter the stimulus. The method has been proven to reduce the level of anxiety experienced within a single session with some patients but took 52 for Karl. So each time LT reminded Karl of the white stakes, his mind was triggered to only see wide fairways and large greens.
Nonetheless, team LT/R was able to jump out to a 2 point lead after 5 holes. The front 9 was highlighted by birdies by M on #4, R on #5, M again on #7, and Sam on #8. K/M took a 5 point lead at the turn. M started the back with a birdie on #10. Clearly, the shot of the day was performed by Ron on #11. His drive was wide left, and he hit his 2nd shot into the green side trap. His third shot was an unbelievable sand shot that died into the hole for a par. Team LT/R closed it to 4 but could not hold onto the momentum and by hole #16, the match was over. LT was able to birdie # 17. In individual matches both K and M defeated R. K was also able to beat LT. In what has become a weekly battle for the yearly head to head winner, M and S tied with both posting a 76. This leaves M with a slim 1 victory lead. Hope that all will be able to play next week as the year is coming to an end quickly. TFF would appreciate your input has to how and when to vote for this year's Provisional Mulligan Cup. Of course for Mike who suffers from cyberphobia(fear of computers), his lovely wife Dianne whose phobia is ranidaphobia(fear of frogs), will have to respond for him.
Scores-birdies
M-38/38-76-3
S-38/38-76-1
K-43/41-84-0
R-42/45-87-1
LT-47/41-88-1

Notes Of Interest
K/M will give 16!
M will give R 9 and owes M 1
R will give K 3 and owes 1
LT and K will play even and LT owes 1