Tuberculosis, Seals, and the Americas

When the Europeans came to the Americas, they came with technology more advanced than the American Indians already here, but guns did not win the continent for Europe.  It was disease, strains of bacteria that were commonplace in Europe but unseen in the Americas.  The native population had no resistance, no antibodies, and as a result, diseases like tuberculosis wiped out 95% of the American population in less than 100 years.  That left the door wide open for European opportunism.

It was always assumed that the American Indians had no antibodies for these diseases, but a recent examination of three Peruvian skeletons dating back a thousand years calls that into question.  They found several signs on the bodies that undeniably point the cause of death to tuberculosis, a disease that wasn't supposed to be in the Americas at that time.  How'd it get there?  The answer, apparently, is seals.  Yeah, they thought it was stupid too, but they ran the data, and it fits.  Seals can carry tuberculosis, tuberculosis can and does easily jump from animals to humans, and most importantly, the type of tuberculosis seals carry match the type found in the Peruvian skeletons.  Turns out there's a lot of different types of the disease, and while the American Indians may have had antibodies for their version, the European version was much nastier.  Not a particularly groundbreaking piece of science, but I thought it was interesting.

Caledonia Golf Course Review

Pictured: an arboreal experience. 1st hole.

You may or may not remember that I started doing a tour of this course on my golf blog.  But since I stopped updating that, that one hole has been sort of sitting out there in limbo.  I'm not going to do a full tour of the place here, but I will share some of my thoughts on the course.  As I said there, it's an unusual golf course.  To quote myself, "Caledonia Golf Course is part of Caledonia State Park, and as such, it can be pretty minimal.  No nicely maintained fairways here.  It's only about 5,300 yards, but it is very hilly and there are some long walks.  It can be a hike, and I'm not sure it's worth it.  This course has some very weird holes, holes that I really don't like.  But it is pretty cheap."

I can't say that I can highly recommend the place.  Nothing about it fits my eye.  I hate trees, and in what must be the surprise of the century, the golf course in the middle of a state park located in the Appalachians of southern Pennsylvania... has a lot of trees.  So I tend to spend a lot of time getting the full arboreal experience, but not a fulfilling golf experience.

The long par 3 6th

The front nine isn't too bad.  The first hole's a bit wacky, the hole doglegs in a weird way and the lack of driving range discourages any sort of bold driver play, but it's not too hard.  I just get double bogey anyway.  The next few holes are fairly inoffensive, and the fifth hole, a 250 yard par 4, can be driven with just a 3 wood, or if you've got some length, a long iron.  The sixth hole, a 215 yard par 3, is not hittable.  It isn't, it can't be done.  It plays 50 feet uphill to a green that somehow manages to be elevated even above the hill it plays on.  Golf balls stop before the green if you try to run it up, and they skip right over if you land in on.  It cannot be done.  The next 3 holes are hilly, but again, nothing too extreme.

You've finished the front nine, and while it was hilly, it's only a par 32, so the walk (in this scenario, you're walking because that's how golf is meant to be played) wasn't too bad.  You take the short walk to the tenth tee, and you are confronted with what can only be described as a small mountain.  Yes, you have to play up that.  To make matters even worse, if you miss the fairway to the right at all, your golf ball will fall all the way down the hill.  I've been over there plenty, and the long iron up a 100 foot slope is not an easy shot.  The hole's only 450 yards or so, but it plays about 100 yards longer.

The 10th hole, draped over a mountainside.

The 15th green: evil incarnate

So, you've ascended to the summit, and now, on the very next hole... you go right back down.  The entire way back down.  The 11th isn't a bad hole, it's fun watching your ball fly forever, but did it really have to come like that?  Go all the way up just to go all the way back down?  The 13th hole kicks off a three hole stretch that I can only describe as being absolutely evil.  The 13th is only a 100 yards, but it plays up the hill to a tiny green that is nearly impossible to hold.  It was even worse back in my junior golf days, when they had it playing 65 yards, and even more uphill.  It was literally impossible to the green then, now it's just very difficult.  The 14th is a short par 5 that doglegs sharply to the right.  There's out of bounds left, and the hole turns at about 250 yards, so you can't really use a driver.  Fair enough, but you have to get the ball about 250 to have even a reasonable look at a layup, which means you're trying to hit almost onto the road.  If you go right, the trees are thick and basically impenetrable, so it'll take at least one pitch shot just to get back to the fairway.  I've seen multiple double digits on that hole.  But the final hole in this stretch is the most evil.  It's just a 170 yard par 3, but the green is sloped so much that any putt from above the hole is going to run all the way down to the front.  Unless you make it, which is possible, I guess, but not likely.  So it's a one putt or three putt situation.  Four putts or worse are a fact of life.

The view from the last hole.

The final hole concludes the round in fitting fashion.  There's a lot of trees, some of which in odd locations, the drive is blind if you go more than 150 yards, and golf balls disappear for no good reason.  I guess the second shot is okay.  I can't really say I recommend the place, there's far less frustrating places to play a round for cheap.  It's obvious the place was built to be as non-intrusive as possible, so if you like to be surrounded by nature while you play, it's not bad.  It might be worth the play just because it is a bit of an adventure, a really unrefined golf experience.  I doubt you'd find any country club types here.  So, Caledonia Golf Course, I really, really don't like it, but that doesn't mean everyone has too.