DEER PARK, TX — What is it with people and golf?
A photo taken at the Battleground Golf Course in Deer Park, Texas, shows golfers on the driving range calmly swinging away against a backdrop of black smoke from a petrochemical facility fire nearby.
That fire at Intercontinental Terminals Company was extinguished early Wednesday — a day after the photo was taken. Some schools in the area closed and people were told to shelter in place when the flames first broke out.
Perhaps the golfers’ nonchalance is because the region is dotted with chemical plants and refineries and is no stranger to fires and explosions.
Or it could be that golfers are a special, passionate breed.
We saw it last year in Hawaii’s Big Island when golfers coolly hit the links even as a monstrous ash plume from the Kilauea volcano loomed behind them.
And we saw it during the Eagle Creek fire near Portland, Oregon. Even as the blaze encroached on the nearby Beacon Rock Golf Course, things didn’t exactly grind to a halt.
Or maybe golfers just live by the motto attributed to the legendary Sam Snead: “Of all the hazards, fear is the worst.”
