This all begins in the early 1960’s in Springfield, New Jersey (home of the fabled Baltusrol Golf Course…more on my experiences as a caddy at Baltusrol at a later date) hitting tired golf balls with out of sequence, mismatched clubs (a Wilson four-iron, a Spaulding seven-iron, a Walter Hagan nine-iron, a wooden MacGregor driver and a Shakespeare putter) from foul pole to foul pole at Washington Street Park. The principle objective was to avoid putting out a window of my home or, worse yet, the neighbor’s home as my dad would make me ring the doorbell, hat in hand apologizing for my actions and subsequently paying for the window. Not that that EVER happened!
I have played most sports throughout my life with a reasonable amount of success however there is one sport that continues to be my nemesis: the most annoying, frustrating, exhilarating, stimulating sport of all…golf. To this day, there are few things in my life that bring more heartache than a bad round of golf or more joy than a solid round of golf. How sad is that?
I have been fortunate to have played the likes of Merion, Whistling Straits, Pine Valley, Pebble Beach, Spanish Bay, Spyglass Hill, Baltusrol, Harbour Town, Latrobe, Saucon Valley, Aronimink, Caves Valley and Sea Island. I have had just as much fun playing Galloping Hills Golf Course in Kenilworth, New Jersey as a youngster or the Highlands of Donegal in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania every Saturday morning with a great friend as an adult (both public courses).
So, what is the purpose of this communication and subsequent articles? My plan is to relive personal experiences, share the worst shots of my life (hint: one involved a dead pull off the tee box, a pool tarp and a ball with my company’s logo), share my paralyzing swing thoughts, sort out our handicap system, evaluate single length golf clubs, share conversations with club pros, caddies, superintendents, rules officials and fellow golf fanatics on various compelling/life changing topics and laugh at myself in the process.
Grab your bag, let’s go for a walk.
The back nine can only get better!