My shining moment on the links.
My blog buddies here, there and everywhere know how much I love the game of golf. And, it is a game. I frequently remind playing partners (and myself) that it’s only a game. That’s good therapy after a bad shot. I hit one or two of those every year. Sometimes three if I am having an off year.
Something I always enjoy is watching historic golf – great competitions on great courses between great players. Thank you ESPN for sharing those times. Hogan, Nicklaus, Watson, Palmer, Player – guys who actually play a different game than those of us who are just wannabes. Man, were those guys good.
Golfers tend to find opportunities to play in the same events year-after-year. College reunions, charity events, client outings and so forth. Thus it was that I played in the Cleveland Cavaliers Charity Golf Outing for many years. As you can imagine, there were lots of tall people at these events. And lots of highly visible people with one connection or another to the Cavaliers. The great broadcaster, Joe Tait, was always there, along Lil’ John Rinaldi of Big Chuck and Lil’ John renown. The two of them conducted the charity auction after dinner and their banter back and forth raised a lot of money for good causes.
You might think that professional athletes are reasonably good at all sports, not just the sport that pays their bills. I am here to tell you this is not true. There were always some NFL players at the Cavs’ event. I recall one year playing with a large human being who was a defensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers. He hit a screaming line drive off the 17th tee that just happens to parallel Rte. 306. No point in yelling FORE when your ball is heading right into a line of cars coming up the hill. I waited for the awful sound of a collision and for glass to break. I don’t know how, but he missed every single car. I think his ball is still out there alongside the road waiting for somebody to find it and bring it back for some more pounding.
All of which gets me to my greatest moment in golf. And, now that I am an octogenarian, I think this qualifies for ESPN consideration as an historic golf vignette. It happened probably 20 years or more ago at the annual Cavs’ outing at Tanglewood Golf Course. That day I experienced what will go down in history as the proudest moment of my sporting life.
The second hole at Tanglewood is a real par 5 or, as I like to say, an adult par 5. It was the site of that year’s Long Drive Contest. As I stood on the tee, I was filled with pride thinking I was living the American Dream just a kid from a public school in New Jersey. Beautiful day. Beautiful golf course. Beautiful people. And, I was there. Wow!
Way down the fairway, I could see a small flag had been placed in the ground. It marked the spot where that day’s longest drive had ended up. Golfers are always asking for a line. That little marker was my line. I had no chance to reach it, but it was my target.
I teed it up and much to my total amazement my shot trickled a couple of feet past this marker signifying the longest drive of the day – not just by me, but by anyone. I couldn’t believe it, but I had just won the day’s long drive contest. Only when I reached the marker did I discover – much to my everlasting sorrow – that I had just won the Women’s Long Drive competition. The winning male shot was at least another 75 yards down the fairway.
I’m not sure this qualifies for ESPN Historic Golf, but it was my proudest moment ever on the links.
Fore!!!
DY: In Just a Few Words is a blog that comes out when something needs to be said or every Tuesday - whichever comes first. Davis Young is a communications professional who adds 50+ years of experience and perspective to issues of the day. His emphasis in DY: In Just a Few Words will be humor (a touch of sarcasm here, a pinch of facetiousness there...). Once in a while, he will touch on something a bit more serious - but hopefully not too deep or depressing.
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