Golf Course Memories - A bit OT but not much

[Bill_McBride]

Last year Dick Daley started a thread about playing golf during the fall when college football is going on, and Lou Duran posted a lovely memory about a day on the Ohio State Scarlet course:

"Back when I was a student at Ohio State and it was the Big Two and the Little Eight, I used to go to about half of the games, opting instead to play golf even in marginal weather.  Typically, by noon, the Scarlet course would be wide open.  I still remember one early fall afternoon, 45* or so, sunny, a little wind, the course to myself.  Walking up on the right side to #12 green, as I am half-way up the hill, a big cock pheasant flushes from a small clump of natives.  I have no idea whether I played well that day, but more than 30 years later that scene is still clear in my mind.  I love golf in the fall, lost balls, leaf rules, and all."

That reminded me of a day I was playing one late fall day on a course whose name I can't recall outside Toronto, in October for sure because the Blue Jays were in the World Series at the time. 

I will never forget a moment late that afternoon as we hustled along to finish before night fell.  We were walking up to the 17th green, which had a forest to the right and a lovely little pond right in front of the green.  Suddenly there was the noise of honking from the sky, and a squadron of big Canadian geese came in for a landing on the pond.  What a moment and what a memory, that's been years ago and I can still picture the perfect landing as if it were yesterday.

Any other memories from days on the golf course that stick in your mind like that?

[Jerry Kluger]

Bill: for those of us who don't live in Florida the only thing a flock of Canadian geese remind us is to watch where we walk and play lift - preferably with a towel, clean and place.  Jerry

[Bill_McBride]

Bill: for those of us who don't live in Florida the only thing a flock of Canadian geese remind us is to watch where we walk and play lift - preferably with a towel, clean and place.  Jerry

That's why border collies were invented!



Go to the half way point of this video to see Willie in action!

http://www.rideausheepbreeders.com/goose%20dog%20pics/nickpicart.jpg

[Peter Pallotta]

My most recent one, Bill, just this past Tuesday:

Playing The Mines with Joe Hancock on a lovely late summer afternoon, watching him put together a 36 on the back nine (that included one of the very best 3 woods I've ever seen hit in my life -- from an uphill lie, 240-250 yards, a little fade that tracked straight at the flag and landed like a sleepy butterfly, stopping about 6 feet away for eagle) and making it all look effortless.  And as we approached the 17 green, behind us I heard a sound and watched a young deer crossing the fairway heading towards the woods, and it stopped peacefully for a while and looked at us and Joe warned it not to go near the highway, and then when we turned back Joe pointed out mother and sibling deer standing on the ridge, watching the little one.

Lovely. And made me forget I was playing like a goat (and, worse, for some reason rushing all my shots and through the round when there was no reason too -- all the talk around here about slow play must have gotten in my head...)

Peter  

[Tim Bert]

While it is still too fresh in my mind to be a "memory" I don't think I will ever forget the brisk evening walk Jim Colton and I took around the front nine at Ballyneal following a severe front.  After the storm calmed, we opted to go back out armed with cameras instead of sticks.

Vibrant rainbow, shadows, and spectacular sunset on a great golf course - What else do you need?  I suppose some first tee star-gazing in a pitch black sky.  Oh, wait, we got that after dinner!

[Bill_McBride]

i was playing last weekend in the North Carolina mountains and there were deer on the golf course.  There's something about golf courses and deer that go together like golf courses and airports.

[Bill Brightly]

When I was 17 I took my girlfriend to the course where I caddied,  it was a little after midinght, we were so afraid of getting caught...

Wait, I am on the wrong website for this story...

[Lou_Duran]

Many come to mind.  One has a certain aforementioned Div. I player aiming way, way right over a dune on the DLR #8 at my favorite golf course, and hitting a monster hook back to the very narrow part of the fairway within a stone's throw away from the elevated green (I am not sure he hit the green in regulation).

Another is off the course much later that day, on the highway, the same guy is being ferried by our host at another world-class club, me driving a rental car back to the airport speeding so as to not miss my flight (which I did), he and the host in a Porsche Carrera Cabriolet, top down, clubs potruding vertically from the small backseat, enroute to a night of frolick in my favorite city in the world.

A third, on another day, is watching one of the world's greatest guys walking closely with his friend, our host at the aformentioned favorite course of mine, greatly enjoying each other's company.  I remember commenting to our fourth that though we were all playing well below our potential, that this is what golf is all about (I think he agreed, though I did take a couple of bets from him that day).  

[Mike_Young]

I remember one nite on Highlands Golf Club in Conyers, Ga May12th, 1968.  we were in the pond around midnite...6 of us getting golf balls and a flying saucer landed in the middle of 5 fairway about 150 yards from us.....never made a sounds..and it sat there........we all saw it....bout 15 ft diameter/green/and about 2 feet high....

[Anthony Gray]

I remember one nite on Highlands Golf Club in Conyers, Ga May12th, 1968.  we were in the pond around midnite...6 of us getting golf balls and a flying saucer landed in the middle of 5 fairway about 150 yards from us.....never made a sounds..and it sat there........we all saw it....bout 15 ft diameter/green/and about 2 feet high....

  Mike,

  I didn't know you knew my dad.

  Anthony

[Mike_Young]

Anthony,
Was his name Jerry? 
This really happened.....we watched it land from the sky..thinking initially that it was a light on top of the ATT tower a few hundred yards away.....we finallt al got in my 1963 Biscayne chevrolet and got out of there....and it was still sitting in the fairway....
And Jerry Gray was one of the guys in the back seat....would now be 58 years old.....

[Dan Kelly]

Lovely.

Yes.

I wonder which you'll remember longer: Joe's sleepy-butterfly 3-wood, or his warning to the deer.

I wonder which he'll remember longer.

I'll try to remember both -- though, alas, I was there for neither.

Thanks.

Dan

P.S. Oh, and by the way: It's taking all of my considerable self-restraint not to note that those big winged crap generators are not "Canadian geese"; they're "Canada geese." Either way, I blame you and your countrymen.

[Lou_Duran]

Watching the host at my favorite modern course assemble his seven guests on the first tee where he launched the ceremonial first drive.  It was readily apparent that he was as excited about our time together on this wonderful course as any of the fortunate recipients of his generosity.  Not being able to sleep, getting up before daylight and being invited into the kitchen by the chef to pour my own coffee, followed by having the course to myself at dawn for an hour of photography.   

[Doug Ralston]

We went out on 'The Grande' in S MI at 6:30AM. We were in a nature preserve, I think, not a golf course. I saw countless deer, playing fawns, birds of all descriptions, including what was either a very large hawk of an eagle patrolling noiselessly above. All I could hear were natural sounds, and it was 60 degrees and peace was everywhere. The feeling persisted through that round. I knew then why golf is trancendant as an activity, not just a sport. The World is laid across your experience in a way few other activities can.

Many experiences similar and quite different I have had. Laughs with friends and struggles with the game. I love golf courses even more than I love golf.

Doug

[Tim Bert]

My 6-yr old son created a magical memory this afternoon.  One that will not soon be forgotten by this dad.

We went out to play nine holes this afternoon to kick off the long weekend.  When I take along my youngest son (2 1/2) as I did today, I don't take any clubs for myself.  I just walk along, encourage my oldest, and herd the youngest.  We have one swing thought for now - "keep your feet still when you swing" - otherwise he likes to do a little five step dance while he is swinging.

He's been busting a few good ones this summer - a 60 yard drive here and there mixed in with the less impressive efforts.  He enjoys getting out and it is fun watching his swing come along naturally.

Today, "Poppie" (my father-in-law) joined us.  He is not a golfer, but he's my boys' favorite person on Earth.  As a result, my son was a little less focused on his golfing today and a little more focused on hanging out with Poppie.  He had an occasional good hit, but mostly he was all over the place.  On the 5th hole, I'm pretty sure he 8-putted from 10 feet (he was playing as a single and we were right on the group in front of us and no one was behind us on this late afternoon for all of you concerned about pace of play!!)

We get to the 6th tee - a hole that plays 151 from the front tee according to the card, but was probably only playing 130 today.  It is "par 5" for Juniors.  Obviously the pars on this course are irrelevant, though we have been using them for fun to teach him what bogey, double bogey, etc mean.  He has never had anything better than a bogey, even using the Junior par.

He rips his drive 72 yards, not that I'm counting.  OK, I am counting because he likes to ask how far he hit it and we're trying to make this fun, right?  He pulls out his little hybrid and smacks it up on the green to about 7 feet.  I was dumb-founded.  He had been on one of the shorter holes in two before but was nowhere near the pin, and usually a good hole for him is getting on the green in three or four.  Then the putting kicks in and we often stop counting!  He's never made better than a 5 on any hole.

He walks up to the ball and lines it up (no cheater line and no belly putter.)  I pointed about 4 inches above the hole and said "try to hit it right here."  He hits the most beautiful putt I've ever seen him strike.  Perfect pace, it takes the break, and falls in for an "eagle" three.  So much for teaching him about par and birdie.

I realize this wasn't really an "eagle."  But boy was this something special.  The look on his face when he made that putt was priceless.  Poppie has been talking about the event that will be forever known in this household as "the eagle" all night long.  I'm sure many of you have lived through this moment before, but I thought I'd share what instantly became my all-time favorite memory on a golf course.   
     
So much for vibrant rainbows and walking Ballyneal with Jim Colton after a violent storm.   

[Bill_McBride]

Great story Tim.  There are few things more fun than golf with the kids. I still enjoying playing a match against son David who is now 38.  (He gives me 4 a side of course!)

I'll never forget the first time I took him out on a real course.  He was a bit older, 10, and a good baseball player, so it wasn't a huge surprise when he knocked a driver right into the middle of the green on the first par 3, a 150 yarder!     Enjoy it while you can.  I'll bet the 2-1/2 year old is paying serious attention too!

[Tim Bert]

Great story Tim.  There are few things more fun than golf with the kids. I still enjoying playing a match against son David who is now 38.  (He gives me 4 a side of course!)

I'll never forget the first time I took him out on a real course.  He was a bit older, 10, and a good baseball player, so it wasn't a huge surprise when he knocked a driver right into the middle of the green on the first par 3, a 150 yarder!     Enjoy it while you can.  I'll bet the 2-1/2 year old is paying serious attention too!

Bill - I bet it is challenging to beat you with 8 strokes when you shoot those 79s!  I hope you give him all his money back in the form of birthday gifts.

 

[Bill_McBride]

Great story Tim.  There are few things more fun than golf with the kids. I still enjoying playing a match against son David who is now 38.  (He gives me 4 a side of course!)

I'll never forget the first time I took him out on a real course.  He was a bit older, 10, and a good baseball player, so it wasn't a huge surprise when he knocked a driver right into the middle of the green on the first par 3, a 150 yarder!     Enjoy it while you can.  I'll bet the 2-1/2 year old is paying serious attention too!

Bill - I bet it is challenging to beat you with 8 strokes when you shoot those 79s!  I hope you give him all his money back in the form of birthday gifts.
 

Last spring we played in Houston where he lives now, on Jeff Brauer's very good course, the Wilderness.  He dusted me 71-83 but somehow I squared the match by chipping in on 18!

As you saw the next day at Pasa, I don't have many of those 79s!

[Brian Laurent]

I'll always remember the many evenings where dad and I would walk out the back door and play a three hole loop on the Grace Course (Saucon Valley).  Learned quite a bit during those rounds. 

Another moment on the golf course I will never forget is playing in my first collegiate event.  First round of the Kepler at OSU on the second hole...my future wife is standing right in the middle of the fairway while we're trying to play the hole.  It was her first time on a golf course and she had no idea where to stand.  Fortunately, my mother made it out shortly after and was able to guide her around the course. 

[Anthony Gray]

  Bill,

  I like the spirit behind this thread. I greatly enjoy taking a cart around the course in the evening with my wife and two year old. What a peaceful place. My daughter loves the wildlife and it is wonderful family time.

  Anthony

[Marty Bonnar]

Last summer I managed to arrange 9 Tornados out of Leuchars to overfly me and Principal Dodd as we played the Eden course in St Andrews. The boys done me proud as they formed the 'Diamond-9'

   v
 v  v
v  v  v
 v  v
   v

over the ninth fairway as we played it. Thanks the RAF!

Co-incidentally the same day was the Queen's birthday. Lucky for her I had arranged the fly-past then...

FBD.

[Will MacEwen]

  Bill,

  I like the spirit behind this thread. I greatly enjoy taking a cart around the course in the evening with my wife and two year old. What a peaceful place. My daughter loves the wildlife and it is wonderful family time.

  Anthony

While my six year old was in a golf camp one evening this summer, my wife pushed our baby in the stroller and we walked a few holes. 

[Bradley Anderson]

I am not that good a golfer, but there was one round where I actually had a hole in one.

My father was a great golfer who had a passion for the game. Well I cell phoned him after I retrieved my ball and told him that I had just had a hole in one. He was suffering at the time from Alzheimers disease, and by this point he was really unable to understand anything that you tried to communicate to him. But he asked me what club I hit, and the yardage of the hole, and he congratulated me.

That was the last "normal" conversation we had. It was like a double gift. I can't imagine that any golf memory, for me, will ever top that one.

[Bradley Anderson]

Mike,

Are you sure that wasn't a Robert Bruce Harris bunker?

[Bill_McBride]

Last summer I managed to arrange 9 Tornados out of Leuchars to overfly me and Principal Dodd as we played the Eden course in St Andrews. The boys done me proud as they formed the 'Diamond-9'

   v
 v  v
v  v  v
 v  v
   v

over the ninth fairway as we played it. Thanks the RAF!

Co-incidentally the same day was the Queen's birthday. Lucky for her I had arranged the fly-past then...

FBD.

You are indeed DA MAN!!