I may be an indifferent golfer, but all my life I have loved the game like a tour player and it has loved me back. It is the cement that kept my family together. I celebrate my life victories with golf. I welcome my friends new and old with golf. I comfort my pain with golf. I shared many miracles on the golf course, including my father's surviving a heart attack and quadruple bypass at the age of 78. I thanked the good Lord that day that I got to play with him again. Golf has been part of the fabric of my life since I could walk. I have played since I was three. When I die I want my ashes scattered at courses that have warmed my heart.
Top 10 courses to have my ashes scattered when I die.
1. National Golf Links of America - Still my favorite, and the cornerstone of all great GCA to me. The course where I came the closest to weeping with gratitude. Holy ground to me.
2. Bulls Bay - I remember when we did the course draft in October of '08 and I drafted Strantz with the 3rd overall pick people said, "too early," but twice when my life was in turmoil, going there put my heart at peace. I'm deeply grateful to call the Strantz family and Mike my friends, and cherish their mutual love and respect. They were kind to me when I was green and grateful. My first interview of any architect as a writer was Mike at Bulls Bay. I feel Mike's there every time I play, and my heart lifts and sings when I get to the car park. All the members feel the same way, and if you love Mike, it's a shrine to his memory.
3. Garden City - Being welcomed there to cover the Travis is an honor I look forward to each year. I love it as much as covering the Open, Masters, Ryder Cup, and PGA. It's a weekend in heaven, and I seem to write well each time. Plus they are the inspiration for my favorite poem that I wrote, Our Green and Gothic Home. I can't thank them enough for the honor of being of service to the club.
4. MPCC Shore Course (see Number 2)
5. Augusta National - My yearly trip there is every bit as moving as the time I met Pope John Paul II as a Trinity student.
6. Oakmont - My favorite major venue and a quintessential course in U.S. history. I fell in love with it almost as much as Nancy.
7. Pacific Dunes - A heavenly spot to be buried. Who could disagree?
8. Winged Foot West - Another golf time capsule and one where I felt the touch of the Golf Gods the day Phil fell out of the sky with an almighty crash. Terrible, but moving nonetheless. Covering that day was unforgettable.
9. Sawgrass - Playing there New Years Day is my second favorite way to spend New Years and was a tradition I still relish deeply.
10. Hiawatha Landing - My first membership and a place that is still dear to me. I placed 4th in the 2-day National Writers Tournament one year...when I could play...
Honorable Mentions:
Bethpage Black - Not really one of my faves but I must show it loyalty as it was my home course for ten years.
Black Mesa - A lovely view of heaven in the rugged wild of New Mexico. plus I can haunt Eddie Peck's ass:)
When I die, and St. Andrew hands my my clubs at the Pearly Gates, look for me at these places on a starry night, playing with the troops of angels bright, with all their inextinguishable light of halos wings and Holy Might. I know I'm no saint, but may God award my adamantine certainty of fighting for what is saintly by letting me spend eternity here with my beloved departed friends.
My next list...Top Ten Places to Propose marriage to your girl!