interesting people when you play golf.
So, today, my son and I were invited to play with another father and son at a course about an hour north of where we're staying.
On the way up I-95 there was a horrific accident involving a tractor trailor and a car, which backed traffic up for miles and made us late for our 9:00 meeting..
The car was reduced to about the size of a big golf cart and charred severely, it was a sobering drive by.
So we arrive at the club and are told that our hosts are at the north end of the practice tee.
We join them and I'm about to start hitting balls when I realize that a pretty strong wind is at our back, so, I tell my host that we're going to the south end, to hit into the wind. So, we drive to the south end, and the tee is more crowded. It's also pretty shady at the south tee with just one or two areas where the sun is shining at the eastern end, so I opt for the next to the last space where the sun is.
There's a guy next to me, with a big bag, silver and grey/white, and he appears to be taking a lesson as one of the pros is behind him and offering advice on every swing. I don't pay much attention as I start my practice routine. I line up a yellow rod at one of the flags in the practice range, and begin with my L-Wedge, S-Wedge, P-Wedge, 7-iron, 4-iron then back to my L-wedges.
As I'm hitting balls, I'm not eaves dropping, but, I can hear the pro adjusting alignment and exchanging swing thoughts.
The guy has a pretty good swing, full and powerful, finishing with this hands behind his left ear.
I figure the guys a .com or Nike tour guy trying to hone his game.
Every now and then I look over and watch the guy hit drivers into a strong wind.
I'm impressed.
Then he begins hitting 7-irons and again, the flight into the wind is impressive.
I'm thinking, boy, this guy is one hell of a ball striker, and like Willie Wood the day before, the wind doesn't seem to phase him.
So, I'm winding down my routine, hitting little 10 yard L-wedge shots when it dawns on me that I've seen that swing before.
That I've seen it up close and personal.
Yep, it's Tiger Woods.
So, I wait until he takes a break and approach him.
Shake hands and tell him that I have some wonderful pictures of he and his dad taken in 1996 when he was playing in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock. He's enthused. I tell him that there's only one blemish in the picture. He says, "what's that ?". I say, "me, I'm seated on the couch between the two of you" He laughs, I tell him that I know how special his dad was to him and that my dad was special to me and that I'll send him the pictures. I remind him of the day we spent together at NGLA and at my friend's house for dinner that night and that he almost listened to all of the advice I gave him, not about golf, but, about life. He laughs again and tells me where to send the picture.
My son comes over and I introduce him.
We then start to drive to the first tee, and who's on the western end but Jesper Parnevik and his daughter.
I had played with him right before the Ryder Cup at TCC and was intriqued by his practice routine where he placed a ball under his right foot and drew everything, irrespective of the direction and velocity of the wind.
Now, my son and I and our Father-son hosts are about to tee off on # 1 when Tiger drives up.
Our host asks him if he wants to go through. He says, "thanks, but he's going to play the back nine"
I then tell him, "hey, we're fast players, we're going to want to go through you on # 16".
He laughs and says, "I like that"
Our match was my friend and I against our two sons.
They start out strong, then we erode their lead and go one up when I birdie # 12, they even the match on # 15, when the other boy makes a great 4 for 3 to my 4. On 16 my son makes an 8 footer for a par to halve the hole and on # 17 they have the hole, making us all even as we tee off on # 18. As much as I would have liked to have seen them beat us, we won # 18.
When we were having lunch the Head Pro stopped by.
A dozen years ago I was in contention in their member-guest when his staff posted the wrong score for us.
I caught the error and kidded him and his staff about their inability to add.
The next week I shipped them six (6) huge calculators along with a personal note stating that since they couldn't add, individually or collectively, I thought that they would put the calculators to good use.
So, when he stopped by to say "hello" he said, "you know, I still have that big calculator in my office"
It was another wonderful experience for my son.
He got to play a difficult course that he had never played before and he met some of the icons in golf, at the National and local level.
Tomorrow, another round with my son and I can't wait to see what the day has in store for us.
I'm sure that we'll meet more nice and interesting people.