OK, I will tell you a cool story about my one and only time playing the Garden City Mens Club.
Twenty-something years ago I had "The Arm" put on me to play in a golf outing charity fundraiser for a large client at Hollywood. This was my first time there, so it was not TOO bad. I got paired with Earl the Pearl Monroe, which was great, but it turned out to be SOOO sad. The guy was maybe 40 years old and had had double knee and double hip replacements. He could barely bend down to pick his ball up out of the hole. It got to the point where I rooted for him to miss so that I could scoop up his ball and say "that's good." He could only play nine holes. From that moment forward I never again begrudged a professional athlete for the salary they earn while playing...)
During the silent auction after golf, I noticed that a threesome + lunch at Garden City was available for a really low bid, so I bid it up it up a bit and won the bid.
As I was running through my mental roladex of buddies that I might invite to this special day
and share the cost... when my large client with a 30 something handicap came up to me and said: "That's awesome Bill, my brother and I would love to play there with you..."
I was so tempted to say "No way" but I quickly did the math on what I earned on his account and said "Great, I'll set it up! (GRRRRR!!!)
So the day came and we were playing with a GCMC member (who Pat will figure out) and we sat down for lunch. Now this happened to be a day or two before the Breeders Cup, and all these members came up to the guy with their betting sheets and started asking them questions. He said stuff like: "If it is a dry track, you want so and so in the 3rd race, and this horse if it is muddy, etc." This went on ALL lunch! And all the members took
written notes!
Now during the round, our host ran around talking to a shitload of tiny little golfers... You see, there were jockeys riding in the Breeders Cup all over the golf course... So our host chatted them up. Presumably, he wanted to make sure they were enjoying the course...
We set the match on the first tee. High handicap (my client) and low handicap (me, a 5) versus the host and my client's brother. The host set the Nassau bet, the highest that I have ever played for in my life by a large multiple! I was shocked. At the time I had three little kids and was wondering how I was gonna pay for their college. But I did the math again for this client... and decided that it was a legitimate business expense, so what the hell?
Those of you who know me will understand that I am a decent golfer but a better competitor. I guess the nervousness of the high stakes struck the right chemical balance in my brain, because I proceeded to have a dream trip. My partner played like crap, but I made so many pars that we were way up in the match. We came to the par five 17th with a few presses on, and I made birdie. For some stupid reason I glanced at my scorecard and realized that I was even par, a score that I had
never attained in my life! I walked up to the 18th hole and thought: "WTF, we finish with a Par 3? "
Then I took one look at the pond in front and overclubbed by at least one club and flew the green! I hit a nice pitch to 5 feet, and shaking like a leaf, drained the putt for 70!
We won a ton of cash, and as we had a drink afterwards, a whole new segment of the membership came up to the host for more Breeders Cup advice with pen and paper in hand... He answered their questions but he was in no mood for an extended post-round discussion.
We got shuffled out pretty quickly! On the car ride home, my partner told me me how the host muttered the whole round about "that f'ing sandbagger 5 handicap!" To this day, that remains the nicest compliment I have ever received!
70 remains my score best ever score, and I wonder if I need to leave well enough alone and not play GC again!