I have been anticipating this post from Matthew this week, after Matthew had IM'd me of the news. I knew that an impressive obituary would be written of such a fine man and that as a great Melbournian golfer and sportsman himself, "our man in Melbourne" Matty, would disseminate the sad news when appropriate.
Whilst I did not really know Paul Rak for more than a few hours, he left me with the overwhelming feeling that I had been in the company of a very special person. And, I'd like to tell you why:
Thanks to the introduction by Tom Doak to Mr. Rak, I was able to have an experience I had only dreamed of, as my golfing era most desired bucket list fulfillment - a round at the storied and glorious Royal Melbourne. When our own State citizen Steve Stricker won there early in his career, and our own City of Madison resident and my contemporary with several mutual friends, Andy North doing commentary that week, watching what I already had as my top desired golf course and architectural interest was even more heightened in interest.
Thus, I had a rather early 7; 30Am tee time at Royal Melbourne on a Sunday, with the great man, Mr. Rak. What was even more special and serendipitous was that the Saturday night before the treasured tee time, I had intended to get to bed early in order to be fresh for this long awaited moment. I must digress to explain that my wife and I got caught in the "White Night" festival crowd of 500,000 revelers, after purposely avoiding the CBD and going to St. Kilda's near the beach for dinner. We then got on what we thought was the trolley back to our hotel, and it was instead a direct non-stop right to the heart of the CBD and the throngs of people. Well, since we were there, and my wife is a geezer rocker as it is, we wandered about the various stages spread out all over the CBD and I DIDN'T GET BACK TO HOTEL AND SOME SLEEP UNTIL 2AM!!!
Blurry eyed, I had my cab ride to Royal Melbourne, needing to explain to the Greek immigrant driver what Royal Melbourne was! I actually made it with about 15 minutes to spare, and was literally greeted by the waiting Mr. Rak at the car port with the described vise grip hand shake, which at that moment I didn't know if it was an Aussie sort of manner to impress you of great strength, or just his enthusiastic way. Obviously the later I soon found out. He apologized that I didn't have much time to warm up, and showed me to a locker, and off we went to the first tee on the East course. He again seemed apologetic in that the West MacKenzie course was occupied all day with the club championship last day of competition matches. And, explained that he himself had to officiate as the walking rules official with the final group in the 4th flight later in the day. Yet, there we were on a sparkling morning that was apparent to be a warm lovely day, he with a pull trolley, and I slung bag on shoulder. He explained all the features as we walked, with my early in the round emotions a bit frayed that I wouldn't embarrass myself with lousy play during this one in a million invitation to play with the CEO of the storied club, and weary of the lack of sleep.
But, Paul put me at easy within minutes of our opening shots, and like a favorite professor's manner began to point out the features we were encountering. I am so happy I have some photos of Paul during our round.
I played about the same as my round I also had at Kingston with Matt and David Elvins; not too well for somewhat the excuse it was after all, my mid-winter from the frozen tundra of the Northern hemisphere!
But, here is where my experience really demonstrates the measure of Paul Rak's enormous capacity to offer Australian hospitality, unparalleled I'm sure. During the round I continued to get more familiar with Paul's gentlemanly manner (much like the feeling one gets when playing with our other esteemed GCA.com colleague Bob Huntley). After we finished, Paul told me I could freshen up and meet him at his motor cart, where he could at least take me through the West course as the championship rounds were already underway, and he would explain Tom Doak's recent work there and I could see in person the astonishing craftsmanship of the MacKenzie bunkering, features of routing, and the maintenance presentation of the course. Luckily, I videotaped it all and was able to save it on the memory chip prior to the loss of my camera in New Zealand weeks later. We even ‘played through’ Matthew’s very own 4some as they were on a tee of one of the early holes of the round.
After the very thorough tour of the course, we returned to the club house where Paul said he still had some time before his match to officiate, and offered a tour of the club house and facility. As he showed me the usual club house features, having grown up in an Italian restaurant family, I asked him about the facilities and equipment in the ‘back of the house’ to see how they put out large banquets and such. He seemed to light up that I was quite interested in that sort of thing. And, so we looked at all the kitchen equipment and the traffic pattern that the kitchen personnel had to ‘cope with’ as the scope of the kitchen there is rather modest for what one might expect of such a large facility. We got right down to the ‘dishwashing procedures’ - which I would gladly be the official Royal Melbourne dishwasher for the chance to be there every day!!!
Paul showed me several photos he was very proud of including when just weeks prior to my visit, Adam Scott came back with his “Green Jacket” to speak to the members and regale them with the “Masters” story of how he won.
Next, Paul took me upstairs to the offices an into his inner sanctum office on the second floor overlooking ‘aeideen’ East. He then pronounced as we looked over the course from his large picture window behind his desk, that he had ‘the best office in the world’. Who would disagree?
And then something happened that was so generous and yet became one of my real embarrassments of hosted special golf opportunities I have been lucky enough to enjoy through the years. Paul took out an official “Club History” book of Royal Melbourne, coffee table size and beautifully bound, perhaps two inches thick and 6-7 pounds weight with photos and historic documentary copies, as a remembrance of my visit. I was just humbled and thankful to my very weary bones. I offered him one of the Green Bay Packer golf hats I brought on the trip down under for souvenirs for my Aussie friends, and a couple other knick-nacks and then it was time for Paul to go to officiate, and he called a cab for me to meet at the portico. And that is the last I saw of Paul Rak except on some clips on YouTube from a golf travel documentary posted there.
By this time, the effects of no sleep were really hitting me. As I waited for the cab, I hit the pro-shop for some souvenirs. I placed the grand book alongside my golf clubs and shoes, stacked up just outside the pro-shop door, and proceeded to purchase the swag to take away. Then, someone came in to page me that the cab was there rather unexpectedly quickly. I grabbed my shoes and managed my ‘swag bag ‘ of goodies, into the cab, hoping I would not have to guide this cabby back to my hotel as I had no idea how to get back, and it was off we went. I got to the hotel room, knowing that my wife was down in the CBD observing the aftermath of ‘White Night’ and greedily embraced the bed to catch up on the lost sleep and settle from the emotion of the great day. As I began to slip into sleep recalling the events of the day, it hit me like a banana cream pie in the face. I had apparently left behind the grand book and present from Paul at the portico of the clubhouse. I immediately called, but of course Paul was on the course with his duties. I called the next day and was connected to him, where I told him that I was so embarrassed by leaving the book behind, and to please not take it as some sort of slight, because I was deeply humbled by the grand gesture. He assured me he understood, and the book was recovered. He offered to ship it to my home. I thought at the time, too much rigmarole and expense for the gentleman that had already given so much of his time to be such a grand host. I suggested he might consider offering it to some young lad golfer or course worker who took an interest in golf course architecture. He said that would be fine.
We exchanged a Christmas greeting last year. I explained to him that at that time, I had been hit with a neurological disease that was quite intense in symptoms and perhaps I would not ever have another chance to experience the great time I had in Melbourne, but I was so thankful for his time and efforts to make that trip so memorable. He said, ‘no worries’ in a message. But during all of this, I had no idea that Paul himself had any ailment or disease. He was the picture of vigor and enthusiasm during that day I had to observe him. Great guys like that don’t whine, or make you uncomfortable, nor seek sympathy for their misfortune. Yup, Paul Rak was a mighty fine gentleman. RIP