My Father ...

[Mike Hendren]

Taught me how to grip a golf club.

Always bought me leather Foot-Joys on a Red Goose budget.

Took me on golf trips with his friends.

Stayed in the clubhouse because he was too nervous to follow my playoff for the club championship.

Made sure I only threw a club once.

Gave me a dozen Titleists, each wrapped with a $10 bill for Christmas when I was in college.

Was not impressed that I walked Cypress Point.

Took me to every round of the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic (and made sure Mom packed the country ham, biscuits and fried chicken).

Talked Mason Rudolph's brother out of an Amana baseball cap for me.
 
Would buy three pairs of beige double-knit Sans-A-Belt trousers at a time if the price was right.  

Please post your list.

For all you fathers out there, remember:  God loves us through our children.

Happy Fathers Day.

Mike

[Rick Shefchik]

My father once made the championship flight of the Northland Invitational (when I was too young to know or care), and never played another round that well again. I am a better player than he was, but I have not yet made the championship flight at the Northland Invitational. Still trying.

My father was a long hitter and a beautiful putter, but the last shot I remember seeing him hit during his golfing days was a skulled chip that sailed across the first hole at Northland and disappeared down into the creek ravine. He was the first person I knew who had the chipping yips.

My father shattered his ankle in a fall from a ladder in 1963 and never really played golf after that. We missed many, many rounds together because of that injury.

My father used to come out every year and watch me hit my tee shot on #1 during Invitational qualifying day at Northland. I don't think I ever hit a bad drive when he was watching.

My father and I spent our last day together watching last year's U.S. Open on Father's Day. He had been in poor health for years, and died suddenly on July 5, the same day another war hero -- Ted Williams -- died.

My father was a very honest and gentle man. I strive to be like him.

[noonan]

My father tought me the great game of golf.

He tought me the proper etiquitte of the game that was is lacking today.

We played every Saturday and Sunday all summer long.

We spent our vacations on the course.

He is here watching the Open with me.

My mother passed 3 months ago.

If your father is still with you......make sure you spend time with him.

JK

[Dan Herrmann]

Amen!  My dad brought me to golf when I was 17.  Thank god for him - if he didn't do so, I'd be bowling!

[noonan]

Amen!  My dad brought me to golf when I was 17.  Thank god for him - if he didn't do so, I'd be bowling!

Hey now...............there is nothing wrong with bowling!

You can make $ as an amateur bowling.

JK

[Jeff_Brauer]

I remember:

Dad going to golf on a misty day and wearing a jaunty Hogan type cap...

Him taking a day off from work to play 18 holes on an uncrowded course with me...he played a ball that bounced off our car from nearby Rolling Hills CC, while we were on our way to Rob Roy....

Him telling me how he played the great Canterbury near Cleveland once....

Having Wilson Sam Snead clubs, and the Sam Snead instruction book.  He was thrilled when I later met Sam Snead

Buying me a Wilson Patty Berg set for my first clubs....

Buying me "PO_DO" golf balls at Walgreens for my first new golf balls....

Buying me MacGregor MT Tourney for my first men's set ($250 in a small shop on Oakton in Skokie)  I later sold them to Jim Blaukovitch (another architect who looks in here) sans the 8 iron, which I somehow lost.....they are still in part time/emergency service according to Jim

Buying me a custom set of clubs when graduating from college...

Listening patiently to my "hole by hole accounts" of my latest round...

Refusing to join Medinah, like my neighbors, calling it "financially irresponsible"

Looking at other clubs, but never joining....

Skying a tee shot, and passing the ball, saying "I know I hit it farther than this" when I started outdriving him....

Pretty much quitting when I started beating him.....

Telling me, at age 12, when I proudly announced my intention to be a golf course architect, to consider a "job where you use your brains....."

Not long after, he sent for all the info on architecture then available from ASGCA and NGF.....

Always stopping for lunch between nines, driving me crazy....

After I got hit with a ball at Mt. Prospect Muni, and the ranger asked where was I hit, he replied "The sixth hole"...

For the life of me, I don't know why I remember these particular snipets, but thank Mike for the opportunity to remember them!

[Forrest Richardson]

...pointed out, for the first time I recall ever even thinking about a green fee, that golf costs about $1 per hole...this was at The Boulders in Arizona back in the 1970s...$18 including cart for 18-holes.

[ForkaB]

My father passed away before I became a father too.

Spending a week alone with him at my home a year or two before his death was priceless to me.  For those of you who still have Dads, don't make excuses about spending more time with him--just do it!

For me, today is less about remembering my father than it is trying to recommmit myself to being as best a father as I can be to my two girls.  Father's Day is a celebration of and for children.  For those of you lucky enough to have children, be as good a father as you can be.

[Forrest Richardson]

Here, here.

[tonyt]

My father showed me how to conduct myself as a person on the golf course.

My father instilled in me a respect for the golf club and it's members.

My father has never ever spoken about the days when he was the best player of his brothers, including one who went on to represent Australia and win two State Amateur Championships.

My father bought me all my early equipment, and supported me when I wanted to play all weekend long.

My father was as relaxed, warm and unfazed immediately after I was blown away in a club championship final as he was the whole week before it.

My father still smiles when he sees me happy from playing golf.

[Don_Mahaffey]

When I started my first superintendent job at a low budget course in central AZ, my father called and asked if I needed any help. He'd just retired from law enforcement after 30 years and I guess he was restless. He ended up staying on with me for 2 years and I can't imagine what those years would have been like without him. He spent countless nights driving the course with his spotlight watching irrigation run until he got the system running perfectly.

Today, I own my own course and the stress is definitly high. I'm working dawn to dusk 7 days a week, and with no hope of a family vacation this summer, my family has headed up to Michigan so at least the kids can enjoy their summer. A couple of days after they left, my father showed up at my door after a two day drive halfway across the country. He's still here, keeping me sane and for the first time in years I get to spend fathers day with him. Some things truly are priceless.

Happy fathers day to all you dads out there.

[ian]

......loved and respected the game and taught me to do the same

[Mike Hendren]

Sheesh!  Elin's Rack "tops" Father's Day tribute.  Sad but true.

Regards,

Mike