On Feb 22, 2003 I officially became a baby member of GCA. In those ten years I have had 3126 posts, begun 260 topics and spent a staggering 24 days, 12 hours and 31 minutes on line. I am not certain but I don't think I have spent much more time than that preparing sermons. I contributed one In My Opinion piece on Musgrove Mill GC.
I have learned so much from all of you. I have not met as many of you as I had hoped but maybe that will change when I retire next year. It was my privilege to host Mark Rowlinson's son Giles for a week and play golf with both Mark, his sons, and Sean Arble when I was in England for speaking engagements.
I have played with half a dozen or so with you in the sates and it was nice to put a face with the name. You have always treated me with kindness and grace, even when I showed my ignorance of the topic. I discovered that sometime we think we understand stuff when we really don't.
In some ways I am a better person because of you and want to thank you for allowing me to be part of your little group of golf nuts. Whale I was a kid I was going down a bad road. My Dad bought golf clubs for me and told me to go and play. The pros at Fort Meade MD, Carl Rasnic, Bill Sporre, and Lou Graham took me under their wing and straightened me out. I remember bringing a broken Spaulding 3 1/2 wood into the pro shop. When Mr. Rasnic saw the club he banned me from the course for two weeks. Dad said I was lucky he would have banned me for a month. Golf has always been an important part of my life and am honored to share a lot of that with you.
Thank you very much,
Tommy