My dad is an avid golfer. He took up the sport as a relatively young man in his mid to late 20’s and he’s been playing ever since – a good 40 years. He’s not too bad. Not quite scratch, but a very low handicap. He’s now retired and, as you might guess, he spends a great deal of time with his sport. He’s a member of the greens committee at his local club and everything.
So last week he’s playing in his club’s tournament. It isn’t super-duper huge, but there’s some money and prizes to be won. His team came in third and got to split $250 dollars. He had also won an iPod Nano for something … closest to hole, I think.
Inculded in the tournament were separate chipping and putting contests. In the chipping contest he did pretty well and managed to snag and iPod Touch. The man was on a roll.
Then there was the putting contest. First he needed to qualify by being one of the few closest to the cup on a 30-foot putt. He qualified. Then there was the big enchilada … a 60 foot putt. He was the last to go, and all the others in front of him missed. He told me he was very nervous … there were at least 100 people gathered around watching. He went through his regular routine of lining it up, three practice swings to gage weight and scratching his left nut four times while chanting “nam myoho renge kyo”, or whatever it is he does.
He said he struck it as solidly and truly as he’d ever struck a putt. 60 feet, 50 feet. It snakes toward the hole and hits a pebble, or a bad blade of grass and leaps a bit, but stays true to its line. 40 feet, 30 feet, it hits another pit and takes another little leap but keeps on its march toward the hole. The crowd already starts to mumble. 20 feet, 10 feet, the crowd grows louder. 5 feet, my dad’s eyes are like saucers and his arms are already raising in the air. 3 feet, the crowd begins a steady build up. 2 feet, louder. 1 foot, louder still. Now there’s no doubt …
… the ball drops in the cup and it’s pandemonium! Like it was the final hole of the Masters! 100 people or so going bonkers, not the least of which was my dad.
They’ve run this contest for 20 year and this is the first time this putt has been sunk.
Ladies and germs … the man won Ten Thousand Dollars on one putt!
There is an old saying: “Drive for show, putt for dough.”
I give you … my dad.
