Brett Farve and I have much in common -- not the least is that we both came out of retirement. It's only been a few weeks but being a blogger is such a part of my identity that I couldn't stay away.
It's been a busy time. Daniel and I were featured speakers at Rosh Hashana services. The reviews were outstanding - I say with great humility - and we will be including them in the Christmas CD that will be available by mail order - or via the Internet right after Thanksgiving. We are in negotiations and anticipate that the CD will also feature some of the greatest hits from our Rock musician in Miami and a few 'easy to do' science experiments for our High School readership, courtesy of our science editor in Arkansas. For the first hundred people who order the CD, we'll throw in a free psychological profile, courtesy of our favorite Intern.
This past week-end was a highlight for our family. Three of us ran in the Baltimore Half Marathon made possible by the support of our number one fan. It was a beautiful day - lots of runners and plenty of spectators. The first 7 miles flew by -- and we were averaging better than 8.5 minutes per mile. The last 6 were a bit more challenging and we ended the race running holding hands as we crossed the finish line to the thunderous applause of the crowd. ( there is a commercial that involves special needs kids in a race. one competitor falls and the other competitors stop running, pick him up and they link arms and run together. This was essentially what happened, as Cara and Daniel slowed their pace and basically carried me to the end.)
The balance of the week-end was spent eating, drinking, more eating and the requisite game of darts in the pub. first person to guess the teams and the outcome of the darts game will get a free autographed CD.
and then there was Monday. I'm feeling sore, barely walking - but needed to get to my Monday spin class with Gina. I'm contemplating telling her that I need to 'take it easy' after racing this past week-end, when she asks the class to be quiet so she can make an announcement. and with no fanfare and not much in the way of explanation, Gina told us that this will be her last class -- that she is starting a new job and teaching spinning doesn't fit into her schedule. It was like getting a shot in the stomach --- Gina leaving -- without any notice. Didn't they teach these spin instructors that endings are difficult and termination is a process and not an announcement? The rest of the class started asking her if she knew who would be her replacement - and they gave names of instructors. Well friends -- my first thought was "Gina First." Gosh Darnit -- am I the only 'Joe 6 pack' in the class who is not an elitist? I've never palled around with a terrorist and I'm from a small town call 'the Bronx.'
I don't remember much about the class - I was in shock. After all, I have been waking up with Gina once a week for 9 years. Ours was not a fleeting affair - at least not on my end. I cared. and to be told on Monday that it's over -- a flimsy excuse about a job in Central Jersey. I debated going up to Gina at the end of the class, telling her that I deserved better after 9 years. She made the unilateral decision to end the relationship and she could have let me down in a more sensitive way. I thought of slamming the door as I walked out of the room - or getting the last word - telling her that I was the one that lost 25 lbs since we first met while she, now in her 40's is 'middle aged'. I chose to do neither -- I left without saying a word -- a wave of the hand and a nod of the head. I believe the towel over my head shielded her from seeing the tears streaming down my face.
and as I titled the blog - "breaking up is hard to do" .... but there is Dave -- a big, cue balled spin instructor who is a drill Sargent and leads a Friday class. and Humphrey would say ... "this could be the start of a beautiful relationship."
Lesson learned - there is always another tee shot, always another putt and always another spin instructor.
The title of the Christmas CD is "Dogs Don't Bark at Parked Cars" .... and that my friends is a serious statement of how we never know what tomorrow will bring.
Peace Out
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
And the curtain comes down .....
We said good-bye to Yankee Stadium after a dismal season and we said good-bye to Shea after another 'crash and burn' month of September and we say good-bye to a Golf season that started more than 7 months ago when a few brave men - led by Ceasar - braved the cold, windy nights and the long, endless days of sleeping in the parking lot waiting for the coveted tee time that was a constant in a 'sea of change.' Major banking institutions have crumbled, a governor has fallen from grace, primaries have produced dramatic surprises, but the constant in life this season has been our tee time. A time for four 'caballeros' to gather, exchange stories and play a little golf.
A fitting ending to a long season was the pre-tee time ceremony which I was privileged to witness, as our Captain, Rich - chip it in - Iturbe earned the distinction of being the player who had garnered enough rounds of golf and earned A FREE ROUND. Rich was very humble as he accepted this honor -- one that the rest of tried to get but failed. I must admit that I got a bit teary as the ticket was given to the starter and with a brief nod of his head, he recognized Rich's accomplishment. Rich is after all our 'Cal Ripken' and we salute him.
and leave it to Rich to 'change it up.' It was the first tee and if history is an indication of the future - we would expect that Dan will lead us off the tee. But not this time -- not this last round of the season-- it was non other than our Captain - our Cal - who doffed his hat to the starter and went up first - hitting a beautiful shot off the tee. Frankly, this threw Dan for a loss - he was so confused to be hitting in the number two slot - that he forgot that the striped pole was the 150 yard marker -- he thought it as a mere directional flag. After Rich 'gently corrected him', Dan still was uncertain and went to the 'ultimate authority', the Starter, and asked about the candy striped pole, who confirmed what the Captain has said.
It was appropriate that our last round was memorable - a record pace of 4 hrs. and 10 minutes - even with a 15 minute break in the round so the ranger and the golf pro could address an emergency encountered by the foursome in front of us on the 10th hole. One of the players hit a ball into a 'hornets nest' - literally - and abandoned his golf bag, which was quickly engulfed in a haze of 'killer bees.' There was a conference - with a phone call made to a bee keeper who is kept on retainer for situations like this. The impass was broken when the player whose bag was now the new home of the queen bee, put towels over his face and shoulders - was pointed in the right direction and charged his bag - knocked the queen bee off her throne and ran like 'greased lightening' with his bag. It was right up there with the rescue at Entebbe and the foursome continued playing their round. This was another chapter in the wildlife of Saxon Woods, along with the nesting hawks, the swans, the Canadian geese, and even the rats that frequented the 3rd hole.
My last round was also memorable. Anyone who has had an experience of 'going great guns', of going beyond what you ever thought possible, of seeing 'colors' in a world of 'browns' .... to just have the lights turned out, to go flat, to have the opportunity of a lifetime be taken from you - and being helpless to make it stop .... that was my round today. I had 4 pars on the front 9, and ended with an 'honest' 42. Perhaps it was the 'Bee experience' on 10; whatever it was - I choked and hit a few 8's and 7's to end the round with a 92. Under any other circumstance, I'd be 'jumping for joy' with that score. However, I just had the feeling that this was my moment, my turn at grabbing the brass ring and breaking 90. Perhaps not as dramatic as the Mets 'swoon', but disappointing non the less.
This is not the time to look back at 'what could have been' but rather to celebrate what was. Four guys who love spending 4+ hours together, cheering each other on, giving 'quiet' looks of assurance when errant hits were struck , who looked forward to guessing what 'type' of bread Barry would be having after the 9th hole. Amazing memories of golf carts being saved from the 13th hole creek, remembering how one of our team succumb to the swamp. Philosophical discussion, world problems solved - if only in our minds - and the caring, concern and compassion demonstrated for one another will make this 2008 season a most special one.
There have been many queries whether I will be keeping this blog up during the off season. I'm going to let you, the loyal readership and let me say unequivocally, the best blog fans in the world make that decision. If you want more of BK Golf and More -- text to American Idol and press #1.
It's been an honor and privilege to record this year of Golf. I hope this brought some smiles and possibly some 'yuks' ---- it has provided me with an outlet to express my feelings and for that I thank you. We have big plans for next year -- our President of our IT division will be looking for a more user-friendly site to host the blog, our General Counsel will be working out television rights to a sitcom, book and movie deals and sponsorships at local car dealerships, and our President of Resource Development will be spending the next number of months raising capital as we develop a Foundation whose mission it is to provide funding for counseling sessions for traumatized 'doffers.'
Lesson Learned: On any given Sunday, there will be four friends who will share a round of golf, and strengthen bonds that last a lifetime. They are a most luckly group of guys!
A fitting ending to a long season was the pre-tee time ceremony which I was privileged to witness, as our Captain, Rich - chip it in - Iturbe earned the distinction of being the player who had garnered enough rounds of golf and earned A FREE ROUND. Rich was very humble as he accepted this honor -- one that the rest of tried to get but failed. I must admit that I got a bit teary as the ticket was given to the starter and with a brief nod of his head, he recognized Rich's accomplishment. Rich is after all our 'Cal Ripken' and we salute him.
and leave it to Rich to 'change it up.' It was the first tee and if history is an indication of the future - we would expect that Dan will lead us off the tee. But not this time -- not this last round of the season-- it was non other than our Captain - our Cal - who doffed his hat to the starter and went up first - hitting a beautiful shot off the tee. Frankly, this threw Dan for a loss - he was so confused to be hitting in the number two slot - that he forgot that the striped pole was the 150 yard marker -- he thought it as a mere directional flag. After Rich 'gently corrected him', Dan still was uncertain and went to the 'ultimate authority', the Starter, and asked about the candy striped pole, who confirmed what the Captain has said.
It was appropriate that our last round was memorable - a record pace of 4 hrs. and 10 minutes - even with a 15 minute break in the round so the ranger and the golf pro could address an emergency encountered by the foursome in front of us on the 10th hole. One of the players hit a ball into a 'hornets nest' - literally - and abandoned his golf bag, which was quickly engulfed in a haze of 'killer bees.' There was a conference - with a phone call made to a bee keeper who is kept on retainer for situations like this. The impass was broken when the player whose bag was now the new home of the queen bee, put towels over his face and shoulders - was pointed in the right direction and charged his bag - knocked the queen bee off her throne and ran like 'greased lightening' with his bag. It was right up there with the rescue at Entebbe and the foursome continued playing their round. This was another chapter in the wildlife of Saxon Woods, along with the nesting hawks, the swans, the Canadian geese, and even the rats that frequented the 3rd hole.
My last round was also memorable. Anyone who has had an experience of 'going great guns', of going beyond what you ever thought possible, of seeing 'colors' in a world of 'browns' .... to just have the lights turned out, to go flat, to have the opportunity of a lifetime be taken from you - and being helpless to make it stop .... that was my round today. I had 4 pars on the front 9, and ended with an 'honest' 42. Perhaps it was the 'Bee experience' on 10; whatever it was - I choked and hit a few 8's and 7's to end the round with a 92. Under any other circumstance, I'd be 'jumping for joy' with that score. However, I just had the feeling that this was my moment, my turn at grabbing the brass ring and breaking 90. Perhaps not as dramatic as the Mets 'swoon', but disappointing non the less.
This is not the time to look back at 'what could have been' but rather to celebrate what was. Four guys who love spending 4+ hours together, cheering each other on, giving 'quiet' looks of assurance when errant hits were struck , who looked forward to guessing what 'type' of bread Barry would be having after the 9th hole. Amazing memories of golf carts being saved from the 13th hole creek, remembering how one of our team succumb to the swamp. Philosophical discussion, world problems solved - if only in our minds - and the caring, concern and compassion demonstrated for one another will make this 2008 season a most special one.
There have been many queries whether I will be keeping this blog up during the off season. I'm going to let you, the loyal readership and let me say unequivocally, the best blog fans in the world make that decision. If you want more of BK Golf and More -- text to American Idol and press #1.
It's been an honor and privilege to record this year of Golf. I hope this brought some smiles and possibly some 'yuks' ---- it has provided me with an outlet to express my feelings and for that I thank you. We have big plans for next year -- our President of our IT division will be looking for a more user-friendly site to host the blog, our General Counsel will be working out television rights to a sitcom, book and movie deals and sponsorships at local car dealerships, and our President of Resource Development will be spending the next number of months raising capital as we develop a Foundation whose mission it is to provide funding for counseling sessions for traumatized 'doffers.'
Lesson Learned: On any given Sunday, there will be four friends who will share a round of golf, and strengthen bonds that last a lifetime. They are a most luckly group of guys!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The End is Near
Well Golf enthusiasts -- it's getting to the end of our season as it is for the Yankees and most likely the Mets. I think it's fair to say that our play over the past few weeks has been sub-par and we deserve not going into the post-season and extending our regularly scheduled tee time.
The weather this past week-end was picture perfect. Our original four played together for the second week in a row. We are like a 'married four-some.' We know each other's favorite trees for when nature calls - and I actually asked permission when I wanted to utilize Dan's favorite watering hole - the woods off the 5th tee.
Dan is the most creative in the group and created a new game called "Gennis" , a combination tennis and golf. Essentially on every hole he took two tee shots, same as a serve in tennis.
Barry - playing the course like it was a monopoly game - decided on the 12th hole that he 'get out of Jail' card and left while he could.
Rich was on 'stand-by' - waiting for Henry to call and get his opinion on the worst banking disaster since the Great Depression. (no different that what Henry used to do when he was at GS.)
As we look forward to our last 'official week' of the season -- we wish the Mets a miracle and that the get the wild card spot in the post season --- that a bailout is worked out - that makes sense for the 'average American, and isn't another poor decision by the Administration - supported by Congress - as was the search for WMD.
Lesson Learned: It's possible to eat too much ice cream until you no longer want ice cream.
The weather this past week-end was picture perfect. Our original four played together for the second week in a row. We are like a 'married four-some.' We know each other's favorite trees for when nature calls - and I actually asked permission when I wanted to utilize Dan's favorite watering hole - the woods off the 5th tee.
Dan is the most creative in the group and created a new game called "Gennis" , a combination tennis and golf. Essentially on every hole he took two tee shots, same as a serve in tennis.
Barry - playing the course like it was a monopoly game - decided on the 12th hole that he 'get out of Jail' card and left while he could.
Rich was on 'stand-by' - waiting for Henry to call and get his opinion on the worst banking disaster since the Great Depression. (no different that what Henry used to do when he was at GS.)
As we look forward to our last 'official week' of the season -- we wish the Mets a miracle and that the get the wild card spot in the post season --- that a bailout is worked out - that makes sense for the 'average American, and isn't another poor decision by the Administration - supported by Congress - as was the search for WMD.
Lesson Learned: It's possible to eat too much ice cream until you no longer want ice cream.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
just one more .....
As our golf season comes to a close -- (2 weeks to go) -- it was great to be out with the regular four. Coming off Hurricane Ike -- where we've been on storm patrol with the Cahn's who live in Houston and have been staying with us for the past week. While Mike and Susan were understandably concerned about their house -- we were very worried about the condition of the course. (remember that last week we had to deal with the aftermath of Hannah -- a lake that replaced the driving range, pools of water in the sand traps ...) Good news is the course was in decent shape - day started off a bit of a drizzle and turned into a hot, humid day. One of the environmental challenges we faced were these biting flies -- and while none of us are 'tree huggers' - we try not to use the DEET bug spray. We succumb - and used the spray - however these flies 'laughed' at the spray and re-doubled their attacks. As an aside -- having the Cahns stay with us is like having a family reunion or a pajama party. We have 40 years of history and nothing makes me feel better than gathering our friends of many years together. A very special congratulations to Elanna (Mike and Susan's daughter) and Austin on their recent engagement . We also got to meet Matt (Bobbie's son) who was 'set up' with Mike and Susan's daughter, Jessica, at last year's reunion. Perhaps I digress ---
I knew that I would not get to finish 18 holes -- Judi and I had a wedding -- very poignant affair with Judi shedding more tears than at any other wedding that I can remember. Bob is a good friend and Ilene has become one. This is a second marriage for both -- Bob was divorced a number of years ago and has a 20 y/o daughter. Ilene's husband died tragically. He was a hemophiliac and unfortunately contracted Aids during that period when the hospitals did not test donated blood. Ilene has 2 sons from this marriage - approximately 23 and 19 years of age. The boys and Sarah (Bob's daughter) held up 3 poles of the Chupah. (for our large non-Jewish readership, a chupah is a canopy that a Jewish couple stands under during the service. It was very obvious that the younger son was very emotional, watching his mother and bob getting married. The Rabbi delivered a very sensitive service - acknowledging the 'history' that Bob and Ilene brought to the marriage. There were many 'moving moments' during the wedding, including a musical interlude performed by Bob's daughter and Ilene's sons. Ilene gave a very moving toast - acknowledging the presence of her first husband's parents and their unconditional love and 'blessings bestowed' upon her and Bob. Judi and I were privileged to be participants in the blending of these two special families.
Back to golf. We played the first 9 holes - we all played well and the game move along at a decent pace. Dan continues to be our lead off man ... often times teeing off before the rest of us got to the tee. Starting on the 10th hole I began the 'head game'..... just one more hole. I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers 'negotiating' - either with our own parents as children -- or with our children as parents -- just one more TV show, just one more book, just one more (readership - please let us know how you'd fill in the blank). How many times did Judi ask me ... just once more ... (in my dreams.)
Anyway -- after 12 holes -- I decided to leave ... although truth be told (and this blog is all about 'truth, justice and the American way" .... where did this come from? I was playing well - having hit the drive of 'my life and parring the hole -- but made the mature choice and left to give myself time to get ready for the wedding.
Perhaps my co-author will comment on the final six holes.
Lessons Learned: Blackberries have no place on the golf course. Remember although you can't control the wind but you can adjust the sails...
I knew that I would not get to finish 18 holes -- Judi and I had a wedding -- very poignant affair with Judi shedding more tears than at any other wedding that I can remember. Bob is a good friend and Ilene has become one. This is a second marriage for both -- Bob was divorced a number of years ago and has a 20 y/o daughter. Ilene's husband died tragically. He was a hemophiliac and unfortunately contracted Aids during that period when the hospitals did not test donated blood. Ilene has 2 sons from this marriage - approximately 23 and 19 years of age. The boys and Sarah (Bob's daughter) held up 3 poles of the Chupah. (for our large non-Jewish readership, a chupah is a canopy that a Jewish couple stands under during the service. It was very obvious that the younger son was very emotional, watching his mother and bob getting married. The Rabbi delivered a very sensitive service - acknowledging the 'history' that Bob and Ilene brought to the marriage. There were many 'moving moments' during the wedding, including a musical interlude performed by Bob's daughter and Ilene's sons. Ilene gave a very moving toast - acknowledging the presence of her first husband's parents and their unconditional love and 'blessings bestowed' upon her and Bob. Judi and I were privileged to be participants in the blending of these two special families.
Back to golf. We played the first 9 holes - we all played well and the game move along at a decent pace. Dan continues to be our lead off man ... often times teeing off before the rest of us got to the tee. Starting on the 10th hole I began the 'head game'..... just one more hole. I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers 'negotiating' - either with our own parents as children -- or with our children as parents -- just one more TV show, just one more book, just one more (readership - please let us know how you'd fill in the blank). How many times did Judi ask me ... just once more ... (in my dreams.)
Anyway -- after 12 holes -- I decided to leave ... although truth be told (and this blog is all about 'truth, justice and the American way" .... where did this come from? I was playing well - having hit the drive of 'my life and parring the hole -- but made the mature choice and left to give myself time to get ready for the wedding.
Perhaps my co-author will comment on the final six holes.
Lessons Learned: Blackberries have no place on the golf course. Remember although you can't control the wind but you can adjust the sails...
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Return of the Fab 4
The torrential downpour which was the aftermath of Hurricane Hannah to strike NY on Saturday night was bad enough to raise questions about whether we should play the next day. Common sense would be to recognize that the course would be flooded and our game would be compromised. Two of our foursome were truly wavering (initials being "B and D") -- but I realized that we were not 'just talking' about a round of golf -- we were determining whether or not the four of us would play together for the first time in months. Life got in the way this summer -- be it 'fulfilled wishes' of spending weekends on Golden Pond, 'medical speed bumps', or vacation plans -- and this was the 'reunion round.' I was determined we were going to play -- come "hell or high water" and we did. (it was a bit disconcerting when Barry called the golf course early Sunday morning to be told the course was very wet and the driving range was closed because it was a Lake --- and upon seeing this -- it was not an exaggeration). Barry and I were prepared for the 'elements' -- quite a sight in shorts and construction boots -- while Dan and Rich stuck with the traditional golf shoes. It would turn out that wearing the boots were just the beginning of what Barry would need -- but I get ahead of myself.
The day was beautiful -- course was relatively empty and we played without major incident - except for that one time that Barry .......
As we gather around the first tee -- I tried to reflect upon the importance of this moment -- thankful to be surrounded by good friends -- which was met with questions like: "are you going to try and go over the trees?" and "What club are you using?" Despite the lack of 'appreciation for the moment" demonstrated by these three 'manly men' --- I do want to pause and note that there was something very comforting about being together again -- about catching up on children, work, vacations .... and knowing that the bond that exists within our foursome - "may no man bring asunder." (can someone please tell me who I'm paraphrasing and the situation when these powerful words were first uttered.)
I believe Dan 'birdied' the first hole -- and we all played 'good golf.'
Golf is a game of rules and how you chose to adhere to the rules is a matter of individual choice. The four of us have a very different approach to our games. Our foursome consists of an investment banker, an attorney, a 'super fund raiser' and a social worker. One of us cares most for 'the experience - the process of being together,' another one is a student of the game, carefully analyzing each aspect and making strategic moves to maximize his outcome, a third is more of a 'gambler' -- always going for the 'big hit' and often succeeding, while the fourth is an adherent to the 'rules' and believes is a strict interpretation and acts accordingly.' (audience participation -- after reading this blog for all these months -- I believe there are in excess of 30 entries - can you put the name with the occupation with the description for each golfer. There will be an autographed golf ball for the first 100 people who write in with the correct answer.
And then there is the dreaded 13th hole .... the site of prior blog entry where Dan's friend was willing to sacrifice 'life and limb' to save my golf cart. The 13th hole has a creek on the left and a stream at the midway point between the tee box and the green. It takes two good shots to clear the stream. Today was particularly challenging given the intense rains of the prior night. The banks on either side of the stream are soft and marshy. Barry and I hit on the left side of the fairway. Our second shots were well struck -- but mine landed in the stream and Barry's ball landed on the downslope of the stream. Three of us would have looked at Barry's ball and if it were ours -- moved it a few feet to 'safe ground.' Our 'strict constitutionalist' - slight hint to prior quiz - chose to play the ball were it 'sat' and with an extreme downhill lie - Barry addressed the ball, took a swing and then he took what others spend 'mega bucks for' -- a mud bath. He "swung and slid" down the embankment going thigh deep into the muck. Dan and I rushed to his aid -- Rich followed his 'proclaimed' golf etiquette - he first hit his ball and then came to help.
It was a good thing that Barry was wearing his boots -- too bad he wasn't wearing his 'hip waders.' (will the fishermen in the readership confirm this is what those rubber things that go up to your hips are called.) He was a sport and played the remainder of the course -- squishing ever so much and attracting an unusual amount of flies. (BTW - he hit the ball in the stream.)
And so ends another round -- or more important -- created another memory. lesson learned - sometimes it's better to take a penalty stroke than a spa treatment.
The day was beautiful -- course was relatively empty and we played without major incident - except for that one time that Barry .......
As we gather around the first tee -- I tried to reflect upon the importance of this moment -- thankful to be surrounded by good friends -- which was met with questions like: "are you going to try and go over the trees?" and "What club are you using?" Despite the lack of 'appreciation for the moment" demonstrated by these three 'manly men' --- I do want to pause and note that there was something very comforting about being together again -- about catching up on children, work, vacations .... and knowing that the bond that exists within our foursome - "may no man bring asunder." (can someone please tell me who I'm paraphrasing and the situation when these powerful words were first uttered.)
I believe Dan 'birdied' the first hole -- and we all played 'good golf.'
Golf is a game of rules and how you chose to adhere to the rules is a matter of individual choice. The four of us have a very different approach to our games. Our foursome consists of an investment banker, an attorney, a 'super fund raiser' and a social worker. One of us cares most for 'the experience - the process of being together,' another one is a student of the game, carefully analyzing each aspect and making strategic moves to maximize his outcome, a third is more of a 'gambler' -- always going for the 'big hit' and often succeeding, while the fourth is an adherent to the 'rules' and believes is a strict interpretation and acts accordingly.' (audience participation -- after reading this blog for all these months -- I believe there are in excess of 30 entries - can you put the name with the occupation with the description for each golfer. There will be an autographed golf ball for the first 100 people who write in with the correct answer.
And then there is the dreaded 13th hole .... the site of prior blog entry where Dan's friend was willing to sacrifice 'life and limb' to save my golf cart. The 13th hole has a creek on the left and a stream at the midway point between the tee box and the green. It takes two good shots to clear the stream. Today was particularly challenging given the intense rains of the prior night. The banks on either side of the stream are soft and marshy. Barry and I hit on the left side of the fairway. Our second shots were well struck -- but mine landed in the stream and Barry's ball landed on the downslope of the stream. Three of us would have looked at Barry's ball and if it were ours -- moved it a few feet to 'safe ground.' Our 'strict constitutionalist' - slight hint to prior quiz - chose to play the ball were it 'sat' and with an extreme downhill lie - Barry addressed the ball, took a swing and then he took what others spend 'mega bucks for' -- a mud bath. He "swung and slid" down the embankment going thigh deep into the muck. Dan and I rushed to his aid -- Rich followed his 'proclaimed' golf etiquette - he first hit his ball and then came to help.
It was a good thing that Barry was wearing his boots -- too bad he wasn't wearing his 'hip waders.' (will the fishermen in the readership confirm this is what those rubber things that go up to your hips are called.) He was a sport and played the remainder of the course -- squishing ever so much and attracting an unusual amount of flies. (BTW - he hit the ball in the stream.)
And so ends another round -- or more important -- created another memory. lesson learned - sometimes it's better to take a penalty stroke than a spa treatment.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Hurricane Gustav, Golf, and Politics
Blog readership: we have been in serious conversations with Homeland Security, FEMA, the Governors of the Gulf coast states and of course the Republican National Convention. We decided to go forward with our Golf game on Sunday after assurances from Secretary Chertoff and others that hurricane preparations were in place . They appreciated our offers to help but said that knowing there would be a blog to read would be of tremendous support to the first responders, National Guard and volunteers who are dealing with Gustav.
Rich and I played with 2 invited guests -- good friends from the community - Les and Jeff. They have children that grew up and have been friends with Daniel since 2nd grade. There is not much to report about the golf game. It was a beautiful day, it took a reasonable 4.5 hours and we all had more good shots than bad.
Frankly, our thoughts about Gustav was an unspoken concern. I'm convinced that I was in the sand as much as I was (first two holes -I found sand traps and that set the pattern for me for the round) because I was thinking of the need for the Levis to hold and the bags of sand used to reinforce them. Les' son was evacuated from Tulane University -- his older son was a junior in Tulane during Katrina. (Ben was fortunate to ride out Hurricane Katrina in Spain). Les had the presence of mind to tell Michael to make sure he threw out the milk and any other perishables in the refrigerator before he left. I don't know about others -- but I would not have thought of that --- and on behalf on many readers -- thank you Les for this very helpful hint.
The good news is that New Orleans was not directly hit -- but certainly was and continues to be impacted by gusting winds, heavy rains and some minor flooding. We continue to be on alert and ready to respond to any requests for our services. Our thoughts are with those affected by this Hurricane and wish G-d Speed as people return to their homes. A special note of gratitude and
our appreciation to all the people who are working this event.
This blog tended to stay 'apolitical' during the primaries and now the Conventions. However, it behooves us to recognize the historical moment -- Come Jan. 09, for the first time in our Nation's history, we will either have a Black man as our President or a woman as our Vice President.
Our best wishes go out to both vice presidential candidates -- who have sons being deployed to Iraq in the next few months. Let's give a special 'shout out' to Governor Pallin's 17 y/o daughter who is pregnant and whose intention we are told is to have the baby and marry the father. I'm sure the Governor will say that her daughter - should not serve as a role model for other teenagers -- having unprotected sex (we speculate) and getting pregnant. I believe that Paris Hilton's younger sister - I think she is 16 years old - is also pregnant, planning on having the baby and marrying the father. We will use the power of this blog to get these parenting teenagers together, perhaps a with the 17 or so teenagers from a High School in Massachusetts who also got pregnant, for a 'kumbaya' experience where they can feel the love, (the safe kind of love) and draw support from each other.
Next week is a reunion -- the fab four is back!
until then -- lesson learned -- even girls from good evangelical families are not immune from the 'sirens of sex' --- yet perhaps lack the available birth control information.
other lesson learned -- it's harder to make birdies and pars if you leave the puts short.
Rich and I played with 2 invited guests -- good friends from the community - Les and Jeff. They have children that grew up and have been friends with Daniel since 2nd grade. There is not much to report about the golf game. It was a beautiful day, it took a reasonable 4.5 hours and we all had more good shots than bad.
Frankly, our thoughts about Gustav was an unspoken concern. I'm convinced that I was in the sand as much as I was (first two holes -I found sand traps and that set the pattern for me for the round) because I was thinking of the need for the Levis to hold and the bags of sand used to reinforce them. Les' son was evacuated from Tulane University -- his older son was a junior in Tulane during Katrina. (Ben was fortunate to ride out Hurricane Katrina in Spain). Les had the presence of mind to tell Michael to make sure he threw out the milk and any other perishables in the refrigerator before he left. I don't know about others -- but I would not have thought of that --- and on behalf on many readers -- thank you Les for this very helpful hint.
The good news is that New Orleans was not directly hit -- but certainly was and continues to be impacted by gusting winds, heavy rains and some minor flooding. We continue to be on alert and ready to respond to any requests for our services. Our thoughts are with those affected by this Hurricane and wish G-d Speed as people return to their homes. A special note of gratitude and
our appreciation to all the people who are working this event.
This blog tended to stay 'apolitical' during the primaries and now the Conventions. However, it behooves us to recognize the historical moment -- Come Jan. 09, for the first time in our Nation's history, we will either have a Black man as our President or a woman as our Vice President.
Our best wishes go out to both vice presidential candidates -- who have sons being deployed to Iraq in the next few months. Let's give a special 'shout out' to Governor Pallin's 17 y/o daughter who is pregnant and whose intention we are told is to have the baby and marry the father. I'm sure the Governor will say that her daughter - should not serve as a role model for other teenagers -- having unprotected sex (we speculate) and getting pregnant. I believe that Paris Hilton's younger sister - I think she is 16 years old - is also pregnant, planning on having the baby and marrying the father. We will use the power of this blog to get these parenting teenagers together, perhaps a with the 17 or so teenagers from a High School in Massachusetts who also got pregnant, for a 'kumbaya' experience where they can feel the love, (the safe kind of love) and draw support from each other.
Next week is a reunion -- the fab four is back!
until then -- lesson learned -- even girls from good evangelical families are not immune from the 'sirens of sex' --- yet perhaps lack the available birth control information.
other lesson learned -- it's harder to make birdies and pars if you leave the puts short.
Monday, August 25, 2008
glass ceilings
to my avid readers -- tonight is the Democratic Convention and as Hilary said -- many 'dents' were made in the glass ceiling during this primary and history will be made when her name is put into nomination. Well - this past Sunday -- we did BREAK THE GLASS CEILING. There were two regulars - Barry and me and Arthur, a friend of Barry's. As we were approaching the first tee -- a woman - using one of those 'hi-tech' electric push carts approached and declared she was our fourth. Jill - and no not the Jill who is a regular contributor to the blog and takes particular pleasure in pointing out grammatical, spelling and any other errors she can find - joined our foursome and broke the glass ceiling - in a cursory review of the annals of the golf schedules of Saxon Woods, we could not find another occurrence of a single - being a woman - joining three men - none of whom were related or knew her before the round.
I'm sure that other - less enlightened men - the typical chauvinistic golfer - would have groaned - probably out loud - thinking that 'a woman' would slow up their round and impact negatively their game. Speaking for Barry and me (don't know Arthur well enough but since he wears an earring I'm fairly comfortable in thinking he'd agree with us) - that never entered our mind -- rather, our concern were for a more basic problem that having a woman playing with us would make -- peeing on the golf course at will more difficult. Since I promised complete candor and total honesty when we first started this blog - 10 years ago - my usual pattern of watering a minimum of 4-6 holes per round was dramatically reduced to one 'quick urination' fully covered by trees, swamps and rocks.
Jill - is a 22 y/o woman who is on the golf team at Wellsley. She was nattily dressed in yellow golf shorts (if I said short golf shorts - would that be redundant) and a red colored polo shirt - that fit her well. She had medium length blond hair that she wore in a pony tail. On occasion - after she swung -- her shirt would slightly ride up revealing a tattoo (flower) on the small of her back. Since Jill had to tee off after the men did, (the women's tee is closer to the hole and women go after the men - for safety reasons) , we had ample opportunity to note the color of the flower, the number of blossoms, the stem that went southward into areas not seen.
History was also made on the third hole -- but I get ahead of myself.
The day was beautiful -- Arthur was a welcomed addition -- he was willing to tee off first, didn't take too many practice swings, didn't dawdle, didn't play any better than we did, and was an all around nice guy -- makes him a welcomed substitute.
first two holes were non-events. But the Third hole -- a par 5 that has 'buried many a golfer' -- a veritable 'Bermuda Triangle' where golf balls that are hit on the fairway are lost, and where there are streams, forests, swamps, rocks, sand traps and thick high grass at every turn. This hole has brought all of us to tears -- and what happened today ... BARRY DID THE IMPOSSIBLE - HE BIRDIED THE HOLE. (for those who read this blog and are not up to speed on the vernacular (SAT word) - a birdie is one less stroke than one would take if one were to get a Par -- which is not an every day occurrence. So on this same Sunday that the Glass Ceiling was broke -- and may I say that we are proud to be part of this historic occurrence - Barry birdied the most difficult hole, (my opinion), on the course.
We also realized early on that Jill was a celebrity of sorts -- why else would the Ranger follow us from hole to hole, almost like a presidential motorcade - if she wasn't breaking new ground and a Saxon Woods VIP. The Ranger did an excellent job of hiding this by continually admonishing us to speed up our play. If I didn't figure out that all this attention was no different than the National Guard being employed to segregate the schools in Georgia a mere few decades ago, I would have been annoyed by this overly aggressive - phony baloney Texas ranger.
We finished the round in an acceptable 4 hours and 25 minutes. The three men played our usual round - too many bad shots and not enough good shots, while Jill played a very steady game. Every one of her tee shots went down the middle of the fairway. (she never found the rough - let alone lose a ball.) Since the women tee off approximately 20 yards in front of the men's tee -- She routinely outdrove me -- and I was driving the ball well - for me. Jill's drives, her fairway shots, her short game, her sure putting was something that we all enjoyed watching. (maybe the Ranger wasn't completely wrong in yelling at us). After the round was over - we asked Jill what we shot - and she shyly responded that she had a good round - an HONEST 82.
So we had the first woman to break the glass ceiling, walk on as a single and join an all male threesome. And even better - she played a round of golf that left us with our tongues flapping, our hearts beating faster, and a fantasy of playing as well as Jill. (I originally wrote 'and a fantasy of playing with Jill' - but unfortunately there is a small percentage of the readership, comprised of middle age men who have an emotionally fixated IQ of a 13 y/o and would find this 'misspeak' truly amusing.)
Full disclosure requires me to say that on occasion I 'embellish' the stories and I'm guilty of doing this now. I was 'playing' to the TV talent scouts who have approached me about turning this blog into a sitcom. My loyalty to you my readership is stronger than my avarice (another SAT word) and the promises of great wealth and notoriety. Jill was her true name -- but that is where the 'truth ended'. She is a woman of Germanic background, in her early to mid 60's. Her golf game was exactly as I described it -- she did shoot an honest 82 and was mostly waiting around for us to finish up.
We certainly missed our Captain who is vacationing in the home state of the Democratic VP nominee ... and look forward to having our other partner whose responsibility is to man the light house where he lives during the summer - protecting the water ways - but recognize that their absence helped us to secure our place in history.
Until next week ..... hit them long and straight -- unless you are on a dogleg.
I'm sure that other - less enlightened men - the typical chauvinistic golfer - would have groaned - probably out loud - thinking that 'a woman' would slow up their round and impact negatively their game. Speaking for Barry and me (don't know Arthur well enough but since he wears an earring I'm fairly comfortable in thinking he'd agree with us) - that never entered our mind -- rather, our concern were for a more basic problem that having a woman playing with us would make -- peeing on the golf course at will more difficult. Since I promised complete candor and total honesty when we first started this blog - 10 years ago - my usual pattern of watering a minimum of 4-6 holes per round was dramatically reduced to one 'quick urination' fully covered by trees, swamps and rocks.
Jill - is a 22 y/o woman who is on the golf team at Wellsley. She was nattily dressed in yellow golf shorts (if I said short golf shorts - would that be redundant) and a red colored polo shirt - that fit her well. She had medium length blond hair that she wore in a pony tail. On occasion - after she swung -- her shirt would slightly ride up revealing a tattoo (flower) on the small of her back. Since Jill had to tee off after the men did, (the women's tee is closer to the hole and women go after the men - for safety reasons) , we had ample opportunity to note the color of the flower, the number of blossoms, the stem that went southward into areas not seen.
History was also made on the third hole -- but I get ahead of myself.
The day was beautiful -- Arthur was a welcomed addition -- he was willing to tee off first, didn't take too many practice swings, didn't dawdle, didn't play any better than we did, and was an all around nice guy -- makes him a welcomed substitute.
first two holes were non-events. But the Third hole -- a par 5 that has 'buried many a golfer' -- a veritable 'Bermuda Triangle' where golf balls that are hit on the fairway are lost, and where there are streams, forests, swamps, rocks, sand traps and thick high grass at every turn. This hole has brought all of us to tears -- and what happened today ... BARRY DID THE IMPOSSIBLE - HE BIRDIED THE HOLE. (for those who read this blog and are not up to speed on the vernacular (SAT word) - a birdie is one less stroke than one would take if one were to get a Par -- which is not an every day occurrence. So on this same Sunday that the Glass Ceiling was broke -- and may I say that we are proud to be part of this historic occurrence - Barry birdied the most difficult hole, (my opinion), on the course.
We also realized early on that Jill was a celebrity of sorts -- why else would the Ranger follow us from hole to hole, almost like a presidential motorcade - if she wasn't breaking new ground and a Saxon Woods VIP. The Ranger did an excellent job of hiding this by continually admonishing us to speed up our play. If I didn't figure out that all this attention was no different than the National Guard being employed to segregate the schools in Georgia a mere few decades ago, I would have been annoyed by this overly aggressive - phony baloney Texas ranger.
We finished the round in an acceptable 4 hours and 25 minutes. The three men played our usual round - too many bad shots and not enough good shots, while Jill played a very steady game. Every one of her tee shots went down the middle of the fairway. (she never found the rough - let alone lose a ball.) Since the women tee off approximately 20 yards in front of the men's tee -- She routinely outdrove me -- and I was driving the ball well - for me. Jill's drives, her fairway shots, her short game, her sure putting was something that we all enjoyed watching. (maybe the Ranger wasn't completely wrong in yelling at us). After the round was over - we asked Jill what we shot - and she shyly responded that she had a good round - an HONEST 82.
So we had the first woman to break the glass ceiling, walk on as a single and join an all male threesome. And even better - she played a round of golf that left us with our tongues flapping, our hearts beating faster, and a fantasy of playing as well as Jill. (I originally wrote 'and a fantasy of playing with Jill' - but unfortunately there is a small percentage of the readership, comprised of middle age men who have an emotionally fixated IQ of a 13 y/o and would find this 'misspeak' truly amusing.)
Full disclosure requires me to say that on occasion I 'embellish' the stories and I'm guilty of doing this now. I was 'playing' to the TV talent scouts who have approached me about turning this blog into a sitcom. My loyalty to you my readership is stronger than my avarice (another SAT word) and the promises of great wealth and notoriety. Jill was her true name -- but that is where the 'truth ended'. She is a woman of Germanic background, in her early to mid 60's. Her golf game was exactly as I described it -- she did shoot an honest 82 and was mostly waiting around for us to finish up.
We certainly missed our Captain who is vacationing in the home state of the Democratic VP nominee ... and look forward to having our other partner whose responsibility is to man the light house where he lives during the summer - protecting the water ways - but recognize that their absence helped us to secure our place in history.
Until next week ..... hit them long and straight -- unless you are on a dogleg.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Bonanza
I know there are quite a few TV Western fans out there --- who remember Sunday nights watching Bonanza and eating Chinese food. The most special episodes for me were those that included the older brother Adam, along with Hoss and Little Joe. Today's golf game brought us back to "Happy Days" with the inclusion of Stu in the foursome.
Barry, Rich, Stu and I grew up in the Marble Hill projects. For those readers who are out of state - Marble Hill projects are either in the Bronx (as I believe) or in Upper Manhattan. It was a haven for working class people and the best place a kid where a kid could grow up. Along with Dave - the five of us were inseparable -- and as only someone growing in the Bronx could understand -- we didn't have organized leagues or play dates --- we just went to the oval and depending on the season - played tops, football, marbles, johnny on the pony, ring a levio, stickball, and more. How many times were we chased off the grass by the Housing Police, with poor Weinbaum being the slowest and thus the one always caught. (A shout out to 'E' is appropriate.)
While Barry, Rich and I live in the same neighborhood, Stu went across the river and we don't see each other much -- those bonds formed in the projects are forever.
The golf game itself was in most ways -- no different than so many experiences that took place decades ago. Stu's self report had him playing an outstanding front 9 (a 42) -- and unfortunately -- a prior commitment prevented him from playing the complete round. But in the short 2 hrs and 15 min. -- we were reassured that although Stu was a victim of the recent round of layoffs experienced by the Financial sector --- he could retire at 56 yrs of age -- but he already has multiple offers, to the point that an opportunity to interview for - his words - a 'mega position' at the renowned Bank - GS - was not work pursuing because of the number of interviews they put you through. Stu continues to defy the odds and not only land on his feet -- but like Little Joe -- turn potentially adverse situations into outstanding successes.
The back 9 were not the same without Stu --- although it gave the 3 of us opportunity to reflect that despite the intervening years -- people don't change.
Bottom Line -- beautiful day, enough good shots hit, and an opportunity to go back 'in time' with a one of kind person -- it was special!
Barry, Rich, Stu and I grew up in the Marble Hill projects. For those readers who are out of state - Marble Hill projects are either in the Bronx (as I believe) or in Upper Manhattan. It was a haven for working class people and the best place a kid where a kid could grow up. Along with Dave - the five of us were inseparable -- and as only someone growing in the Bronx could understand -- we didn't have organized leagues or play dates --- we just went to the oval and depending on the season - played tops, football, marbles, johnny on the pony, ring a levio, stickball, and more. How many times were we chased off the grass by the Housing Police, with poor Weinbaum being the slowest and thus the one always caught. (A shout out to 'E' is appropriate.)
While Barry, Rich and I live in the same neighborhood, Stu went across the river and we don't see each other much -- those bonds formed in the projects are forever.
The golf game itself was in most ways -- no different than so many experiences that took place decades ago. Stu's self report had him playing an outstanding front 9 (a 42) -- and unfortunately -- a prior commitment prevented him from playing the complete round. But in the short 2 hrs and 15 min. -- we were reassured that although Stu was a victim of the recent round of layoffs experienced by the Financial sector --- he could retire at 56 yrs of age -- but he already has multiple offers, to the point that an opportunity to interview for - his words - a 'mega position' at the renowned Bank - GS - was not work pursuing because of the number of interviews they put you through. Stu continues to defy the odds and not only land on his feet -- but like Little Joe -- turn potentially adverse situations into outstanding successes.
The back 9 were not the same without Stu --- although it gave the 3 of us opportunity to reflect that despite the intervening years -- people don't change.
Bottom Line -- beautiful day, enough good shots hit, and an opportunity to go back 'in time' with a one of kind person -- it was special!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
The Circle of Life
Another Sunday and another golf day without the original foursome in attendance. Bernie and Judi were in the Napa Valley and Dan was up at the lake house. It was Barry and me, joined again by the father and son duo of Ken and Max. Ken and Max are probably closer on the golf course than most father and son duo’s, but that is because they do not have two full sets of clubs between them. Earlier in the year, Ken’s garage was broken into and his golf bag was stolen. Unfortunately for Ken, he had recently borrowed some clubs from Barry and they too were stolen. So Ken now borrows clubs from his son and Barry has a new set of clubs, but neither of these facts helped any of us today on the golf course. It was a beautiful day for golf, with the sun shining and nice breeze to keep it cool, but despite the perfect conditions none of us seemed to be able to hit the ball with any degree of consistency. We experienced lost balls, mulligans a scolding from the ranger and an easily forgettable 4 hour and 45 minute round of golf.
This week’s blog is really about the “and more,” because an easily forgettable golf round could not compare to the moments that were experienced this weekend. In the “circle of life,” there are friends and family and this weekend was about both. Gail Sheehy wrote the book “Passages” and there certainly were many examples of people going through these important milestones this weekend, starting with the most remarkable one of all, Ruth Bradburd celebrating her 90th birthday. On Saturday, a collection of friends and relatives, who flew and drove from many miles away, all came to our house to wish Ruth good wishes on reaching this rare “Passage.” Jill and her sister threw an incredible bash with plenty of food and drink and fun for everyone. The part that made it so special was the re-connections made during this gathering. Cousins that had not seen each other for years reminisced. Our lifelong friends came to pay tribute to Ruth, but also to spend time with, my parents, our children and our niece and nephew and their families. All of these people have experienced each other at various “Passages” in their lives and now they could see the same people at a different point in their life. Other important passages including our daughter, Amanda returning home for the first time after moving to an apartment in Quincy, Massachusetts and starting her first full-time job after graduating college. Even Bernie and Judi’s trip to the west coast was to witness a girl who was in the same grade as Craig and Cara embarking on the passage of marriage. But probably the most amazing and gratifying passage of all is the rekindling of love and hope by our friend Dave after all of the tragedy that he has experienced. He truly is a new person now. His joy, Ruth’s excitement, the cousins catching up and the many generations all coming together for a good time made this a day to remember.
This week’s blog is really about the “and more,” because an easily forgettable golf round could not compare to the moments that were experienced this weekend. In the “circle of life,” there are friends and family and this weekend was about both. Gail Sheehy wrote the book “Passages” and there certainly were many examples of people going through these important milestones this weekend, starting with the most remarkable one of all, Ruth Bradburd celebrating her 90th birthday. On Saturday, a collection of friends and relatives, who flew and drove from many miles away, all came to our house to wish Ruth good wishes on reaching this rare “Passage.” Jill and her sister threw an incredible bash with plenty of food and drink and fun for everyone. The part that made it so special was the re-connections made during this gathering. Cousins that had not seen each other for years reminisced. Our lifelong friends came to pay tribute to Ruth, but also to spend time with, my parents, our children and our niece and nephew and their families. All of these people have experienced each other at various “Passages” in their lives and now they could see the same people at a different point in their life. Other important passages including our daughter, Amanda returning home for the first time after moving to an apartment in Quincy, Massachusetts and starting her first full-time job after graduating college. Even Bernie and Judi’s trip to the west coast was to witness a girl who was in the same grade as Craig and Cara embarking on the passage of marriage. But probably the most amazing and gratifying passage of all is the rekindling of love and hope by our friend Dave after all of the tragedy that he has experienced. He truly is a new person now. His joy, Ruth’s excitement, the cousins catching up and the many generations all coming together for a good time made this a day to remember.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Leadership
First and foremost -- a heartfelt thank you to the numerous bloggers who have expressed their caring and support. I am off the 'injured reserve list' and back on the golf course and at the gym.
We've all seen a flock of geese flying (and before the avid blogger on Bi-Way corrects me - I'm told by very intelligent colleagues that the right word is flock when geese are flying and gaggle when geese are on the ground) in formation with one goose in the lead and the others forming a V. How many of you knew that it's not the same goose that takes the lead -- but rather, the geese take turns - and when the 'leader' gets tired, s/he drops back and another goose takes point. This allows every goose to take turns being leader while the others 'draft'. (Will the Nascar and Tour de France readers of this blog please explain to the less aware the concept of 'drafting.')
This is happening on the golf course. Rich, without question, has been our leader. He does everything from distributing the schedule, developing the 'rules' we play by - in terms of looking for balls and maintaining the pace of the game and he is the one who represents our interests with the Ranger and the Starter. It's not that Rich was tired - but rather another one of our 'gaggle', (not flock because we don't fly), stepped up into the leadership role when he determined that we were 'slowing down' the play of the foursome behind us. It wasn't a coup - but done with dignity and respect so Rich was able to 'save face' while relinquishing leadership. Our 'new leader' - (name rhymes with Man) - 'quickened our pace' and determined when the friend he brought along (much more about him later), could take a mulligan (another ball - sorry sometimes I resort to golf jargon) and when it wasn't necessary.
Since golf reflects life -- coincidentally another example of 'one of the geese' taking over leadership occurred this morning in Spin Class. Spin class is serious business. You have to sign up 24 hours in advance and if you don't show up in person, or call within 10 minutes of the gym opening - you are locked out. It is a 6 am class - but you still need to be at the gym at 5 am - even though you registered the day before -- because what happens if bikes are broken - which is a daily occurrence - and then there are too many registered people for the number of functional bikes. After you claim your bike - at 5 am - by leaving a towel, water bottle, or taking the seat with you -- you make sure you are back in the room at 5:50 am...even though the class starts at 6:00 am. There is a rule that if you are not on your bike - doesn't matter if your towel is on the bike - if your butt is not on the bike 5 minutes before the start of class - it's a 'free concert' and anyone can take your bike. (trivia question -- what epic event - that I was at - was referred to as a 'free concert' once we shut down 87?)
So this morning - we are all on our bikes at 5:50 am - getting in an extra 10 minutes of cycling. It's 6:00 am and no Gina (the world renowned instructor - whom many of us follow from club to club). One of the newer cyclists got off her bike to ask if she called in 'sick.' Those of us who have been around - would never leave our bike for fear that someone else would take it. The word back was 'no call from Gina.' Ten minutes pass and the tension in the room is rising. A mob mentality was forming - when a voice from the back row said quietly -- "I'll teach the class if someone else has music." A 'new goose' took the lead and the gaggle (once again, not a flock since we weren't flying) was happy. Gina did make an appearance at 6:20 am - but the class response will be chronicled in a new blog I'm starting: BK Gym and More.
Sunday was a magnificent day. The torrential downpours on Saturday were over (granted - they are not like the storms that our readers in Houston experience - and our thoughts our with our brethren as they gear up for a tropical storm expected to make landfall on Tuesday) and the day was sunny, with a breeze. Barry was our on the left coast - an excused absence - attending the Bar Mitzvah of his nephew ... and we'd like to extend the heartiest of congratulations to the entire Gold family. Dan (rhymes with Man) brought a friend - Bill. Bill immediately made a fashion statement by wearing hot pink shorts .... but as is so true -- you can't 'judge a book by its cover.' Bill turned out to be a very religious man -- often calling upon G-d after making an errant shot and a good guy to play with. Bill also was a 'saviour' in his own right. On the treacherous 13th hole -- there is a formidable creek surrounded my a thick ooze of mud - perhaps even quicksand. I had hit a shot that missed going over the creek by a 'goose neck' and disappeared into the quagmire. I was taking a passing look to see if I could find the ball, when my golf cart (carrying my bag, in which are not only my clubs, but also my blackberry, wallet and keys) started rolling into the creek. I was looking the other way, when without thought to his own safety, Bill jumped into the muck trying to rescue the cart and clubs. While he was not successful -- the cart tipped but stopped before being submerged -- he suffered the consequences of a first responder -- he was knee deep in the muck and spent the next 5 holes 'squishing' about. In retrospect -- I must not have engaged the brake on the cart...not so dissimilar to what happened when I learned to drive a stick shift and tried to master that first hill. I will always pause on the 13th hole as I approach the creek and say silent 'thank you' to Bill.
(hope your shoe has dried off -- and feel free to wear those pink shorts whenever you play with us).
Golf was great -- Rich played well -- showed us what a 3 wood off the tee could do. I had a couple of 'lucky putts' ... but none of us came close to reaching that remarkable score of 88 that Barry had ... and is now the goal.
Next Sunday, I have the distinct pleasure of going to a destination wedding in the Nappa Valley and another goose - will step up as he has so admirable these past few weeks - and author the blog.
A special shout out to Ruth Bradburd who will be celebrating her 90th birthday. Any reader of the blog is invited to the party.
Lesson learned: Everyone has leadership potential - and it just take the right circumstance for the individual to 'take charge' ... on the golf course or at a spin class.
We've all seen a flock of geese flying (and before the avid blogger on Bi-Way corrects me - I'm told by very intelligent colleagues that the right word is flock when geese are flying and gaggle when geese are on the ground) in formation with one goose in the lead and the others forming a V. How many of you knew that it's not the same goose that takes the lead -- but rather, the geese take turns - and when the 'leader' gets tired, s/he drops back and another goose takes point. This allows every goose to take turns being leader while the others 'draft'. (Will the Nascar and Tour de France readers of this blog please explain to the less aware the concept of 'drafting.')
This is happening on the golf course. Rich, without question, has been our leader. He does everything from distributing the schedule, developing the 'rules' we play by - in terms of looking for balls and maintaining the pace of the game and he is the one who represents our interests with the Ranger and the Starter. It's not that Rich was tired - but rather another one of our 'gaggle', (not flock because we don't fly), stepped up into the leadership role when he determined that we were 'slowing down' the play of the foursome behind us. It wasn't a coup - but done with dignity and respect so Rich was able to 'save face' while relinquishing leadership. Our 'new leader' - (name rhymes with Man) - 'quickened our pace' and determined when the friend he brought along (much more about him later), could take a mulligan (another ball - sorry sometimes I resort to golf jargon) and when it wasn't necessary.
Since golf reflects life -- coincidentally another example of 'one of the geese' taking over leadership occurred this morning in Spin Class. Spin class is serious business. You have to sign up 24 hours in advance and if you don't show up in person, or call within 10 minutes of the gym opening - you are locked out. It is a 6 am class - but you still need to be at the gym at 5 am - even though you registered the day before -- because what happens if bikes are broken - which is a daily occurrence - and then there are too many registered people for the number of functional bikes. After you claim your bike - at 5 am - by leaving a towel, water bottle, or taking the seat with you -- you make sure you are back in the room at 5:50 am...even though the class starts at 6:00 am. There is a rule that if you are not on your bike - doesn't matter if your towel is on the bike - if your butt is not on the bike 5 minutes before the start of class - it's a 'free concert' and anyone can take your bike. (trivia question -- what epic event - that I was at - was referred to as a 'free concert' once we shut down 87?)
So this morning - we are all on our bikes at 5:50 am - getting in an extra 10 minutes of cycling. It's 6:00 am and no Gina (the world renowned instructor - whom many of us follow from club to club). One of the newer cyclists got off her bike to ask if she called in 'sick.' Those of us who have been around - would never leave our bike for fear that someone else would take it. The word back was 'no call from Gina.' Ten minutes pass and the tension in the room is rising. A mob mentality was forming - when a voice from the back row said quietly -- "I'll teach the class if someone else has music." A 'new goose' took the lead and the gaggle (once again, not a flock since we weren't flying) was happy. Gina did make an appearance at 6:20 am - but the class response will be chronicled in a new blog I'm starting: BK Gym and More.
Sunday was a magnificent day. The torrential downpours on Saturday were over (granted - they are not like the storms that our readers in Houston experience - and our thoughts our with our brethren as they gear up for a tropical storm expected to make landfall on Tuesday) and the day was sunny, with a breeze. Barry was our on the left coast - an excused absence - attending the Bar Mitzvah of his nephew ... and we'd like to extend the heartiest of congratulations to the entire Gold family. Dan (rhymes with Man) brought a friend - Bill. Bill immediately made a fashion statement by wearing hot pink shorts .... but as is so true -- you can't 'judge a book by its cover.' Bill turned out to be a very religious man -- often calling upon G-d after making an errant shot and a good guy to play with. Bill also was a 'saviour' in his own right. On the treacherous 13th hole -- there is a formidable creek surrounded my a thick ooze of mud - perhaps even quicksand. I had hit a shot that missed going over the creek by a 'goose neck' and disappeared into the quagmire. I was taking a passing look to see if I could find the ball, when my golf cart (carrying my bag, in which are not only my clubs, but also my blackberry, wallet and keys) started rolling into the creek. I was looking the other way, when without thought to his own safety, Bill jumped into the muck trying to rescue the cart and clubs. While he was not successful -- the cart tipped but stopped before being submerged -- he suffered the consequences of a first responder -- he was knee deep in the muck and spent the next 5 holes 'squishing' about. In retrospect -- I must not have engaged the brake on the cart...not so dissimilar to what happened when I learned to drive a stick shift and tried to master that first hill. I will always pause on the 13th hole as I approach the creek and say silent 'thank you' to Bill.
(hope your shoe has dried off -- and feel free to wear those pink shorts whenever you play with us).
Golf was great -- Rich played well -- showed us what a 3 wood off the tee could do. I had a couple of 'lucky putts' ... but none of us came close to reaching that remarkable score of 88 that Barry had ... and is now the goal.
Next Sunday, I have the distinct pleasure of going to a destination wedding in the Nappa Valley and another goose - will step up as he has so admirable these past few weeks - and author the blog.
A special shout out to Ruth Bradburd who will be celebrating her 90th birthday. Any reader of the blog is invited to the party.
Lesson learned: Everyone has leadership potential - and it just take the right circumstance for the individual to 'take charge' ... on the golf course or at a spin class.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
If at first you don’t succeed
This Sunday was shaping up to be an interesting day. With all three of my regular companions again bagging golf in favor of other pursuits, I was faced with the choice of going it alone or forgetting it altogether. Fortunately I was able to get someone to join me. After asking last year and this year over and over again, our friend Stuart finally accepted the invitation. This was certainly going to be an interesting round of golf, because Stu has remarked on more than one occasion how his golf game was going great and how he was shooting in mid 80’s regularly, and didn’t want to invest the time to try to bring it down further. I have noticed that many a golfer who shoots in the mid 80’s finds that Saxon Woods is not the easy and generally can slip to the 90’s. Examples are, Bob from last week, Barry’s brother and my brother. All three probably had their worst round at Saxon Woods. Maybe the truth is that the course is actually harder than most. Since we play on it all the time, perhaps we don’t notice how difficult it is. I was curious, and I’m sure Bernie and Barry were too, to see how Stu fared against the mighty Saxon Woods. Alas, it wasn’t mean to be. To quote Bob Seger, “I woke up the sound of thunder.” At 5 am it was thunder and lightning and rain. Even though the radar looked like the storms might end in the next hour, since Stu was coming from Rockland county, we decided to cancel golf for this day. Of course if it were me and Bernie, we would have gone anyway, but Stu was a different story. Maybe he will join us another time. Of course, at 7 o’clock the rain stopped and the sun started to come out, so I ventured over to Saxon Woods to see if I could get a round in. Bernie will be happy to know that not only does the Starter know us by face, but he called me by name. He said he was going to try to get me out, because my regular time had passed. Sure enough at about 8:30 I got out with a threesome. These guys were regulars at that time but 1 of their friends didn’t show. They were a strange bunch.. They introduced themselves, but I quickly forgot their names. They rode in carts and hit from the blue tees. They all probably shot in the high 90’s so they weren’t great golfers, and that made my mistakes less noticeable. My usual style is to talk to the guys I play with, but these guys hardly talked to each other. So I just played my round, which was actually quite forgettable. As soon as I hit the ball these guys raced off in their carts to their balls, they never helped me look for any of my shots. Sometimes they didn’t even know where I was and parked their carts right in my way. These guys would hardly acknowledge when anyone hit a good shot. I found myself the only one who would say “good shot.” I even cracked myself up by saying it to myself when I hit a good shot. They smoked and cursed a lot and one guy got yelled at by the ranger for a new infraction. On the 16th hole, he didn’t even bother to leave his cart on the path and drove it right up to the tee box. This is a no-no in normal times, but after a big rain it is especially bad. After getting yelled at on 16th ranger came after him again on 17 where he was parked on the left side off the fairway and the ranger thought he should have been on the right side. This guy went ballistic and argued for a while with the ranger. After he left, this guy couldn’t stop ragging on what an idiot the ranger was and how he should go bother his wife instead of golfers. To make matters worse, it thundered and rained for about 15 minutes while we were playing. The only unusual thing about the round was that we finished in 4 hours and 40 minutes, with the rain delay. I guess having carts makes a big difference. It didn’t help my game, because I always felt like I was rushing to keep up, but it certainly led to faster play. I am looking forward to next week when Dan and Bernie will return. Bernie can also take back the reins of the blog.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Similarities
Today marked the return of one our original foursome to the fold. Barry returned to the Saxon Woods course after honing his game in the tropical island of St. Kitts. Barry brought along his friend Bob who usually plays at a country club in Rye. Bob brought along his hi-tech gizmo called the Sky Caddie which allowed him to tell us the exact distance we were from the green. This was an often illuminating experience, but didn’t seem to change anybody’s club selection. It was good for the intellect, but after the batteries went dead along the way, we went back to our old way of figuring distance. The approach is to look for the posts on the side of the fairway that are put in every 50 yards and estimate how much in-between the posts you are. We were joined by a walk-on by the name of Oliver who told us of his surprise when called the reservation system yesterday and this early time was available. Speaking of time, today was the day that our tee time moved from 6:52 A.M. to 7:12 A.M. This change evokes mixed feelings. On the one hand it is nice to sleep another 20 minutes, but it is also an indication that the mornings and evenings are getting darker and it is a signal that the summer (which seems like it just started,) is slipping away.
So – now to the similarities mentioned in the blog title. What do these folks have in common? Oliver and Ian from last week’s blog? Barry’s friend Bob and Ken Barish? Barry Gold and the professional Golfer John Daly? Oliver and Ian both are natives of the United Kingdom area who came to America for a bit of a visit and decided to stay. Oliver is not quite from the United Kingdom, because I don’t think that the folks from Ireland would want to be lumped in with those guys. But both Ian and Oliver work in the securities Industry, met their wives in America, got their green cards and decided to stay in this country. Oliver actually won a lottery in Ireland to get his original visa. Just in case any of us forget what we have going for us in this country, these guys are a reminder.
What do Bob and Ken Barish have in common? Well I guess I would have to say style of play. Both players have what I would call a methodical style of play. In an earlier blog, Bernie recalled Ken’s earlier tendencies to take an excessive number of practice swings that had been cut down to a reasonable number. Well Bob does something that I haven’t seen many players do, before almost every shot (including putting) he lays down his club at his feet and uses it to line himself up. After he is comfortable that his feet are lined properly, he picks up the club and takes some practice swings. He has a very very slow backswing, so after a couple of practice swings we are ready to go. Like Ken, nobody is complaining, Bob is fun guy to play with and things move along at their own pace.
That leaves the last similarity, Barry Gold and John Daly. They both Shot in the high 80’s in the last couple of days. For John Daly, Shooting an 89 on the second day of the British Open was probably not the high point of his career. In an otherwise difficult tournament, that score was the highest. But as Paul Simon wrote, “One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.” An 88 for Barry, or any of the fab four is a round for the ages. It is one to savor and remember. It might make Barry re-think his bike trip next week, so he can repeat this performance on his home course. To put an 88 in perspective, par for this course is 71. If you shoot one over par on every hole, you would shoot an 89. To the non-golfers, this may not seem like much, but trust me, most times people are happy to break 100. Barry was hitting his drives straight down the fairway. They were kept low, so as not to be impacted by the wind, but they rolled forever. These shots were complimented by a number of beautiful approach shots that landed softly on the green. Well done Barry. Bernie would have loved to witness it, but he is resting up for his triumphant return on August 3rd.
I’m not sure if there will be a golf blog next week, because again the other members of the foursome will be doing other things, so I will be by myself. I might choose to go to the beach with my lovely wife. We will see what happens.
So – now to the similarities mentioned in the blog title. What do these folks have in common? Oliver and Ian from last week’s blog? Barry’s friend Bob and Ken Barish? Barry Gold and the professional Golfer John Daly? Oliver and Ian both are natives of the United Kingdom area who came to America for a bit of a visit and decided to stay. Oliver is not quite from the United Kingdom, because I don’t think that the folks from Ireland would want to be lumped in with those guys. But both Ian and Oliver work in the securities Industry, met their wives in America, got their green cards and decided to stay in this country. Oliver actually won a lottery in Ireland to get his original visa. Just in case any of us forget what we have going for us in this country, these guys are a reminder.
What do Bob and Ken Barish have in common? Well I guess I would have to say style of play. Both players have what I would call a methodical style of play. In an earlier blog, Bernie recalled Ken’s earlier tendencies to take an excessive number of practice swings that had been cut down to a reasonable number. Well Bob does something that I haven’t seen many players do, before almost every shot (including putting) he lays down his club at his feet and uses it to line himself up. After he is comfortable that his feet are lined properly, he picks up the club and takes some practice swings. He has a very very slow backswing, so after a couple of practice swings we are ready to go. Like Ken, nobody is complaining, Bob is fun guy to play with and things move along at their own pace.
That leaves the last similarity, Barry Gold and John Daly. They both Shot in the high 80’s in the last couple of days. For John Daly, Shooting an 89 on the second day of the British Open was probably not the high point of his career. In an otherwise difficult tournament, that score was the highest. But as Paul Simon wrote, “One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.” An 88 for Barry, or any of the fab four is a round for the ages. It is one to savor and remember. It might make Barry re-think his bike trip next week, so he can repeat this performance on his home course. To put an 88 in perspective, par for this course is 71. If you shoot one over par on every hole, you would shoot an 89. To the non-golfers, this may not seem like much, but trust me, most times people are happy to break 100. Barry was hitting his drives straight down the fairway. They were kept low, so as not to be impacted by the wind, but they rolled forever. These shots were complimented by a number of beautiful approach shots that landed softly on the green. Well done Barry. Bernie would have loved to witness it, but he is resting up for his triumphant return on August 3rd.
I’m not sure if there will be a golf blog next week, because again the other members of the foursome will be doing other things, so I will be by myself. I might choose to go to the beach with my lovely wife. We will see what happens.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Hold Down the Fort
A strange experience indeed is to show up at the appointed time of 6:52 and see all the same characters, the Starter, the guy who takes the money, the people in front of us, but alas the fab four was not there. I was a solo act, the only one that was entitled to play at that hour, the only one who understood that you had to sleep out in the parking lot to get this coveted slot. I was joined by 3 walk-ons. They called the course and were surprised to hear that there was time available before 7 in the morning. We were random golfers thrown together for 18 holes on Sunday morning. My compadres all had valid reasons for not making it. Since the Blog is called “BK golf and more” let’s start with Bernard Kimberg. As Bernie indicated on his post from last week, he is taking a rather unorthodox approach to curing his slice. Thankfully all went well and we expect to see Bernie and his new clubs sooner rather than later. Barry was sampling a golf course in the Caribbean learning to use the trade winds to cure his slice once and for all. Dan is getting good use out of his summer house on the lake with friends from Washington staying over. So it was me and Ian and John and Phil that made up the foursome. The first point of order is to find out what color tees people like to hit from. The Blue tees are for the more advanced players, they are set back as far away from the holes as possible. Since you get the same number of strokes for par, these tees usually demand that you hit the ball pretty far. Then there are the white tees which are for average golfers. These are the tees that the fab four play from. So the votes were in, Ian and Phil would hit from the blues and John and I would hit from the whites. The opening hole has a lot of pressure attached to it, because everyone is watching. I was glad when Phil led off with a hard shank to the right landing about 40 yards away. I knew I couldn’t do worse than that so I was safe from embarrassing myself with my new “friends.” Now I will get to the “golf and more” part of the blog. Let’s start with Ian. Ian as the song from “Hair” says is from “Manchester England England across the Atlantic Sea.” He was a pretty big guy, but he didn’t look particularly athletic. It turns out that Ian can hit a golf ball further than anybody we have played with this year. To put it in perspective for those that know the course, on the 3rd hole he hit it on the left side of the fairway and it landed next to the hill. On the 8th hole he was about 40 yards short of the 150 yard marker and hit his 2nd shot into the bunker next to the green. Finally, on the 13th hole he had the misfortune to have the ball roll into the stream which is pretty far away. Ian works for Reuters and he and Equatorian wife have become so smitten with the U.S. that they have both gotten their green cards and their son born earlier this year is an American citizen. Ian did say that he would still be rooting for the Europeans in the Ryder Cup.
John had a solid golf game. He is a Clinical Psychologist who has spent his entire career working for one employer – Uncle Sam. He works at the VA hospital near Indian Point. He works on the chronic care ward with mostly Viet Nam veterans. On more than one occasion, when John missed a short putt, one of us would remark that it was good thing he was a psychologist, because otherwise he would need one.
Which leaves us with Phil. Phil works in the investor relations department of AllianceBernstein . Phil had no business playing from the Blue tees. During the course of the 18 holes, he took about 5 Mulligans and sprayed the ball all over the place hitting about 4 fairways. He could have used “Dr, Phil” because he was quite upset at the way he was playing and indicated that it was unusual for him. He wasn’t that bad, but I don’t think we will be asking him to join us in the future.
There you have it. 3 guys, none of whom could take the place of the regular members of the foursome. We finished in 4 hours and 40 minutes, hit up on the guys in front of us and didn’t get scolded by the Ranger. Weather was perfect, course was in great shape and I played the same game I have been playing every week. Hopefully next week I will be joined by a familiar face or two.
John had a solid golf game. He is a Clinical Psychologist who has spent his entire career working for one employer – Uncle Sam. He works at the VA hospital near Indian Point. He works on the chronic care ward with mostly Viet Nam veterans. On more than one occasion, when John missed a short putt, one of us would remark that it was good thing he was a psychologist, because otherwise he would need one.
Which leaves us with Phil. Phil works in the investor relations department of AllianceBernstein . Phil had no business playing from the Blue tees. During the course of the 18 holes, he took about 5 Mulligans and sprayed the ball all over the place hitting about 4 fairways. He could have used “Dr, Phil” because he was quite upset at the way he was playing and indicated that it was unusual for him. He wasn’t that bad, but I don’t think we will be asking him to join us in the future.
There you have it. 3 guys, none of whom could take the place of the regular members of the foursome. We finished in 4 hours and 40 minutes, hit up on the guys in front of us and didn’t get scolded by the Ranger. Weather was perfect, course was in great shape and I played the same game I have been playing every week. Hopefully next week I will be joined by a familiar face or two.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
The Dr. is in
Barry and Dan were off this week and we were joined by the eminent Psychologist and soon to be published author ... Dr. Ken. Our fourth was another Barry -- very nice guy - shot an 86 ... but didn't have a bagel to share on the 10th hole.
and let's talk GOLF ... On Saturday - Barry (the original) and I went to the Golf store in Stamford, Conn. to 'redeem' my birthday gift certificates -- generously given to me by my buddies and Judi. In less than an hour - I was fitted with new clubs (hybrid irons, a driver & 7 wood). This was nothing short of a miracle -- ask any of us who have gone with Barry shoe shopping .... this truly was like playing a round in under 4 hours. Although I have some doubts about the veracity of the computer that measured my swing and distance --- if I played the course like I hit in the store - I may think twice about my day job .... it was a most successful experience. And since our readership will be dramatically increased thanks to the APA (American Psychological Association) interest in how Dr. Ken played ... let it be said that counter to my 'Bronx/depression mentality', I was able to buy the clubs that I wanted. Since I will be on a medical leave (more on that later) for a number of weeks ... I'm saying 3 ... I paid a bit extra to take the clubs with me so I could play with them on Sunday.
Biggest concern was whether the weather (Jill - note the proper spelling and grammar) would allow us to play. The Golf G-d cooperated and we played under cloudy conditions. So much for the Ambien I took -- still couldn't sleep -- attribute that to my realization that by staying awake, I was able to will away the rain.
I will keep you in suspense no longer --- the first tee -- my first shot with my new clubs -- a 7 wood ... went over the trees and landed on the fairway. That essentially was the story of the day. The CLUBS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. So thank you to all who made this happen.
Truth be told - inviting Dr. Ken to join was not a 'no-brainer.' It's not that Dr. K isn't a great guy - he is - and a friend for 24 + years (our daughters and wives met at a mommy and me program at the Mid-Westchester Y -- free plug there) and it's not that Dr. K isn't a good player -- he's a very good player -- it's just that he is - to put it politely - very slow. Playing with him last year was like watching "paint dry.' Coupled with the fact that the foursome behind us are always waiting -- hands on their hips -- occasionally hitting up on us - to the point that I'm considering wearing a batting helmet -- Dr Ken's deliberate style of play was a source of concern. If memory serves me -- Dr. K would take between 9-11 warm up swings -- step back, behind his ball, and start the routine over again. The only advantage to playing with him last year - was that I took cat naps between his preparation and his shot.
During the pre-invitation screening, I was assured by Dr. K that he had been admonished by his son -- and he was a much quicker player. So after consultation with Rich -- our foursome's 'super ego' (Dr. K is an analyst by training and that reference is for him and the other 'Freudians') who makes sure that we are following all the rules and doing our best not to be admonished by the golf police, we extended the invitation.
Daniel B. -- we and golfers throughout Westchester and wherever else your dad plays -- owe you a debt of gratitude. I'd call Dr. K. deliberate -- but certainly within 'norm' of golfers on the continuum. It took us approximately 15 minutes longer to play -- but we didn't get scolded' by the Ranger and it was a pleasure to be joined by our favorite shrink.
About my Medical Leave --- not to worry -- Rich has demonstrated that he is an outstanding blogmeister and I'm looking forward to his postings. I'm having a non-functional kidney removed - which I'm counting on helping me with my slice -- since it's the left kidney and I slice to the right. The support I've received from family, friends from home and work, and now you my loyal readership will inspire me to get back to the course in short order.
today's lesson - having the proper tools is essential in golf - and probably in life.
and let's talk GOLF ... On Saturday - Barry (the original) and I went to the Golf store in Stamford, Conn. to 'redeem' my birthday gift certificates -- generously given to me by my buddies and Judi. In less than an hour - I was fitted with new clubs (hybrid irons, a driver & 7 wood). This was nothing short of a miracle -- ask any of us who have gone with Barry shoe shopping .... this truly was like playing a round in under 4 hours. Although I have some doubts about the veracity of the computer that measured my swing and distance --- if I played the course like I hit in the store - I may think twice about my day job .... it was a most successful experience. And since our readership will be dramatically increased thanks to the APA (American Psychological Association) interest in how Dr. Ken played ... let it be said that counter to my 'Bronx/depression mentality', I was able to buy the clubs that I wanted. Since I will be on a medical leave (more on that later) for a number of weeks ... I'm saying 3 ... I paid a bit extra to take the clubs with me so I could play with them on Sunday.
Biggest concern was whether the weather (Jill - note the proper spelling and grammar) would allow us to play. The Golf G-d cooperated and we played under cloudy conditions. So much for the Ambien I took -- still couldn't sleep -- attribute that to my realization that by staying awake, I was able to will away the rain.
I will keep you in suspense no longer --- the first tee -- my first shot with my new clubs -- a 7 wood ... went over the trees and landed on the fairway. That essentially was the story of the day. The CLUBS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. So thank you to all who made this happen.
Truth be told - inviting Dr. Ken to join was not a 'no-brainer.' It's not that Dr. K isn't a great guy - he is - and a friend for 24 + years (our daughters and wives met at a mommy and me program at the Mid-Westchester Y -- free plug there) and it's not that Dr. K isn't a good player -- he's a very good player -- it's just that he is - to put it politely - very slow. Playing with him last year was like watching "paint dry.' Coupled with the fact that the foursome behind us are always waiting -- hands on their hips -- occasionally hitting up on us - to the point that I'm considering wearing a batting helmet -- Dr Ken's deliberate style of play was a source of concern. If memory serves me -- Dr. K would take between 9-11 warm up swings -- step back, behind his ball, and start the routine over again. The only advantage to playing with him last year - was that I took cat naps between his preparation and his shot.
During the pre-invitation screening, I was assured by Dr. K that he had been admonished by his son -- and he was a much quicker player. So after consultation with Rich -- our foursome's 'super ego' (Dr. K is an analyst by training and that reference is for him and the other 'Freudians') who makes sure that we are following all the rules and doing our best not to be admonished by the golf police, we extended the invitation.
Daniel B. -- we and golfers throughout Westchester and wherever else your dad plays -- owe you a debt of gratitude. I'd call Dr. K. deliberate -- but certainly within 'norm' of golfers on the continuum. It took us approximately 15 minutes longer to play -- but we didn't get scolded' by the Ranger and it was a pleasure to be joined by our favorite shrink.
About my Medical Leave --- not to worry -- Rich has demonstrated that he is an outstanding blogmeister and I'm looking forward to his postings. I'm having a non-functional kidney removed - which I'm counting on helping me with my slice -- since it's the left kidney and I slice to the right. The support I've received from family, friends from home and work, and now you my loyal readership will inspire me to get back to the course in short order.
today's lesson - having the proper tools is essential in golf - and probably in life.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The Reunion
Simon and Garfunkle (not Garfinkle - Mr. Mayor ... who is a avid reader of this blog), the Brady Family, but not the Beatles were able to stage reunions that brought us back to better times. We also had a reunion of sorts -- the four of us golfing together after a very long stretch where at least one and sometimes two of us were not present.
Being together brought a tear to my eye -- or at least that was the reason I gave when I hit my tee shot on the first hole into the grove. It felt good -- you know how it is when you haven't seen an old friend for a long time -- and yet there is that special relationship that allows you to pick up as though it was just yesterday.
Golf itself was 'uneventful' - unless you count me playing in every sand trap on the course newsworthy. There was a lesson on counting strokes that was given by two of the foursome to a third member (you can speculate about whose who -- but I won't divulge). And there was the question that continues to stump me -- since Dan lost his Blackberry (or to be more accurate - learned it's never a good idea to drop it in the Lake) - why was he still wearing the empty case on his belt? Then there was the time that Dan escaped serious injury because he was only grazed by a golf shot of Richie's .... it is a dangerous sport.
Perhaps the most poignant remark -- one that captures our feelings for one another -- was made by Barry ... after Dan declined his offer of a bite of his Cinnamon bread on the 10th tee. Dan - not only a central character of the blog - but obviously a reader of it -- responded to Barry's sincere offer by saying, and I'm paraphrasing now, that he was not like the 4th golfer they picked up at the beginning of the season - who although a stranger - did take a bite of Barry's bagel when offered .... for those new readers - go back in the archives to an early blog --- Barry's response was "Dan -- you're family -- nothing like the other guy." It loses something in the translation - but trust me when I say it was a special moment -- one that guys don't often share with one another. (I'm hoping this 'love' will be enough to have Dan sign up for next year.)
and our golf game ended - with us not knowing when the original Fab Four would see each other again - Next week (July 4th ) Barry will be golfing at St. Kipps, Dan will be up on Golden Pond, and only Rich and I will be playing.
Wishing the loyal readership of this blog - a Happy 4th (except those of you from England) - and a lesson learned -- when in the sand trap - a hand wedge is often the club of choice.
Barry want it noted that he did not pee once on the course.
Being together brought a tear to my eye -- or at least that was the reason I gave when I hit my tee shot on the first hole into the grove. It felt good -- you know how it is when you haven't seen an old friend for a long time -- and yet there is that special relationship that allows you to pick up as though it was just yesterday.
Golf itself was 'uneventful' - unless you count me playing in every sand trap on the course newsworthy. There was a lesson on counting strokes that was given by two of the foursome to a third member (you can speculate about whose who -- but I won't divulge). And there was the question that continues to stump me -- since Dan lost his Blackberry (or to be more accurate - learned it's never a good idea to drop it in the Lake) - why was he still wearing the empty case on his belt? Then there was the time that Dan escaped serious injury because he was only grazed by a golf shot of Richie's .... it is a dangerous sport.
Perhaps the most poignant remark -- one that captures our feelings for one another -- was made by Barry ... after Dan declined his offer of a bite of his Cinnamon bread on the 10th tee. Dan - not only a central character of the blog - but obviously a reader of it -- responded to Barry's sincere offer by saying, and I'm paraphrasing now, that he was not like the 4th golfer they picked up at the beginning of the season - who although a stranger - did take a bite of Barry's bagel when offered .... for those new readers - go back in the archives to an early blog --- Barry's response was "Dan -- you're family -- nothing like the other guy." It loses something in the translation - but trust me when I say it was a special moment -- one that guys don't often share with one another. (I'm hoping this 'love' will be enough to have Dan sign up for next year.)
and our golf game ended - with us not knowing when the original Fab Four would see each other again - Next week (July 4th ) Barry will be golfing at St. Kipps, Dan will be up on Golden Pond, and only Rich and I will be playing.
Wishing the loyal readership of this blog - a Happy 4th (except those of you from England) - and a lesson learned -- when in the sand trap - a hand wedge is often the club of choice.
Barry want it noted that he did not pee once on the course.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Boyfriend
First - my thanks to Rich for his humorous, informative and spirited blogs of the past few weeks. While there is nothing like being on the course, second best is living vicariously through the blogs.
Richie referenced that Judi, Cara and I have spent the last few week-ends packing and moving Cara from Gainesville to Baltimore. For those statistics buffs among our readership: We shipped 33 boxes - Fed Ex; logged over 60 hours driving time and could fill this blog with stories - such as Cara being stopped by the police in her Apartment complex parking lot in Gainesville and asked to lift up her shoes so the Detectives could see the soles. The night before - there had been 6 cars broken into and the local CSI was on the case. Or later that night - after making the hundredth trip to the Fed Ex - which is open 24 hrs - I went back to the rental car that I thought was mine, opened the door - only to set off the car alarm - of someone else's car. It's a good thing we got out of Dodge when we did.
Let's fast forward to what the readership has been waiting for -- meeting the 'boyfriend.' For those who know Cara - I'm sure you'd agree that saying she is 'private person' is an understatement, especially when it comes to personal matters - like relationships.
And then the opportunity presented itself -- to meet someone that Cara had mentioned a number of times - and someone we knew was an 'important' part of her life -- Cara was a bridesmaid in a wedding down in Pinehurst, North Carolina. We were invited as well - and another 14 hour car ride wasn't going to stop us -- especially since we were given the 'assignment' of picking up the 'boyfriend' at the airport in Raleigh and driving an additional 2 hours to Pinehurst. We were a bit concerned about finding Josh - despite Cara's description of him as being 6'4". Adding to the challenge was that the President's plane had landed at the airport a few minutes before - causing a one hour delay for all other flights. One would be surprised how many 'tall' young men departing planes there were that night. (I didn't think it would be terribly 'cool' to have a small sign that said 'Cara's Parents' -- figuring that I had already traumatized Cara with another sign - "New Driver" that I put on her car after she got her license -- but that's a story for another blog. And suddenly there appeared a very tall young man, wearing green with a great big smile. (have I drawn you a picture -- big, green, jolly ....)
and we met Josh. I have a stiff neck from looking up -- I think I came up to his shoulders -- and I'm 7 inches taller than Cara -- How would I describe Josh - after spending 2 hours in the car, 4 hours playing golf on the most beautiful course I've experienced, having lunch - just Judi, Josh and me - and then seeing him with Cara at the wedding ... I'd describe Josh as:
1. an excellent golfer -- he shot an 87 -- he is a lefty golfer with a great fade and he was booming his drives consistently 225 + yards. (note that I did out drive him on the first and last hole and shot a respectable 94 ...) I can already hear the groans from Byway ... sorry - remember this is BK Golf and more, so Golf does come first. We went 'first class' - using a cart and played in a record setting 4 hours.
2. has the uncanny ability to feel comfortable in any social setting -- striking up conversations with strangers .... there is a tad of Eddie Haskel -- but there is allot I could teach him. (Who can forget back a century ago, when we were moving Mike C. from his parents house in Pelham Parkway and my lamenting with his mother about how I couldn't understand why Mike would want to leave home and what a pity it was ....)
3. He is a West Coaster - from outside LA and spent a few years between college and grad school
working in a scuba shop and becoming a diving instructor. (Did I mention that he holds Emory's record for the shotput, hammer and discus?)
4. In his spare time - he plays bass in rock n roll band and his motto is: Work Hard, Play Hard, Repeat.
5. He is very serious about his work - pursuing a PhD in micro-biology and doing Cancer research.
On the way back we made a stop at Durham and saw Daniel's program -- which will be detailed in a future blog --- 100 6th and 7th graders, 38 teachers (college students from Duke, UNC, and North Carolina State), 4 Teach for America mentor teachers and 4 senior teachers from the Durham Public Schools and the Universities are all joined in an experience that is changing the face of middle school public education in Durham.
So until next time -- lesson learned is that if you are 6'4" and an 'ox' -- you're going to hit the ball a long way.
Richie referenced that Judi, Cara and I have spent the last few week-ends packing and moving Cara from Gainesville to Baltimore. For those statistics buffs among our readership: We shipped 33 boxes - Fed Ex; logged over 60 hours driving time and could fill this blog with stories - such as Cara being stopped by the police in her Apartment complex parking lot in Gainesville and asked to lift up her shoes so the Detectives could see the soles. The night before - there had been 6 cars broken into and the local CSI was on the case. Or later that night - after making the hundredth trip to the Fed Ex - which is open 24 hrs - I went back to the rental car that I thought was mine, opened the door - only to set off the car alarm - of someone else's car. It's a good thing we got out of Dodge when we did.
Let's fast forward to what the readership has been waiting for -- meeting the 'boyfriend.' For those who know Cara - I'm sure you'd agree that saying she is 'private person' is an understatement, especially when it comes to personal matters - like relationships.
And then the opportunity presented itself -- to meet someone that Cara had mentioned a number of times - and someone we knew was an 'important' part of her life -- Cara was a bridesmaid in a wedding down in Pinehurst, North Carolina. We were invited as well - and another 14 hour car ride wasn't going to stop us -- especially since we were given the 'assignment' of picking up the 'boyfriend' at the airport in Raleigh and driving an additional 2 hours to Pinehurst. We were a bit concerned about finding Josh - despite Cara's description of him as being 6'4". Adding to the challenge was that the President's plane had landed at the airport a few minutes before - causing a one hour delay for all other flights. One would be surprised how many 'tall' young men departing planes there were that night. (I didn't think it would be terribly 'cool' to have a small sign that said 'Cara's Parents' -- figuring that I had already traumatized Cara with another sign - "New Driver" that I put on her car after she got her license -- but that's a story for another blog. And suddenly there appeared a very tall young man, wearing green with a great big smile. (have I drawn you a picture -- big, green, jolly ....)
and we met Josh. I have a stiff neck from looking up -- I think I came up to his shoulders -- and I'm 7 inches taller than Cara -- How would I describe Josh - after spending 2 hours in the car, 4 hours playing golf on the most beautiful course I've experienced, having lunch - just Judi, Josh and me - and then seeing him with Cara at the wedding ... I'd describe Josh as:
1. an excellent golfer -- he shot an 87 -- he is a lefty golfer with a great fade and he was booming his drives consistently 225 + yards. (note that I did out drive him on the first and last hole and shot a respectable 94 ...) I can already hear the groans from Byway ... sorry - remember this is BK Golf and more, so Golf does come first. We went 'first class' - using a cart and played in a record setting 4 hours.
2. has the uncanny ability to feel comfortable in any social setting -- striking up conversations with strangers .... there is a tad of Eddie Haskel -- but there is allot I could teach him. (Who can forget back a century ago, when we were moving Mike C. from his parents house in Pelham Parkway and my lamenting with his mother about how I couldn't understand why Mike would want to leave home and what a pity it was ....)
3. He is a West Coaster - from outside LA and spent a few years between college and grad school
working in a scuba shop and becoming a diving instructor. (Did I mention that he holds Emory's record for the shotput, hammer and discus?)
4. In his spare time - he plays bass in rock n roll band and his motto is: Work Hard, Play Hard, Repeat.
5. He is very serious about his work - pursuing a PhD in micro-biology and doing Cancer research.
On the way back we made a stop at Durham and saw Daniel's program -- which will be detailed in a future blog --- 100 6th and 7th graders, 38 teachers (college students from Duke, UNC, and North Carolina State), 4 Teach for America mentor teachers and 4 senior teachers from the Durham Public Schools and the Universities are all joined in an experience that is changing the face of middle school public education in Durham.
So until next time -- lesson learned is that if you are 6'4" and an 'ox' -- you're going to hit the ball a long way.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Expectations, Predications and Reality
This is my second week as the substitute blogger and I can really appreciate the difficulty that our fearless lead Blogger, Bernard, experiences each week. It is difficult to come up with stories of Golf and more that will satisfy the discerning readers of the blog. While Bernie and Judi are enjoying quality time with their family at an authentic southern wedding we northerners will carry on with our appointed duties. I am looking forward to Bernie taking back the reins next week.
This week was a week of expectations. We expected the return of our long lost foursome buddy, Dan, who was taking a break from his country house on the lake to join us this Sunday. Unfortunately, Dan had a recurrence of a chronic back problem and had to defer his return to another week. This left us with the returning Max, who previous readers will remember as the son in the father and son duo from last week. As for our final member of the foursome, we decided to take on whatever walk-on joined us on Sunday. On the golf front, expectations were high as Barry had a stellar round with his brother on Saturday and I had a decent practice session at the driving range and Max was also looking forward to hitting a round in the 80’s. These were our expectations, but we were not so bold to consider them predictions of how we would perform, only our hopes. Contrast that with the local meteorological folks on the television and radio. You see, these guys were not offering expectations about Sunday’s weather, they were offering predications. They all but told us to pack it in, because there would be showers everywhere on Sunday and some heavy downpours to boot. So when our collective golf games did not turn out the way we had expected, we could take solace in the fact that the predications were wrong and it turned out to be a sunny morning with no rain until the car ride home from the golf course. Speaking of expectations, it is time to talk about our walk-on 4th Mark. Mark was a rather large burly guy who spoke with a noticeable accent when we introduced ourselves. In honor of Bernie I said we should all introduce ourselves as “Bud,” but I was too late – Barry and Max had already shook hands with Mark. Mark spoke in a deep voice and initially sounded like he hailed from Germany or some country in the middle of Europe. He kind of looked German, so our expectations stemmed from what we saw and heard initially. As we talked more and more with Mark, it was clear that he was not from Germany. He sounded like he was from Jamaica or some Caribbean island. Obvious mismatch between his ethnic appearance and the notion that he hailed from Jamaica, but the accent was definitely from the Caribbean. Now for the reality. Mark turned out to be a really nice guy who enjoyed Barry’s kidding around and who liked talking golf with Max. He was another big hitter in the tradition of all the walk-ons we have had in the last few weeks. He turned out to have something in common with me as he worked in the technology department of J.P. Morgan. It turns out he hails from the island of Grenada.
So much for expectations and predications we will stick with the reality.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Houston We Have a Problem!!
Being entrusted with the Blog is like being asked to pinch hit for Jay Leno on the Tonight Show. Who can do justice to the weekly musings of our favorite blogger? But carry on I must, so here is the entry for June 15th – Father’s Day. While we are on the subject, let’s take a moment to recognize the Kimberg moving company which certainly rivals the 7 Santini Brothers. Judi flying to Florida shipping 20 odd boxes to New York. Bernie flying down to Florida a week later packing up the remaining items for 2 destinations, storage in Florida or the Toyota heading to Baltimore. A quick stop in North Carolina for a Father’s day celebration with Bernie and his 2 kids and on to Baltimore where Judi was waiting with the relevant items from the boxes that arrived in New York. Wow!
But enough of that, on onto the subject of the Blog – golf and more. Readers know that we have been struggling finding familiar golfers to play with us at the un-Godly hour of 6:52 A.M. We have been paired with strangers who have helped to provide blog fodder. Today we were joined by 2 familiar faces of our choosing. In the spirit of Father’s day our twosome was a father and son Ken and Max. Their relaxed, low-key manner made the day a pleasant experience and showed a father and son supporting each other through the trials and tribulations of the golf day. We didn’t know what to expect when we started off day, because there were tremendous rain storms the night before and this particular course doesn’t drain well. We approached the tee on the first hole and looked out on a foggy, humid morning. 3 balls in the fairway, and only Ken found the trees on the right – a good start. As Barry reached for his trusty Pitching wedge to knock it on the green, he became instantly concerned when he could not find the club in his bag. The 9 iron was missing too. Barry’s first thought was that the clubs were in his car in the parking lot. From where we were standing it was a short walk back to car, so Barry hit his ball and then ran back to the car. When he returned empty handed we knew this was not good sign. Barry retraced his steps from the last few days to try to determine where the clubs might be. He played golf on Thursday with a friend. Could he have left them on that course? He moved his golf bag from car to car as Sammy and Sara each needed cars for various reasons – could they be in one of the other cars? I told Barry that he could use my clubs should he need them thinking that he could concentrate on his golf game and not worry about his missing clubs. But to paraphrase Harry Chapin’s song, “another man might have been angry and another man might have been hurt, but another man (Barry) never would have let it go” ---- but instead of stashing the bill in his shirt he reached for the cell phone on the next hole. Who could he be calling at 7:05 A.M. on a Sunday morning? His wife Leslie, who as the readers will recall was mentioned in last week’s blog as the understanding wife who allowed Barry to finish his stellar round. Today she was called upon to check the car at home and see if the clubs were there. Upon locating the clubs, Barry then asked if while she was out, would she be able to drop them off at the clubhouse. Amazingly she agreed and a plan was put forth to have Barry back with a full set of Golf clubs in time for the back 9. Wow you got to love the resourcefulness of that couple, but to protect their identity we will continue to use Leslie’s maiden name – Gold.
This wasn’t the only equipment problem today (hence the title of the Blog). The protagonist was once again Barry, and this time it was the wheel on his push cart that holds his golf bag, Last week the wheel wobbled a bit, but this week the wheel had taken a turn for the worse and was shaking so badly that I was checking to see if I had my AAA card with me. Without holding the reader in suspense any longer I will tell you how it all turned out. Barry’s cart made it to the end of the round, but will not be back next week without a new tire. Leslie got the clubs to the course and Barry ran over to get them on the ninth hole. Barry still got to eat his bagel and butter, but not until the 10th hole because of his detour to get the clubs. Barry with his full set of clubs in his bag, managed to once again birdie a hole – this time the difficult par 5 13th. We finished in 4 hours and 35 minutes which was about average for the group. The course was wet and in good shape with the exception of a big oak tree that had fallen down on the 17th hole near the fairway bunker. Last but not least, Max kept up the tradition of the last few weeks of a long hitter showing us how to rocket the ball. He didn’t disappoint, by accepting the challenge of hitting the ball over the marsh on the 11th hole, landing safely on the other side over 200 yards away. A shot that would make his father proud! Happy Father’s day to all.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Stick to your Knitting
Stop the yelling - all those in 'bloggerdome.' I've heard you -- you want, no, you DEMAND more about the golf and less about the 'and more.' And since I'm all about pleasing my readership - and soon to be advertisers (my attorney - who will be featured shortly - is just dotting i's and crossing t's ... ) Hold on to your 'needles' because there is allot of golf to talk about.
Weather conditions were HOT, HOT, HOT ... and remember we tee off before the sun rises. Our fourth is living out his "Therowian" -- (spelling is wrong Jill - I know) dream so it's the three Marble Hill boys and our new best friend Alex. If you remember last week's addition - Jim - who could bend iron, crush balls between his thumb and his forefinger -- Alex is a younger version. Looking to move to NY - playing from the Blues - which we 'sheepishly' followed on the first hole - he proved to be a worthy addition -- more about him later.
Let's pause on the first hole - mistakenly teeing off from the Blues - two out of three of us ended up in the Grove (almost as bad as being caught by the Marble Hill police for playing on the grass... perhaps E. will play with us some Sunday?) yours truly hit his first shot over the trees ... and that will be the last reference to my golf game.
HEADLINE: Barry shoots best round of his career! and that is with taking the 'required' penalty strokes for a lost ball which some of us forget to do - and not counting those 'teetering putts that almost but don't drop.' Also - let's applaud the Birdie Barry hit (and I'm not talking about the Hawks that have yet to be seen) on the 5th hole. Suffice it to say that Barry's final score does not reflect that he went to Science High School.
SECOND HEADLINE: Richie 'owns' the turf - from the flag to 120 yards out. Repeatedly, Rich gave a demonstration worthy of all the golf infomercials he watches on how to master the short game.
My claim is that I should have taken my beach chair on this round.
The 'story behind the story' is the support of an 'understanding wife.' Barry and family (can't use last names to protect the privacy of our players) were hosting a 1PM B-que for the Ardsley Lacrosse team. (and yes I asked the 'tired question' of whether or not there would be strippers.)
The plan was for Barry to leave early to help with the set up. As the hours go by ... and Barry's play continues to stay strong - there is a noticeable change....no different than the baseball team that doesn't acknowledge a pitcher has a perfect game going into the 7th inning - but gives him his space in the dugout --- we did the same. When Barry drove the ball long and straight down the fairway, I made sure to hit my drive either far to the right or to the left -- so he could walk alone and contemplate his next shot. However - we weren't aware of the external pressure of the B-que and his promise to get home early. Let's pause to say that no great golfer succeeds in a vacuum. No surprise to those of us who know Leslie (I'll use her maiden name to ensure her anonymity) Gold ... when Barry checked in with her to say he was having the 'game of his life' and offered to cut it short and come home to help -- she did what many would not -- told him to stay and make her proud. There are lessons to be learned by the commitment this spouse has to her husband's golf success.
Back to Alex -- who continued to hit from the Blues - and we continued to need binoculars to track his ball - who we learned just turned 30 and one of my partners had to inform me that my comment that we were 'almost 2 decades older than him' was mathematically wrong. Only to be outdone by my other colleague who reminded me that we are married longer than Alex is alive. That Alex decided to settle another score on the golf course - his dissatisfaction with the Giant, with the Platinum Standard of the Banking World -- with GOLDMAN SACHS. Don't kid Richie about his family or his employer. (How many others return year after year to discuss the 'good old days at Drexel?) Alex - this 30 y/o has the audacity to complain about the Goldman Network and the money he's lost as an independent trader because of this icon. The conversation grew tense and it was only the fact that Alex always hit his shot into another zip code that prevented this confrontation from growing ugly.
Another story within the story -- a return to an 'old friend.' Richie - we've already determined that he is 'loyal' - returned to his putter of yester year. He determined that his 'new fangled' properly aligned and weighted putter with the diamond studded grip just wasn't cutting it. Lesser people than he would have stayed with this 'expensive toy' - (cognitive dissonance for those budding psychologists that are starting to flock to this blog ... especially you Aurora) but not Rich. And his trustee putter didn't let him down as he sunk putt after putt from distances measured in yards and not inches.
and now ... the difficult news to share ... for the next two weeks I will be turning over this golf blog to my partner - not John Sterling, not Susan Waldman ... but to Richie. I'm off on a different type of quest ... a trip to Florida and a ride back in a 'portable prison' with a stop in Durham and a final destination being the city that Cal made his own. (baseball fans will weigh in on what city this is for the rest of you.) Cara is taking a temporary leave from the Florida state and since I accompanied her on her adventurous ride 4 years ago (we planned on stopping overnight - and decided to drive straight through and 18 hours later landed in Gator Country) - it was destined that once again I would ride "shotgun." The 60 or so hours we will spend together will create their own memories -- but it will be hard to rival the 5 hours of defensive driving course we took, where we were pulling out hair out -- at least Cara was -- and at the end - one of the 'graduates' delayed our leaving by asking the most inane questions and treating this like he was saying goodbye to his college roommates. Or perhaps it was the time we decide to start driving home from Duke the same evening of the day I drove down -- and getting stuck in the worst traffic because the draw bridge somewhere in Virginia was in the up position. (I still didn't see a problem peeing on the divider of the highway -- we hadn't moved in over an hour at that point.)
Cara and I will be making memories -- only to be overshadowed by the following Sunday -- the WEDDING where we get to meet 'the giant' for the first time.
So loyal readership - I leave it up to you ... should I 'stick to my knitting' or do you want to ALSO hear about the 'and more' part of this blog -
Like Barry did today - hitting them long and straight .... and like Richie did today ... chipping them 'softly' and putting them home .... wishing you a good few weeks.
Weather conditions were HOT, HOT, HOT ... and remember we tee off before the sun rises. Our fourth is living out his "Therowian" -- (spelling is wrong Jill - I know) dream so it's the three Marble Hill boys and our new best friend Alex. If you remember last week's addition - Jim - who could bend iron, crush balls between his thumb and his forefinger -- Alex is a younger version. Looking to move to NY - playing from the Blues - which we 'sheepishly' followed on the first hole - he proved to be a worthy addition -- more about him later.
Let's pause on the first hole - mistakenly teeing off from the Blues - two out of three of us ended up in the Grove (almost as bad as being caught by the Marble Hill police for playing on the grass... perhaps E. will play with us some Sunday?) yours truly hit his first shot over the trees ... and that will be the last reference to my golf game.
HEADLINE: Barry shoots best round of his career! and that is with taking the 'required' penalty strokes for a lost ball which some of us forget to do - and not counting those 'teetering putts that almost but don't drop.' Also - let's applaud the Birdie Barry hit (and I'm not talking about the Hawks that have yet to be seen) on the 5th hole. Suffice it to say that Barry's final score does not reflect that he went to Science High School.
SECOND HEADLINE: Richie 'owns' the turf - from the flag to 120 yards out. Repeatedly, Rich gave a demonstration worthy of all the golf infomercials he watches on how to master the short game.
My claim is that I should have taken my beach chair on this round.
The 'story behind the story' is the support of an 'understanding wife.' Barry and family (can't use last names to protect the privacy of our players) were hosting a 1PM B-que for the Ardsley Lacrosse team. (and yes I asked the 'tired question' of whether or not there would be strippers.)
The plan was for Barry to leave early to help with the set up. As the hours go by ... and Barry's play continues to stay strong - there is a noticeable change....no different than the baseball team that doesn't acknowledge a pitcher has a perfect game going into the 7th inning - but gives him his space in the dugout --- we did the same. When Barry drove the ball long and straight down the fairway, I made sure to hit my drive either far to the right or to the left -- so he could walk alone and contemplate his next shot. However - we weren't aware of the external pressure of the B-que and his promise to get home early. Let's pause to say that no great golfer succeeds in a vacuum. No surprise to those of us who know Leslie (I'll use her maiden name to ensure her anonymity) Gold ... when Barry checked in with her to say he was having the 'game of his life' and offered to cut it short and come home to help -- she did what many would not -- told him to stay and make her proud. There are lessons to be learned by the commitment this spouse has to her husband's golf success.
Back to Alex -- who continued to hit from the Blues - and we continued to need binoculars to track his ball - who we learned just turned 30 and one of my partners had to inform me that my comment that we were 'almost 2 decades older than him' was mathematically wrong. Only to be outdone by my other colleague who reminded me that we are married longer than Alex is alive. That Alex decided to settle another score on the golf course - his dissatisfaction with the Giant, with the Platinum Standard of the Banking World -- with GOLDMAN SACHS. Don't kid Richie about his family or his employer. (How many others return year after year to discuss the 'good old days at Drexel?) Alex - this 30 y/o has the audacity to complain about the Goldman Network and the money he's lost as an independent trader because of this icon. The conversation grew tense and it was only the fact that Alex always hit his shot into another zip code that prevented this confrontation from growing ugly.
Another story within the story -- a return to an 'old friend.' Richie - we've already determined that he is 'loyal' - returned to his putter of yester year. He determined that his 'new fangled' properly aligned and weighted putter with the diamond studded grip just wasn't cutting it. Lesser people than he would have stayed with this 'expensive toy' - (cognitive dissonance for those budding psychologists that are starting to flock to this blog ... especially you Aurora) but not Rich. And his trustee putter didn't let him down as he sunk putt after putt from distances measured in yards and not inches.
and now ... the difficult news to share ... for the next two weeks I will be turning over this golf blog to my partner - not John Sterling, not Susan Waldman ... but to Richie. I'm off on a different type of quest ... a trip to Florida and a ride back in a 'portable prison' with a stop in Durham and a final destination being the city that Cal made his own. (baseball fans will weigh in on what city this is for the rest of you.) Cara is taking a temporary leave from the Florida state and since I accompanied her on her adventurous ride 4 years ago (we planned on stopping overnight - and decided to drive straight through and 18 hours later landed in Gator Country) - it was destined that once again I would ride "shotgun." The 60 or so hours we will spend together will create their own memories -- but it will be hard to rival the 5 hours of defensive driving course we took, where we were pulling out hair out -- at least Cara was -- and at the end - one of the 'graduates' delayed our leaving by asking the most inane questions and treating this like he was saying goodbye to his college roommates. Or perhaps it was the time we decide to start driving home from Duke the same evening of the day I drove down -- and getting stuck in the worst traffic because the draw bridge somewhere in Virginia was in the up position. (I still didn't see a problem peeing on the divider of the highway -- we hadn't moved in over an hour at that point.)
Cara and I will be making memories -- only to be overshadowed by the following Sunday -- the WEDDING where we get to meet 'the giant' for the first time.
So loyal readership - I leave it up to you ... should I 'stick to my knitting' or do you want to ALSO hear about the 'and more' part of this blog -
Like Barry did today - hitting them long and straight .... and like Richie did today ... chipping them 'softly' and putting them home .... wishing you a good few weeks.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Time --
Hey Blog readership. This week's golf outing featured the 3 caballeros (Dan 'had gone fishin') and our 'newest and bestest' golfer to ever join our foursome -- Jim. It was Teddy Roosevelt that said "Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick", (wasn't it?) .... and that was Jim. He has a 3 handicap -- which in regular speak means he hits the ball at least 30 - 35 times LESS than we do. There was some idol worship going on - as we all stood and watched his drives -- 300 yard drives - and thinking to ourselves ... "I want to be like Jim." This 37 y/o construction worker - he lays iron -- living on the East side, plays Saxon Woods and Beth Page when he's not spending week-ends in his house outside Syracuse .... was low key, patient, and humored us by saying that he enjoyed playing with us. Jim -- when you read this blog -- know that all other 'golfers who play a round with us ' will never measure up to your standards. Jim - we raise our putters in salute!
Let's get the particulars of the day out of the way ... weather was ideal ... we played with an idol... and on the first hole I looked like an idiot. Faithful followers of this blog will remember that the first hole is the 'pressure hole.' The starter is watching you as is the foursome going to follow you. All ready to judge 'your game' and thus their Sunday golf experience based on your first drive off the tee. I've had mixed experiences on this first hole -- last time hitting a nice shot over the trees, more often hitting into the grove. I was first up -- addressed the ball -- swung -- and landed on my butt. Yes, the grass was wet, yes I was wearing sneakers -- and yes -- everyone was watching. The only thing that beat my fall - was my shot -- with the golf ball landing 150 yrds - straight out in the fairway. I'm not graceful -- but I got the job done. (perhaps a life lesson here somewhere.)
The balance of the day was booming drives (from Jim and Barry that is) with Richie and I playing 'army golf' --- left, right, left, right .....
But back to the title: I need the music buffs out there (can I get some help Sammy?) to tell me the person who wrote and sung: "Time, Time, Time, .... It's on my side ... Yes it is" For me, it's just the opposite -- Time is my nemisis (SAT word) ... Time is a 'countdown' ... and most of you know my philosophy -- "there is no tomorrow" ... or even more bluntly and to quote another song title ... "Live life like you were Dying."
We measure our golf game by time: On Monday - rich and I played a 6 hour round, today we played in 4 hrs and 25 minutes ... We felt the pressure of time today - because the foursome behind us were right on our backs. Whenever we turned around - like Butch and Sundance did - they would be there - scowling - hands on their hips. During the 6 hour round - the pressure was internal -- would we finish before we ran out of breakfast and lunch food.
And now for you TV viewers -- you know how on Cold Case -- they juxtapose (another good SAT word that I can't spell) the current person with the person who committed the crime decades ago - we had a very special few hours this afternoon. My parents haven't been to our house for over 15 years -- because of my mother's physical disability. We recently got a portable ramp - and at Judi's suggestion - told them we were going to take them out -- but wouldn't tell them where. I picked them up - their new wheelchair accessible van - makes going places so much easier -- and took them back to the house. The look on my parent's faces - when they were in our backyard -- reliving 'happy times -- was poignant. The bigger surprise for them was when Barry, Richie and Jill came over. My parents know them for 40 years -- and to see them - not in a hospital - but in our home - a very special time.
Perhaps I can get an assist from our English consultant in Jersey. Who said "These were the best of times, these were the worst of times?" Today was definitely the "BEST OF TIMES."
Lesson learned today --- wish I would have taken Jim's e-mail address in case I ever am invited with a partner to play in a scramble. Secondary lesson - glad my parents got to see my childhood friends, hear about their children, and be so happy being together with us - in a relaxed (everyone but me) environment. For all of us today - There was NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT.
Hit em long and straight.
Let's get the particulars of the day out of the way ... weather was ideal ... we played with an idol... and on the first hole I looked like an idiot. Faithful followers of this blog will remember that the first hole is the 'pressure hole.' The starter is watching you as is the foursome going to follow you. All ready to judge 'your game' and thus their Sunday golf experience based on your first drive off the tee. I've had mixed experiences on this first hole -- last time hitting a nice shot over the trees, more often hitting into the grove. I was first up -- addressed the ball -- swung -- and landed on my butt. Yes, the grass was wet, yes I was wearing sneakers -- and yes -- everyone was watching. The only thing that beat my fall - was my shot -- with the golf ball landing 150 yrds - straight out in the fairway. I'm not graceful -- but I got the job done. (perhaps a life lesson here somewhere.)
The balance of the day was booming drives (from Jim and Barry that is) with Richie and I playing 'army golf' --- left, right, left, right .....
But back to the title: I need the music buffs out there (can I get some help Sammy?) to tell me the person who wrote and sung: "Time, Time, Time, .... It's on my side ... Yes it is" For me, it's just the opposite -- Time is my nemisis (SAT word) ... Time is a 'countdown' ... and most of you know my philosophy -- "there is no tomorrow" ... or even more bluntly and to quote another song title ... "Live life like you were Dying."
We measure our golf game by time: On Monday - rich and I played a 6 hour round, today we played in 4 hrs and 25 minutes ... We felt the pressure of time today - because the foursome behind us were right on our backs. Whenever we turned around - like Butch and Sundance did - they would be there - scowling - hands on their hips. During the 6 hour round - the pressure was internal -- would we finish before we ran out of breakfast and lunch food.
And now for you TV viewers -- you know how on Cold Case -- they juxtapose (another good SAT word that I can't spell) the current person with the person who committed the crime decades ago - we had a very special few hours this afternoon. My parents haven't been to our house for over 15 years -- because of my mother's physical disability. We recently got a portable ramp - and at Judi's suggestion - told them we were going to take them out -- but wouldn't tell them where. I picked them up - their new wheelchair accessible van - makes going places so much easier -- and took them back to the house. The look on my parent's faces - when they were in our backyard -- reliving 'happy times -- was poignant. The bigger surprise for them was when Barry, Richie and Jill came over. My parents know them for 40 years -- and to see them - not in a hospital - but in our home - a very special time.
Perhaps I can get an assist from our English consultant in Jersey. Who said "These were the best of times, these were the worst of times?" Today was definitely the "BEST OF TIMES."
Lesson learned today --- wish I would have taken Jim's e-mail address in case I ever am invited with a partner to play in a scramble. Secondary lesson - glad my parents got to see my childhood friends, hear about their children, and be so happy being together with us - in a relaxed (everyone but me) environment. For all of us today - There was NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT.
Hit em long and straight.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Do-Overs
Growing up in the Bronx - disputes that arose during games like stoop ball, punch ball, stick ball , captain, weren't resolved by fighting -- they were resolved by someone calling a 'Do-Over.' The prior play was forgotten - and another chance was given.
I had a "Do-Over" week-end of golf.
On Sunday, while Dan was throwing out a line and Richie was at Amanda's graduation - Barry and I had a special treat of playing with Sam Gold. "Atta Boy" to Sam for getting to the golf course by 6:30 AM .... and playing the full 18! If this was closer to Father's Day, I would wax poetically about the pleasure of playing with Barry and Sam. (Similarly to how I felt playing with Richie and his dad. There is something special about playing 'intergenerational golf' with your friends kids or their dad.) I do want to note that Sam's play was at least equal - and usually surpassed ours .... the only problem with that is Sam has played less that 12 times, and we've been playing golf almost twice as long as he's been alive. Sam's strong suit was chipping from off the green and getting the ball in the cup. It was particularly heart warming to see the Gold's share some rye bread at the 10th hole. (although it fairness - I need to point out that this was one of Barry's 'substandard snacks' - no butter, no challah, no bagel and cream cheese.)
We were joined on Sunday by U-Taka ... a very polite young man who is known for having the largest 'putter heads' and tees that looked more like tripods. We were chastised a number of times by the Ranger .... couldn't keep up with the foursome in front of us ... but still managed to play the course in a near record 4 hrs and 20 minutes.
My game was inconsistent -- but I was able to call a "DO-OVER" (bet you wondered when I was going to get the title into the blog) because I was playing on Monday with Richie (or as I called him - Rick). The great thing about a "Do-Over" - whether you are 8 years old or 7X that (as Jill is) - is that the past is forgotten and there is the expectation that all that went bad on the course yesterday will be magically corrected today. So on Sunday - my first tee shot went as usual into the grove -- but on Monday - I hit it OVER the trees. But I get ahead of myself.
As teenagers and young adults, Richie and I were most often not part of the 'inner sports circle' when it came to situations at the Van Courtland tennis courts. Although we had tennis permits, and although there was supposedly a city rec employee to 'maintain order and enforce the rules' - the 'street law' always favored the 'insiders.' For instance - if the courts were wet - and an 'insider' cleared the court -- they had unlimited tennis time -- while Richie and I (the outsiders) were shut out. The same thing happened again when we would go to play racket ball at the New Rochelle YMCA - and the 'insiders' would rig a system so we would only get 45 minutes of playing time while they played the night.
Well sports fans - today (Monday) was another DO-OVER. Richie has registered us for an 11:58 tee time and shortly after paying -- it became apparent that there was trouble in Saxon Woods. There were 6 people registered for this tee time. (For the uninformed golfers - since this is much more than a golfing blog - only 4 people can tee off at a time.) There was a huddle with the Saxon Woods Golfing Authorities -- with Richie and I expecting to be told that we'd have to wait -- like we did in Van Cortland Park, or at the Y - so the 'insiders' could play. Since there was a 'parade' of people waiting to play (this being Memorial Day) -- this could have been a deal breaker. And then - out of the Golf Authorities huddle came a 'booming voice' - the Starter - who as many of the readership know is the most important official on the course - because without him you can't -- START -- announced in a most authoritative manner -- that those two (and he pointed to Richie and me) were going to tee off at 11:58 and the other 4 would have to work it out ... because we were 'regulars.' WE MADE IT -- WE WERE INSIDERS -- All the slights of childhood -- all the feelings of inadequacy on the courts -- all the injustices we suffered disappeared some 40 + years later -- because we were among the 'few, the popular, the Insiders' at Saxon Woods Golf Course! The Starter had our backs -- we were one of 'his boys.' And to think - last year we debated getting him a gift and decided not to -- well he earned it today.
The game itself was Seinfeldian. We were on track to play a record 6 hrs - the front 9 took 3 hrs - and we left after 15. The two guys we were paired with -- TJ and Ken were memorable. Literally - the wait between each of the first 9 holes was anywhere from 20 - 30 minutes. But that didn't stop our new best friend Ken from taking 9 -- thats right - count them - 9 practice swings on every ball -- not just the tee shots -- every ball. The 9 practice swings doesn't take into account the 2 or more times he had to stand behind his ball, or the practice - on hand back swing. This is no exaggeration - but he had a picnic basket with him -- and I soon saw why -- he brought both his lunch and dinner to eat while he played. TJ was a caricature -- he could drive the ball a mile -- but was so intense -- He lost one club last week when he played and lost another club today -- my sense is from slamming them to the ground after a mis-hit.
and so - the close of another golfing week-end. Great for me because I got to play two days in a row with great friends -- although DAN -- you are missed! Great because for the first time I became an "insider" and great because it reminded me that in life, like in golf -- you often get a chance for a DO-OVER .
Remember to hit them long and straight this week --
I had a "Do-Over" week-end of golf.
On Sunday, while Dan was throwing out a line and Richie was at Amanda's graduation - Barry and I had a special treat of playing with Sam Gold. "Atta Boy" to Sam for getting to the golf course by 6:30 AM .... and playing the full 18! If this was closer to Father's Day, I would wax poetically about the pleasure of playing with Barry and Sam. (Similarly to how I felt playing with Richie and his dad. There is something special about playing 'intergenerational golf' with your friends kids or their dad.) I do want to note that Sam's play was at least equal - and usually surpassed ours .... the only problem with that is Sam has played less that 12 times, and we've been playing golf almost twice as long as he's been alive. Sam's strong suit was chipping from off the green and getting the ball in the cup. It was particularly heart warming to see the Gold's share some rye bread at the 10th hole. (although it fairness - I need to point out that this was one of Barry's 'substandard snacks' - no butter, no challah, no bagel and cream cheese.)
We were joined on Sunday by U-Taka ... a very polite young man who is known for having the largest 'putter heads' and tees that looked more like tripods. We were chastised a number of times by the Ranger .... couldn't keep up with the foursome in front of us ... but still managed to play the course in a near record 4 hrs and 20 minutes.
My game was inconsistent -- but I was able to call a "DO-OVER" (bet you wondered when I was going to get the title into the blog) because I was playing on Monday with Richie (or as I called him - Rick). The great thing about a "Do-Over" - whether you are 8 years old or 7X that (as Jill is) - is that the past is forgotten and there is the expectation that all that went bad on the course yesterday will be magically corrected today. So on Sunday - my first tee shot went as usual into the grove -- but on Monday - I hit it OVER the trees. But I get ahead of myself.
As teenagers and young adults, Richie and I were most often not part of the 'inner sports circle' when it came to situations at the Van Courtland tennis courts. Although we had tennis permits, and although there was supposedly a city rec employee to 'maintain order and enforce the rules' - the 'street law' always favored the 'insiders.' For instance - if the courts were wet - and an 'insider' cleared the court -- they had unlimited tennis time -- while Richie and I (the outsiders) were shut out. The same thing happened again when we would go to play racket ball at the New Rochelle YMCA - and the 'insiders' would rig a system so we would only get 45 minutes of playing time while they played the night.
Well sports fans - today (Monday) was another DO-OVER. Richie has registered us for an 11:58 tee time and shortly after paying -- it became apparent that there was trouble in Saxon Woods. There were 6 people registered for this tee time. (For the uninformed golfers - since this is much more than a golfing blog - only 4 people can tee off at a time.) There was a huddle with the Saxon Woods Golfing Authorities -- with Richie and I expecting to be told that we'd have to wait -- like we did in Van Cortland Park, or at the Y - so the 'insiders' could play. Since there was a 'parade' of people waiting to play (this being Memorial Day) -- this could have been a deal breaker. And then - out of the Golf Authorities huddle came a 'booming voice' - the Starter - who as many of the readership know is the most important official on the course - because without him you can't -- START -- announced in a most authoritative manner -- that those two (and he pointed to Richie and me) were going to tee off at 11:58 and the other 4 would have to work it out ... because we were 'regulars.' WE MADE IT -- WE WERE INSIDERS -- All the slights of childhood -- all the feelings of inadequacy on the courts -- all the injustices we suffered disappeared some 40 + years later -- because we were among the 'few, the popular, the Insiders' at Saxon Woods Golf Course! The Starter had our backs -- we were one of 'his boys.' And to think - last year we debated getting him a gift and decided not to -- well he earned it today.
The game itself was Seinfeldian. We were on track to play a record 6 hrs - the front 9 took 3 hrs - and we left after 15. The two guys we were paired with -- TJ and Ken were memorable. Literally - the wait between each of the first 9 holes was anywhere from 20 - 30 minutes. But that didn't stop our new best friend Ken from taking 9 -- thats right - count them - 9 practice swings on every ball -- not just the tee shots -- every ball. The 9 practice swings doesn't take into account the 2 or more times he had to stand behind his ball, or the practice - on hand back swing. This is no exaggeration - but he had a picnic basket with him -- and I soon saw why -- he brought both his lunch and dinner to eat while he played. TJ was a caricature -- he could drive the ball a mile -- but was so intense -- He lost one club last week when he played and lost another club today -- my sense is from slamming them to the ground after a mis-hit.
and so - the close of another golfing week-end. Great for me because I got to play two days in a row with great friends -- although DAN -- you are missed! Great because for the first time I became an "insider" and great because it reminded me that in life, like in golf -- you often get a chance for a DO-OVER .
Remember to hit them long and straight this week --
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