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.