A Golfing Memory

Years ago, Dad made a golf club out of scraps found in Grandpa's junk pile.  He used a piece of steel rod for the shaft and a piece of flat iron for the head.  It had a slightly larger piece of iron pipe on the end of the shaft to act as the grip so it would be easier to hold.  The head was probably at about the correct angle for a 2-iron.

I couldn't have been very old when he did that, but I remember him building it just outside the door on Grandpa's old barn.  The welder sat in the corner of the shop and had long leads which would reach outside the barn where it was unlikely that a spark could get back to the hay which was stored in the back of the barn.  The acetylene torch was also inside the shop, right beside the welder, and the hoses on it would also reach outside.  It wasn't the ideal workspace, but it was workable.

Dad had a handful of golf balls which were probably someone's "driving range" balls which he had acquired somewhere.  He took that club and golf balls and went out in the backyard of Grandma and Grandpa's house there on the hill and proceeded to hit golf balls across the dirt road and off down the hill into the Wylie pasture.  He was a natural at it.

A couple of my uncles who were still at home also tried hitting balls with the club.  It was probably their incentive to go off into the pasture and "shag" the balls Dad had hit.  I was hardly big enough to pick up the club, let alone to swing it.

That was the first time I recall "golfing."  It was primitive, but it was a start.  It wasn't long after that Dad took up the game in earnest and became an excellent golfer.  He loved the game and it was one of the few things he would "splurge" on over the years.

I tried taking up the game while in High School.  I could "knock the snot" out of the ball, but just like with a baseball, I had little control.  I seemed to always be playing from the wrong fairway, trying to find my way to the correct green.  It's pretty sad when you have to hit over another green to get to the correct one.

It was probably a good thing that I at least learned the fundamentals of the game while young, because as I became older, there were times it was useful in a business setting.  One company that I worked for would frequently have "customer appreciation" golf tournaments in which I was expected to participate.

It has been a lot of years since I attempted to golf.  I have a set of clubs out in the garage that are probably antiques by now.  I noticed them standing against a wall the other day, collecting dust.  I probably should sell them.

One thing is for certain; any time I think of golf, I will think of Dad and his love for the game.  He loved to play it and he loved to watch it on television.  If they golf in heaven, I suspect he has a foursome together, headed down the fairway....