I was a child of Arnold Palmer. I grew up crazy about sports and competing. When I was 11 years old, Arnold Palmer won his first Master’s title and I saw each precious minute that was on television. This only consisted of a few finishing holes on Saturday and Sunday but it was enough to start a fire that has continued till this day. I was hooked. Very few golf tournaments were on TV at the time, but they did start showing special programs such as All Star Golf, the CBS Golf Classic and of course, Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf, and I tried to watch every one of them. (No DVR recordings at that time.) My father had been a very good high school athlete and at that time was a very good marksman with the rifle and at shooting skeet, but had no interest in golf. He was aware of my interest so he took me to see my uncle, Max Blosser who also loved golf. Uncle Red, as we called him, provided me with a half set of clubs and several back issues of Golf Magazine. I was on my way.
My first course was about 80 yards long and it went from my back yard, over a road, to a green I created in our barnyard across the street. I mowed the grass as low as possible and installed a tin can in the ground and my first and only golf course design was complete. Of course, you needed to be aware of any traffic that was approaching and when I hit the occasional sh**k, I had to go looking in the cornfield to retrieve the golf ball as I possessed very few at that time. Each Achushnet Club Special, Spalding Dot and Wilson Kro-Flite was very precious. I played many holes with two balls in which each represented a current player on the pro tour. Guys like Palmer, Billy Casper, Doug Ford, Gene Littler, Julius Boros and others. ( I cannot recall too many times when Arnold Palmer did not win his match.) When I graduated to regular courses with my friends, it was three different nine hole courses where I learned the game for real. Bluffton Golf Club, Kildare Golf Club (now called Pike Run) and Springbrook provided as much excitement for me as Augusta National did for Arnie. I have had a love affair with public courses ever since those early teen years. By the way, all of the above courses are still in operation and are all now 18 hole courses. I still play each of them from time to time 55 years later. My favorite author, James Dodson calls these courses “Glorious Goat Tracks”. This would seem to carry a negative connotation but quite to the contrary as these courses are as important as any in the Top 100. They bring you back to what the game is all about, enjoying nature, adjusting to irregular conditions, interacting with your playing partners and the challenge of a game that cannot be mastered. Dodson mentioned in his latest book that a playing partner once explained to him the reason so many are hopelessly attached to the game. He said “Golf is the only game where those who can’t master it love it more than those who can. That’s the true glory of the game. Maybe that’s why we keep coming back.”
We had no golf team when I was in high school so I played team sports and got to the golf course whenever possible. I still remember those special times on the course with my early golf buddies, Joe Bunn, Bill Witteborg and Larry Hofferbert. We got golf fever early one spring and played Springbrook before it opened for the year. Someone must have reported us because after eight holes we were unceremoniously tossed off the course by the owner during a fairly heavy snow which had begun one hole earlier. There are many other memories of those early rounds but I will not incriminate my friends on this writing. I bravely tried out for the Defiance College golf team my freshman year after never playing a formal match of any kind previously. I somehow qualified 6th and when one of my teammates ahead of me had a conflict on the date of the first match, I was called to fill in. I had absolutely no idea the procedure of a college match, but I muddled through, shot in the mid 80’s and ended up playing every match that year on our very mediocre team. This taste of golf competition further cemented my love for the game.
I continued to play when I could through college (I transferred to Bowling Green State University and did not have enough game for a school of this size), marriage, teaching, coaching and raising three boys. As much as I loved the game, in 1976 when our boys were 6, 4 and 2 years old, we built a new home and because of time and money constraints, I did not play golf that year or for the next six years. After that time, the pull of the course was too great and I knew it was time to return to the game I still loved. This sabbatical from the game ended when the boys were old enough to learn the game and I sprang for a family membership at Bluffton Golf Club. This also started my wife playing as she did not want to be the only one in the family not on the golf course. Without knowing it then, this was a significant moment in my golfing life as without Marilyn’s love of the game, I certainly would not be traveling across the country attempting to play all of the 194 ranked courses.
We have been members for over 30 years now at Delphos Country Club in Delphos , OH (another public club) and for the past 12 years, we have also been members at the Caledonia and True Blue golf clubs in Pawley’s Island, SC (public access resort courses). I left the teaching profession 20 years ago and am now fortunate enough to be able to join a private club but we feel very comfortable playing among our friends on our public tracks. I have always felt that there are three types of people that you will find on the golf course; first are those that occasionally play golf, second are the golfers that play on a regular basis and know the game, and third are those that are passionate about the game. Fortunately, since I was 11 years old, I have been a passionate golfer. I unashamedly play it, watch it and read about it. It has brought more joy than I can describe, more friends than I deserve and an activity that Marilyn and I can enjoy together until we are no more. To once again quote James Dodson, or more accurately his father whom he called Opti the Mystic, “This splendid game ends far too soon but it can take you far and bring you safely home again.”
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