1. Byrdman contacted me with a plan. Steve Grebil and his son, Adam, were picking him up in CdA this morning and driving to the Pinehurst Golf Course. The plan was for me to meet them and Byrdman and I would walk nine holes, not play, while Steve and Adam knocked the ball around. The plan worked perfectly. I not only got to have some great conversation with Grebe around the tee boxes and the greens, but I racked up over 5000 steps, nearly two and half miles.
I last played and walked the Pinehurst Golf Course with Kenton Bird in 1997 around the time of our 25th High School Class reunion. I first played and walked this course in the summer of 1967 when George White took me out and introduced me to the game of golf. I never played a great round of golf at Pinehurst Golf Course. I can't remember ever shooting better than an 88 out there and I know I never broke 40 on either the front or the back side. Today, I saw and remembered all the places and all the ways this course bedeviled me over thirty years of playing off and on: the creek, the places to go out of bounds, the tiny and often hard greens, and the unforgiving rough.
Psychologically, this course always had a hold on me. Great golfers put bad shots behind them. They concentrate on what's next, not on what happened in the past. I could never do this. It's odd to say, but I enjoyed playing at Pinehurst, whether playing with Dad or with my friends, but the place also haunted me because of bad shots, accumulating strokes, and holes like 5, 9, 10, 14, 15, 17, and 18 where I could never quite overcome the feeling that I didn't have a chance of playing these holes well. I remembered and even felt some of those old fears and disappointments today.
But, I remembered a few good shots I hit out there over the years.
And, to my great delight, I got to see that the pine tree planted in the area between the fifth green and eighth tee in memory of Dad has grown tall and straight and is aging well. The tree is unmarked. But, I know and Mac Pooler and the other guys who bought and planted it know that it's there in Dad's memory.
2. Back in late junior high and high school, especially, I would, on occasion, go with guys I golfed with to the Tall Pine Drive In near the golf course for a burger, fries, and a Coke after a round. Every time I walk in that place I can hear the song, "In the Year 2525" on the jukebox because Paul Richter used to love to play it while we ate. Today, Byrdman and I strolled over to the Tall Pine and got burgers and fries to go, took them back to the patio outside the pro shop, and ate our lunch while Grebe and Adam played a second nine. After a while, Jake joined us and so did Ed and we had a good session, yakking about a lot of things, including Goose's last hours and memories of him.
3. I fixed myself a green salad with feta cheese, rice, pepperoncinis, garlic stuffed green olives, lemon salmon, and some Greek dressing and, while savoring it, I watched two frantic periods of Stanley Cup hockey as the Bruins and Blues desperately tried to break a 2-2 tie. They failed to break the tie in regulation, but I didn't watch the overtime period.
Instead, I went next door and joined Christy and Everett out in their back yard for an evening cocktail and a bunch of catching up about things that had happened over the last week or so while I was away. Christy's life has been and will continue to be really full: gardening, PEO activities, Joy's last concert at the high school before retiring, the upcoming Tri-Delt reunion, library board, graduation party for niece Molly, a growing and very successful book club, and keeping track of some medical things. WOW! Her life is both busy and enriching.
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