If you've read this blog for any amount of time you know I'm obsessed with golf and all items surrounding the greatest individual game invented. My neighbor, God love him, has terminal cancer and is in the process of giving me memorabilia most people pay a pretty penny to own. Yesterday, he presented me with a 11x14 group photo of Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus----with their autographs. They are the first four winners of the four major golf tournaments. Thank God the only other golfer to have all four was missing, that being Tiger. Had he been in the photo it's possible it would have seen the incinerator.
Two days ago was my last at The Heritage Golf & Country Club in Hilliard, Ohio. For golf afficianados course and slope rating determines its difficulty. Jack Nicklaus has a tournament in Dubliin every year called The Memorial. It's a super huge tournament. Get this. The Heritage has a higher slope and course rating the Muirfield Village where the Memorial is played. Don't ask me why I joined. I do like a challenge and the challenge won. I put more balls in ponds than Titleist can produce in a year.
The club pro is named Craiggen. He is from South Africa and was recruited to the US by The Ohio State University and played in the early 80's. I was quizzing him about growing up and playing golf in his village of Phalaborwa. The name of his golf course is Hans Merensky Golf Estate. Then he pulled out his i phone and began showing me pictures of the course.
In the background I saw numerous giraffes and crocodiles in the 20 foot range. The course is on a protected game preserve. Now my interested was piqued so I continued asking more questions about the golf and wild animals. I asked if there were lions on the preserve. That seemed to me to be a logical question.
Craiggen nodded in the affirmative. I then asked if he wore a firearm when he played. "Didn't need one" he said.
I countered with, "what would you do if a lion charged you"?. He told me he'd pull out his sand wedge.
"Are you kidding me", as I spoke in amazement, "what would you do, hit it across the snout"
"Heck no", he replied, "I'd smash it across my playing partners ankle and run like hell".
And that's the way golf is played in South Africa.
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