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THE PGA TOURNAMENT and Goodbye to Pat Stallings
8/20/2000
During the past couple of years The Ladies of The Pines ladies organization has grown tremendously.. They are very active and have become very important to the club. We are about to lose a person who has been a very important cog in the wheel, Pat Stallings. She has been an organizer of many of their programs, or has been involved in all, in some way or another. If you are ever looking for Pat, you can sure that you will find her on some golf course. She must have a maid at home, because she can't possibly have time to do any housework. The Stallings are going to leave our fair city and move to one of the Carolinas. Wherever they go, you can be sure that the Stallings will become very involved in the golfing community. Our loss will be their gain. Thank you again Pat, we will all miss you.
Those of you who go walking around with a telephone stuck in you ear, have no idea how much advancement there has been in that form of communication over the last 50 years. In order to make a long distance call you then had to go through a variety of different area operators and have to furnish them all types of information. It could become a very irritating and hectic experience. This was especially true in the war years if you were trying to get home. One of my friends was from a little Tobacco town by the name of Greenville, North Carolina. One night he was going around and around with an operator, and she apparently was not aware of Greenville, North Carolina, but was asking him if he wasn't trying to get Greenville, South Carolina. He was a little upset about this time and I can remember him saying, "You mean there are two Carolinas?"
Those of you who were not fortunate enough to see the second round of the PGA that featured Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus playing together, missed a good show. Jack is 30 years past his prime and 50 yards shorter, but this being his "swan song" in playing in the PGA, and after his mother having just died, I don't see how he even made it around the first day. He then flew to Ohio overnight, and returned in time to play his second round with Tiger. He played well and the last shot he hit to the 18th green will be played over and over again for many years to come. It was just as well that he did not make the cut, because he didn't have a chance in the tournament, and he will be remembered for that shot a lot longer than if he played all 4 days and finished well down the list. Tiger played that round beautifully and the mutual respect they had for one another was very evident. It brought out the character that golf builds into a person.
The final two rounds were excellent, both in the quality of play, but how two of Tiger's playing opponents looked him right in the eye and played him shot for shot, and when it was over you could sense the fact that they were physically and emotionally drained. It was a great tournament and it was amazing to watch and hear thousands of educated golfing spectators applauding the golfers for great shots, but then being so quiet that you could hear a pin drop while they were in the process of getting ready to hit a golf shot. This was a true example of respectful sportsmanship at its best.
I hope that all of you youngsters, who may have watched this tournament, now realize that it is the short game that makes a golfer, not 300 yard drives. With a driver you try to swing the same way each time, but from 100 yards in every swing is different and is done with feel and imagination. Without a short game you play golf just for exercise, and that is all.
When I was a youngster going to school, I used to work at the golf course from daylight to dark. About the first two weeks after school closed for the summer I was very relaxed, but after that I started to have this depressing feeling that summer was not going to last very long, and before very long I would have to be going back to school. We usually had one cool day that would hit us in August as a reminder that summer was not going to be around much longer. This would usually give me chills in more way than one.
When the day finally arrived I would try to console myself on the first day we would just pick up our books and have to go a half a day. Not to make the day a complete loss, I would take the opportunity to check out any new girls that might have entered that year. (During the summer months I was too pooped at the end of the day to fool with girls.) For about the first month back in school I would head for the golf course as soon as school was let out. As much as I loved to keep the summer routine alive, school activities would start taking up time, and then the days would start getting shorter and colder Before long golf had to be put on the back burner and school became the number one priority.
This summer I have worked many enjoyable hours with juniors. Some have started back to school, while others are getting ready now. I can see some of these youngsters trying to do the same as I did at their age. They think that they can keep their summer routine going indefinitely. Those juniors who have just started in golf and not trying out for, or playing on, any school golf team, now is time to buckle down with your school work. You have been introduced to golf, and will play occasionally during the winter months, but plan on getting into your golf seriously early next spring. You are not going to make a living playing golf, but you will have to make a living doing something. The more education you receive the better your "something" will be.
If I had to do it over again I would have concentrated more on my school work than on Lucy Belle and whats her name.
©2000 Fred Larsen All rights Reserved