Sliding Doors

This week I was working on some high school previews for spring golf in New England, and I was reminded of my high school golf tryout experience.

In short… it wasn’t good.

Back in the year 2000, there was typically snow on the ground at this time of year, and tryouts had to be conducted indoors. No, not on a simulator with TrackMan technology. Instead, the golf coach, Mr. Davis, scheduled time in the batting cages that were set up in the gym.

Obviously, this was 24 years ago, so some of the memory is blurry, but what I remember vividly was Mr. Davis’ mustache and the horrendous shanks I had while hitting seven irons in the batting cages.

The gym was packed with other spring sports tryouts; it was loud and rambunctious. None of that is an excuse, I don’t think.

The build-up to tryouts was kind of a big deal, not because the golf program was any good, but because I had made a few friends who were also trying out. We were genuinely excited about the prospect of playing golf every afternoon at Concord CC.

These shanks didn’t go away after one session in the batting cages; they persisted for the majority of the tryout. Other people were nervous to be in or near the cage when I was hitting. The pressure grew and grew, and the hosel got bigger and bigger on my 7 iron.

This is a very real sliding doors moment: Mr. Davis, the sarcastic biology teacher, could have looked deep into my golf DNA and decided I should play another spring sport.

If that had happened, I would have been crushed. I’m not entirely sure what my 16-year-old brain would have thought about the game of golf after that.

I hope I would have returned the following spring like Happy Gilmore at hockey tryouts. However, there is this part of me that wonders what my golf life would have been if I had been cut from the team. Because, honestly, I probably should have been sent packing.

If golf was a fall sport and I had shown up as a new sophomore without any ability to demonstrate how much I loved golf to Mr. Davis, my odds of making the team with a horrible case of the hosel rockets would have been far lower.

The fact that it was the spring might have been my saving grace.

Whatever it was that Mr. Davis saw in those few sessions where I tested the sturdiness of the netting just a few feet to my right every time I swung my 7 iron, I am grateful. There are plenty of stories about people who were cut from a team or had a negative experience on a team and never played that sport again.

As a former coach who had to make cuts, I was told nearly every season that I had extinguished so-and-so’s love of soccer and was a horrible person who robbed the world of the next Messi.

Tom Coyne barely hit a golf ball in college or in his early 20s because he melted down in his college tryout at Notre Dame. It’s how Paper Tiger was born (maybe Coyne’s best book…I have yet to read A Course Called Scotland, though).

If I didn’t make the team that spring, maybe I don’t play golf for a while.

That would mean that I wouldn’t have teed it up with Burke last Friday, 24 years after we became friends on that team, riding the van together and playing nine holes on spring afternoons.

I also don’t have a text chain with my college teammates where we bicker about nonsense and try to tee it up every now and then. I wouldn’t have started my quest at Thorny Lea without those college friendships.

I wouldn’t have started my quest at all, most likely.

Life is funny that way.

I’m glad that the golf tryout shook out the way it did.

Thanks, Mr. Davis.

Double Click(s)

I’m going to use this section to “Double Click” on something I discovered or thought about this week.

1. Rory McIlroy was in the middle of a bit of Thursday controversy at The Players Championship. He hit a ball into the water. Some believe he was dishonest about where the ball entered the hazard, so naturally, they sent Johnson Wagner out to investigate and offer some possibilities using of his rocket-laser arm.

2. Last week, Evan Harmeling, a 35-year-old professional golfer from Massachusetts, played in his first-ever PGA Tour event. He finished T10 in the Puerto Rico Open and earned his way into next week’s Valspar finish.

3. Michael Thorbjornsen is back on top of the PGA Tour U rankings. This ranking system is like the NBA draft; instead of selections though, players earn points based on tournament performances. The senior at the top of the rankings at the end of their senior season earns a PGA Tour card. Thorbjornsen is the third-ranked amateur in the world. I believe he will win a major by 2030.

Merch Table

One way to help support me in my quest to play every course in the Bay State would be to spend a little money on some Bay State Golf swag. I always need gas money! Check it all out here.

When I’m not golfing…

I’m reading…

• I’m on a bit of a Haruki Murakami kick. I started The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles this week. He’s such a pleasure to read.

I’m listening to…

• Two Irish songs that I love in honor of St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday, both by Paddy Reilly.

  • “Dirty Old Town”

  • “The Town I loved so well”

I’m eating…

• Thoroughly enjoyed this Sticky Chicken and Brussels Sprouts Stir Fry.

• It’s Cadbury chocolate egg season. One of my favorite seasonal candies.

I’m watching…

• I finished Full Swing this weekend and couldn’t resist writing seven takeaways. ZJ should never be allowed near the Ryder Cup again.

• Titleist put out some good stuff this week. I think I could watch pros wander a range, hit balls, and chip for hours with a mic on. These ten minutes with Will Zalatoris are great.

• No Laying Up’s Soly picked Sahith Theegala’s brain as he played a hole a few different ways. A great video.

PLUGS

New stuff:

• The Masters is coming up quickly. Only six players have won the U.S. Amateur and the Masters. I wrote about them for AmateurGolf.com

• My friend Kevin Van Cleef hopped on the podcast to talk about nine hole courses. It was nice to have someone else to talk to! Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Kevin shared some awesome video and photos of Highland Links on Cape Cod.

Old stuff: 

I'm (shamelessly) plugging...

• A list of golf courses open in the winter.

• Bay State Picks: Best courses you can walk for less than $60.

• Bay State Picks: Nine-hole courses to play before or after work

• Bay State Picks: 18 public golf that is worth your time

• Bay State Picks: Easy 18-hole public walks

• Bay State Deep Dive: Myopia Hunt Club

   

• "On Course" New England Journal Podcast

  • LISTEN HERE (and subscribe!)

  • WATCH HERE (and subscribe!)

• Amateur Golf Podcast

  • LISTEN HERE (and subscribe!)

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