Golf Talk With Greg Holman – #61

Last week we started the countdown of my ten favorite golf stories, and this week we pick up the countdown at #5.

One of the rules of etiquette in golf is to stand on a golfer’s right when he is hitting his shot, assuming he is a righty. That way the golfer has no chance of striking you with his club. If you aren’t far enough behind him he could hit you on his backswing and if you are behind him and slightly ahead of him you could take a driver to the face on his follow through. So the best option is to his right. You can also see his shot from that vantage point. This doesn’t take into account of what happened on one summer day when I was trying to teach a 14 year old friend, who happened to be my girlfriend’s son. He took a mighty swing and almost missed the ball, but he caught just enough of it off the toe of the club that the ball hit me in the chest at almost point blank range. Once I caught my breath we had a good laugh over that.

The next story was another accident on the course. It happened when I was taking one of our teenage part time employees out for a round of golf at the country club. We were in a hurry to get the last three holes in before dark and he was behind the wheel of our golf cart. He had hooked his second shot near a large tree about 100 yards short of the green. I was looking on my side of the cart and he was looking on his side of the cart, but nobody was looking straight ahead and down we went into a little ravine. We couldn’t push it out ourselves so I had to call the clubhouse and a posse of employees immediately responded. We weren’t hurt and the cart was not hurt too bad and we were able to finish our round before sunset.

#3 in the countdown of my favorite golf stories was a weird shot I hit at the Lake of the Ozarks which would’ve made ESPN if I had recorded it. It was one of those typical rounds where nothing is going right, but I was in position to birdie the 11th hole. Iwas about 60 yards out hitting my third shot to the par 5. I selected a sand wedge and pulled the shot toward the left-hand sand trap. The ball hit the rake and deflected back to the right and rolled right in the hole for an eagle.

#2 most people will tell you that no matter your skill level it takes a lot of luck to make a hole in one. As I’ve mentioned before I made my first ace when I was 16 in 1974 on the 7th hole of my home course in Rolla. A year later my dad stepped up to the tee on the same hole with the same club I used, a 4-iron, and knocked it in from 168 yards.

I saved the best for last… An embarrassing moment very early in my golf career. I think I was only 11 or 12. The Hearnes Center in Columbia is named after Governor Hearnes. Governor Hearnes loved to play golf, but he wasn’t real good at it. Judge Weldon Moore, who was a friend of our family invited the Governor to be his partner at a tournament in Rolla and Judge Moore asked if I would like to caddie for them. It wasn’t a difficult job. They had a cart. It was just a matter of handing them the correct club when they asked for it. Everything was going great and I was having the time of my life and then on the 16th hole it started to rain. Judge Moore came prepared with two large golf umbrellas. They were the size of beach umbrellas. Then Governor Hearnes asked me to hold his umbrella while he took his third shot near the green. I did and held it over myself while he was playing his stroke. I was looking all around at the huge gallery circling the par 5 hole and a hush fell over the crowd as the Governor was preparing to pitch with his wedge. Then the Governor said, “You’re in my way son.” I’m sure everyone heard that because the crown started roaring with laughter as I shuffled a few feet to the left.

And that’s it, my countdown of my ten favorite golf stories over more than a fifty year span. Send me your favorite golf story and it might get included in my blog. Email me at [email protected]. In the mean time, hit ’em straight!