Taller Than A Tree Shorter Than A Driver
This is a true story told by South Shore Golf Course starter, Ray Scudder.
Every morning most of the golfers like to start early, which means that the first tee will always be brimming with a crowd anxiously waiting to play. You will find a mix of good golfers, hackers and beginners shoulder to shoulder waiting to tee it up and go.
On this particular morning there was a good mixture of men and women waiting near the first tee. When I called up the next foursome it turned out that only one in the group could hit a good tee shot while the remaining three pummeled their balls about sixty yards down the fairway. The crowd at the tee began to mumble, mostly complaining about the expanded time commitment it seemed they would have to make that day to play nine holes. Most of the grumbling seemed to be from female members of the awaiting foursomes.
All of a sudden, from out of the parking lot emerged two three wheeled hand carts seemingly on remote control as they made their way to the tee. On closer inspection two little girls in fact were supplying the forward progress. They went directly to the side of the women’s tee and awaited my signal for them to tee it up. Again, the crowd began to grumble, obviously concluding that shorter hitting was on the way adding more time to their game that day. The muttering continued with the likes of, “now those kids are going to hold us up” and looks of exasperation to punctuate their dissatisfaction.
I called for two ladies to join the little girls, at which point one of them called out ” how old are those kids?” is a disdain filled retort. I calmly replied that they were 8 and 10 years old respectively. “Lady Complainer” expressed it would ” take all day” to play nine holes with “them.” To which I smiled and said, “maybe it will take all day for them…playing with you.” They didn’t appreciate my remark.
When it was time to tee off Myah, the younger of the two girls, pulled out her driver and began her practice swing routine which brought hushed comments about the impeccable form, balance and power to her swings. Then Erica (the elder) started her routine to the growing smiles on the faces of all at the tee. Show time!
The two “ladies” hit first and burned worms with neither of their balls traveling more than 50 yards off the tee. The sisters took the tee with a quiet, disciplined command of that patch of green. Each launched drives as straight as they were long leaving the crowd in a delighted state of shock. Myah and Erica politely waited for their fellow foursome mates to catch up and this became the pattern for the rest of the round.
I caught up with the group on the fifth hole and asked the ladies how it was going and they replied, “We are gettig a golf lesson from 8 and 10 year old golfers!”
While this was going on Myah and Erica’s proud father (and their coach) was always nearby watching; quietly guiding each daughter’s development, respect and appreciation for the game on hallowed ground…their home course, South Shore GC (Chicago).
Tags: Erica Jackson, Myah Jackson, Non Fiction writing, Non-Fiction, Original writing, Ray Scudder, Rehab Motivators, Rehab Motivators Golf Tournament, South Shore Golf Course, True Story
