As the US Open was starting on Thursday, I had my own “Open” to participate in; let’s call it, the Father’s Day Open. My dad coined the term for this gathering with his two sons and one son-in-law, but this wasn’t the first time we golfed around Father’s Day. It feels like a good time for the boys to get together and enjoy maybe our only outing of the year? Maybe we’ll have another this year…
We went back to one of our home courses: Hickory Hills. It’s probably the course we played the most over the years; they really made some nice improvements. New golf carts, signage on each tee box, and much, much improved greens; I enjoyed each of those, except maybe the greens. I think they were too nice; I putted like shit. The surprising thing was that my drive was halfway decent, and even my irons; I couldn’t really complain about either of those considering this was my first time out. But my putting… ugh.
I guess you could say this is our favorite course too. One of my favorites back in the day was Evergreen, before it was ticketed for destruction; I miss Evergreen. Other than that one though, it’s got to be Hickory. There was the first ever course we played, a 9-hole at Marquette Park; I think we visited that one a few times when we first start playing… it’s been a while. Fresh Meadow is another one that comes to mind; actually had a golf outing there with some former NBA players… Michael Finley, Allan Houston… how did I get invited to that one? That course is OK. We’ve been to others, which are escaping me right now… Big Run, Carillon, Carriage Greens… I’ve also been to Harborside for another golf outing where I met Tim Hardaway. The best golf outing of them all was the Caputo way back in the day. All you can drink with cart dances on each Par 3 and a steak dinner afterwards… yeah, that was fun… a little too much fun, since we weren’t invited back. Anyways, there is one common factor in most of these that is more important than anything else.
It’s the time together with the boys of course. My brother brought the beer; Hamm’s was the throwback choice on this day. I brought the cigars; picked up 4 Fuente’s from the cigar shop in my building. My dad picked up the golf; this was supposed to be a Father’s Day gift, but it’s all good. We had a blast, like we always do. This time it came down to the 18th hole to determine the placement of finishers, like it seems to always be when we play at Hickory. After chipping in on the 17th hole for birdie, my brother beat my brother in law (who has a stroke per hole, other than par 3s handicap because he’s that good) by one stroke; my dad and I finished tied as well after I blew another putt on 18. The order of finish matters little though…
I cherish these moments; I really do. They don’t happen as often as they once did, or maybe as they still should, but they do happen, and when they do, it creates another memory that I won’t forget. Until next time boys…
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