By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas State Golf Association is going to get billed for an hour of therapy.
Almost buried by occasional successes with a weekend group, memories of choking resurfaced because of an accidental meeting with two of the ASGA muckety-mucks and a follow-up call from the No. 2 man.
Jay Fox and Mac Stubbs were loitering near the putting green at Hardscrabble Country Club in Fort Smith on Friday and the ASGA’s Father and Son tournament came up during the chit-chat. It was Stubbs who mentioned that a team had withdrawn from the event and that maybe an aging sportswriter and his son could fill in at the last minute.
The cell phone — with a “Rivet” ring tone programmed by a 9-year-old — was left in the car, a concession to those trying to make a living chipping and putting. That evening, there were mixed feelings when the son said he couldn’t play on such short notice. Father-son playing opportunities are rare these days; on the other hand, choking was out of the equation.
At least, the issue was dead.
Not quite.
Messing around the next morning on the par-3 course at The First Tee, there was a phone call from Stubbs. Graciously, he wanted to extend the invite one more time before reaching out to another team.
More angst, then another rejection — neither easy to forget with a Father’s Day brunch on Sunday and the start of the Father-Son on Monday.
Through the years, participants tell themselves that the tournament is for fun, that it’s the time together that’s important and not the score. A few pars and maybe a birdie and that is out the window, replaced by the dream of winning.
On the course, it’s uncertain who hurts the most — the son who disappoints his father or the “old man” who fails to bail out his boy.
It is the six holes of alternate shot that is the most nerve-wracking because the father must hit the tee shot on two specific holes and the son must do the same.
One year at the now-defunct Rosswood Country Club in Pine Bluff, the first hole of the day was the long, par-three fourth and the father was designated for the tee box.
Knowing that, the man hit 5-wood after 5-wood on the practice range. One after another, they soared toward the tall pines, perfect for the 205-yard opening hole.
A shotgun blast initiated play and the well-prepared one took a practice swing, launched one, and looked up to check the trajectory. Sixty yards in front of the tee, the ball trickled into a ditch and the team was off and stumbling with a double bogey.
This week, the father’s tee shot is a must-play on No. 7 and No. 10. At Pleasant Valley, the seventh has water on the right and other trouble to the left. At Maumelle, there is a bunker on the left and out of bounds to the right. Three holes later, there is wilderness on the starboard side. The 10th at PVCC has reachable bunkers on the left.
With the water, the woods, the sand and white stakes in play, the chances of adding to the list of chokes is sky-high. So what.
For a chance to play golf with my son, I’d sign up in a heartbeat.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
