Vent

Well, as many of you know Uncle Henry is the luckiest golfer on earth. He scores over a hundred on Saturday and gets his second hole in one for the year on Sunday. Maybe if I started drinking a case of beer and smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, I might get lucky at golf? His first hole in one of the year was a good shot. Landed on the green after being a well struck shot and rolled up to the hole and dropped in.
Sunday however was a much different story. The wind was blowing about 20-30 miles an hour. We were 135 yards out, straight into the wind. Henry is hitting first and blades a horrible shot right at the flag! I was just hoping for his sake that the ball had enough on it to get over the bunker, because Henry doesn't have a clue how to hit out of a sand trap. With the weather getting colder and winter approaching, the sun is in a different angle and it is hard to see the golf ball in the distance no matter what time of day. After his ball cleared the bunker it hit the flag. The sound of the ball hitting the flag was the only indication that we had that he had in fact cleared the sand. With the ball hitting the flag at that speed it could have been anywhere. Walking up to the green I didn't see his ball anywhere and I simply walked to my golf ball, and told Henry good luck. I wished him good luck because of two reasons A. His ball could have been anywhere and I hoped he found it so he wouldn't have to go back to the tee box and hit again, and B. Because there was still a small chance that the ball was in the hole. He of course doesn't even look beyond the green, and just walks straight to the hole. I don't even think he carried his wedge with him just in case it did fly some 30 yards off the green which was not an unlikely result from the mis-struck shot that he hit. I understand that some people are just plain lucky (Henry), but to expect it and take it for granted is my biggest surprise. I was actually happy for him this time. I said congrats and simply kept playing. After years of seeing his luck, it is just a normal occurrence.
Now, I am not saying that he took this shot for granted. I believe that he was actually more surprised than I was that he found his ball in the bottom of the hole. But, to walk straight to the hole first before looking beyond and around the green is either arrogant or ignorance? You might say it was wishful thinking, but I honestly think he was probably 60% expecting to see the ball in the bottom of the hole and 40% on having to search somewhere else. Had it happened to me, I would have walked around the green first, then half-heartedly checking the hole in sheer hopes that it might be in the bottom. Thus, my percentage would have to be something like 99% sure the ball is somewhere else and not in the hole!
If I wasn't golfing way better than him this year it would have angered me a lot more. It could be that I have toned down my temper just a bit, but it still gets me going on the inside. Henry and I got into an argument last year over his luck, which he still doesn't admit is any better than mine? This one day last year, twice in the same day, he hit a horrible shot directly into the trees only to have the ball end up in the fairway. I bring this up because the same thing happened Saturday. I hit a great drive on this par 5 down the right hand side of the fairway. Henry on this same hole hits a shot 30 yards left of the fairway into these trees. We looked and looked for his ball, he hit another ball from where we thought it should have been(even though he is supposed to re-tee back at the box) and we drive toward my ball. We of course find Henry's ball on the right side of the fairway just 30 or so yards behind my ball! This means that his ball not only bounced forward after hitting a tree, but also ricocheted 50 yards to the right in the process! I was so pissed. Mostly because that crap never happens to me, but he just takes it for granted and basically expects things like that to happen to him. It is kind of like he is Gene Hackman in Mooseport. Have you ever seen that movie? Gene Hackman's character is an ex-President of the United States. He has this golf match with Ray Romano. Well, Gene Hackman thought he was a 10 handicap because his ball always conveniently bounced in the fairway after being hit into the trees. Gene's secret service crew had always been hiding in the trees and would just throw out an identical ball into the fairway. On the first hole, Gene's character hit a horrible shot in the trees but expected a great bounce like he always had. He even says "Wait for the bounce!" However, Gene's disgruntled wife forced her husband's bodyguards out of the trees and into view of everyone so that they couldn't cheat. Ray's character of course stomped Gene's character in the ground because he didn't get these great breaks that he was used to receiving! Golfing with Henry is just like that, but there isn't any freaking secret service guys in the trees! He is just that lucky of a person. I am happy for him, I truly am. However, I wouldn't ever take a minuscule amount of his luck for granted if I were to have it, and he is the opposite. He only thinks he is lucky a minuscule amount of the time? It baffles me to hear him say that I am just as lucky as he is. I could name 5 things off the top of my head that aren't just a little lucky, but honestly are basically unbelievable that have happened to him on the golf course. Whereas he wouldn't be able to name 2 instance of me having a tiny amount of luck? Yet I am just as lucky as he is? Hmm......