Playing Golf With The King

Having a father I loved who loved to play golf pulled me to the sport like a powerful magnet. The picture above is me at about three years old holding a golf ball. (My 2 1/2-year-older brother is in the full picture, and he is holding the club.)

As we grew up he decided to play football and I invested in golf. That included buying my own clubs rather than using a mixed bag of hand-me-downs. I went to the golf shop to take a look. All of the clubs were displayed on a rack, they all had shiny steel shafts and they were beautiful. The Radio City Rockettes in person could not have competed with those clubs.

I noticed that one set of clubs had been endorsed by Arnold Palmer. He was The King, both for me and millions of other golfers. The choice was made, if I could afford them.

I was in high school, so the $200 price tag was steep, but the club pro let me pay him $20 up front and $10 a week for 18 weeks with no interest!

The new king

Fast forward several decades, and I found myself playing golf on a regular basis at a golf club in Mesa, Arizona. After I joined, I met people on the course, on the putting green, and in the club house. I got to know several of them and be known a little, and had several playing partners.

One fellow I just naturally liked was named Rex, which of course means “king.” He was older than me, and he “shot his age” about every time he played. To do that your total score for 18 holes must be equal to or lower than your actual age. AI tells me:

It is estimated that less than 1% of all golfers will ever shoot their age in a round. Because it requires a rare mix of high skill, longevity, and a high enough age to make the target score realistic, it is considered one of the ultimate individual achievements in sports.

In other words, Rex was (as they say) “a stick.”

He knew he was good, but he was genuinely humble. Our schedules didn’t really mesh, so we didn’t play together for quite a while. Then one day there was a tournament at the club and Rex’s partner couldn’t play. He invited me to join him, and I jumped at the chance. It was the most nervous I’d been on a golf course in many, many years. We didn’t win, but we became better friends.

Breaking your age

Just over two years ago I had some guests at the club for lunch and golf. We were eating outside near the pro shop when I saw Rex pushing his cart up to the 18th green. I pointed him out to my friends, and told them about this amazing man.

To our surprise, he grabbed his scorecard and began walking our way. He was going to the pro shop, but he saw me sitting there and came over. I introduced him to my friends, and then he said, “I didn’t come over here to brag, but I wanted you to see this.” He handed me his scorecard, and it showed he had shot even par — 72! I asked, “How old are you? 87?” He replied, “88.” I said, “You broke your age by 16 shots! That is incredible!! Is that the most you’ve broken your age by?” And with a smile he looked at me and said, “So far.”

Here’s the thing about Rex, though. He also broke his age — or whatever the character equivalent of that is — every time he showed up. So when I had a chance to play a few holes with him last week, I was in.

God’s timing?

I was supposed to have a meeting at the club with some other men on a recent Tuesday, but no one showed up so I decided to go play some golf. The course was not busy and I took off in an electric cart and played fairly fast. As I was going down a hill toward hole 5 I saw Rex and Glenn coming up that hill to hole 6. I drove over and said, “If I catch you guys, maybe we can play together.” Rex smiled and said, “We’d love that!”

Sure enough I caught them on 8 and we played the next 10 holes together. It was a blast! Glenn is also a great guy with a good game, and we had good conversations to go along with it all. When we finished I said I was going in for an iced tea, Glenn had to leave, but Rex joined me. In fact he had lunch and we talked for 45 minutes about a wide variety of topics, but mostly golf, including the mental side of the game.

A lady we both knew stopped by to ask Rex how he was doing, knowing he’d had some challenges. (“I’m fine,” he replied with a smile.) Another lady asked him how old he was, and he said 90. She asked if he was single. He smiled at her, too.

I told my wife about my day when I got home, and I said, “I had such a great time!” I need to spend more time with Rex, and Glenn too.

About a week later I was in Kansas for Do Good U when I got a text that Rex had died.

Here’s the lesson for us all. If there are friends you need to spend time with, spend time with them. Think about the Rex’s in your life and hang out with them every chance you get.

Rex was a man who did good, so it was always good to be with him.

He probably shot his age more than 2,000 times. I’ve done it perhaps 10 times, so I’m not likely to catch him. But I can do good, just like he did, and impact people in a positive way. So can you.

Do good. It’s in you!

P.S. Thank you, Rex, for the golf, the talks, and for being who you were.