The Fifth Tee

Michael Cain says:

My father played in a regular Saturday foursome for years. One of the players — we’ll call him Bob — was somewhat better than the others, and from time to time he would get obnoxious about it. When I was in college I knew when that had happened because I’d get a phone call from Dad telling me to hit the driving range a couple of times, visit home that Saturday, and bring my clubs. One of the other regulars would call in sick and I’d “fill in”.

Bob could be needled. He could be goaded into trying shots that he had little chance of pulling off. I could beat Bob even when he was doing well, but without being rude about it I could add seven or eight shots to his score over 18 holes and really thump him. Dad told me that after one of my visits, Bob was much less obnoxious.

So far as I could tell, Bob never did figure out that on those occasions when I “filled in”, I was there for the express purpose of making him play poorly.Report