The Orange Tree

[Angus]

Dear Fellow Golfers,

This is my first post.

Today I bartended at the Tour Championship. The bar is next to a window that looks out at the front driveway of East Lake Golf Club.

In the fall when the TC was played last year and years before there was a tree that turned the most amazing oranges and yellows and golds and reds. Past the tree was a walkway, and past that there was a barricade. Past that were the spectators, and past that there were corporate hospitality tents, and past that was the eighteenth green. Then there was the tenth tee box, and then Alston Ave. Past that there is an Atlanta ghetto where golf may be, in fact, the strangest thing a man could do. It felt good to stand by the orange tree.

Today the tree was not orange, but I felt comfort in the knowledge that soon it will be. And long after the tour is through, the eighteenth green will be there, and the tenth tee. Have you been on a golf course alone?

Across from the bar there is a picture of Bobby Jones swinging the club. The whole of the building is quite nearly an homage to the man himself. My favorite picture is of Jones at Minikahda in 1927. He is soaked from a deluge, and his slicker is dripping wet. There next to him is the US Amateur trophy, and in his eyes there is a certain look: like he is looking directly at me.

Yesterday at lunch I looked up from the bar and a man was standing there. He was holding an umbrella and two hybrid clubs just built for him in an equipment van that follows the PGA TOUR. He ordered a bloody mary. His badge had his name on it, and it said he was a PGA TOUR Instructor. We talked, and I told him Hogan liked to drink gingerale, but "Why?" I asked.

He said, "Because it made his hands feel thin."

I knew he had studied the game well.

And then he took his clubs and umbrella and walked out through the side door. Under the tree that will be orange sometime soon, when all the ropes are gone, and the course is empty again.

[6bmike]

Welcome aboard.

If that guy ordered a Martini- we would know him as Yoda.

nice story. - I have a copy of that picture. When I get home, I'll post it.

6b

[Yoda]

And then he grabbed his clubs and umbrella and walked out through the side door. Under the tree that will be orange sometime soon, when all the ropes are gone, and the course is empty again.

Thanks for this first post, Angus. In our brief conversation Wednesday at the TOUR Championship, you told me that just two weeks ago, you won the Club Championship at Atlanta's Candler Park Golf Club. Our talk took place in the Men's Grill of perhaps the most storied setting in American golf, East Lake No. 1, the home club of Bobby Jones.

Anyway...

Deep breath...

Within 100 yards of that 'orange' tree lies the par three 18th. I first played it when I was 17 years old trying out for the golf team at Georgia Tech. I didn't make it that year (1965) and a war intervened at the next. In fact, I was not to play East Lake again until 1970. So, I understand about the leaves.

They turn.

And they turn.

[Uppndownn]

I want to thank all three of the folks who posted on this thread. What a great thread, and I can't wait to see the picture!

[6bmike]

I think this is the picture Angus mentioned. It has been made into a painting but this is the original photo. To be so young again- and good.

[BCGolf]

I did not know you went to Georgia Tech! Can you write my children a recommendation letter? At Barnes and Nobles, check out "BOBBY JONES And The Quest For The Grand Slam". On sale. Great photographs.

[Yoda]

I think this is the picture Angus mentioned. It has been made into a painting but this is the original photo. To be so young again- and good.

Thanks, Mike, for this photo of Bobby Jones, dressed in his slicker and standing in the rain with the trophy of U.S. Amateur Championship. Of the thousands taken during his career as a champion golfer, this was his favorite.

[Yoda]

I did not know you went to Georgia Tech! Can you write my children a recommendation letter?

Absolutely, BC. I heartily endorse your currriculum!

From your 'Yellow Book' avatar, it is obvious that your children are well on their way to golfing success. And you are well on your way to very high junior golf costs...but very low college tuition costs!

According to my friends whose children are now playing (or who have played) Division I college golf, it's a good trade. No surprise there. But for the much larger group of friends whose kids didn't quite make the grade -- and understatement for most -- the trade was just as good.

For both children and parents...

Golf builds character.

And reveals it.