Flashback Friday - Golf And The Blythes

One doesn't engage in the sport of golf without knowing that it will break your heart.  The family was involved in the sport through the Oak View Country Club in Aledo.  Herb spent weekends attempting to conquer the sport and occasionally did.  Mark and Phil did their share of swinging the club and I did as little as possible.  It just never hooked me like the others.  I enjoyed the game once in a while but more often than not it was expensive, frustrating, socially awkward for me if others golfed with us.  Yeah, that old shyness bugaboo. 

                                      

Herb, with cigar, teeing off.

Mark, the human auger, about to shank it.

Phil is a good solid golfer, never gets in trouble.  Doesn't do it much but when he does, he'll be good. 

These are the only pictures I am aware of that record the Blythes' teeing off.  Of course, the guy with the camera never gets his picture taken, so there isn't one of me that exists in the world.  Which, I think is fortuitous.  I always meant to play a round with Neighbor Tim but my clubs were chucked in the trash by Holly so there you go.  Glad she did it, of course, as they must have been defective.  This was a few years ago at the first Mike Johnson Open at Oak Run that was in the 90's.  Golf was a family passion that seems to have escaped me.  I decided to sit in a lawn chair during the summer showing off my old cars.  Sure, I went out there and hacked around, but I never golfed enough to be even substandard.  In a family with around 3 or 4 holes-in-one, I'm sure I was a disappointment.  I was the only member of the family that was never a member of the Oak View Country Club.  I still have some score cards with dates that were special enough for me to keep. 

These pictures were taken in the front yard of the old homestead.  Whenever we got together we'd play shooting range since there was farm ground around us.  Is that Mackenzie and Brendan running to the car?   

My only claim to fame is an eagle on number 8 hole at OVCC.  Pure luck and incredibly cosmic bounces, no doubt.  It was one of those deals where you spend time looking all around the hole then look in the hole...just in case.  And there it was. 

Herb, of course, has passed away, Phil is too busy to play, so Mark is the lone practitioner these days.  I would be remiss in remarking that shortly after Herb's passing, the Club erected a bench area between the 6th and 7th holes with his name on it.  It was at this spot that Herb had his heart attack and subsequently passed away a week or so later.  It is quite a monument to a pretty swell father and friend to many.  I have a picture of it somewhere and when I come across it, I'll post it.