Greatest Golf Story... Playing or Not. Let's hear em

Something I saw yesterday reminded me of a great golf related story. So I thought I'd create this thread to talk about our best golf related stories.

Back in '08, my facility ended up with a new manager. This guy loved to talk. The kind of talker that right away made you think he was full of BS. He came from our Puerto Rico facility and told me he loved playing golf. Then he goes on to tell me his doubles partner in PR is Chi Chi Rodriguez. This is where I started wanting to wear hip boots around him so I didn't get any of the bs on me. I played a couple rounds with the guy... and he was borderline horrible. But he had fun playing the game.

Anyway, a little later in the year, one of our vendors gave him 2 tickets for Sunday to the 08 US Open and he asked me to come along. As we were driving down to Torrey, he starts talking about Chi Chi again. I'm just kind of rolling my eyes in the passenger seat. We're about 20 minutes away from getting off the freeway, and he gets on the phone in his car. I hear a voice on the other end say "Hello?" My boss says "Chi Chi!" and Chi Chi replies "David! Are you on your way to Torrey? Meet me at the Lexus booth!"

We go to Torrey and made our way to the Lexus booth. Chi Chi was sitting behind a table signing autographs. He sees my boss and calls us over. We stand behind Chi Chi for about 30 minutes while he finishes signing autographs, then go with him on a cart to the Lexus Hospitality tent. I spent the majority of the day talking to Chi Chi, his wife and Annika Sorenstam. It was about the coolest experience I've ever had. Annika is an amazing person, and Chi Chi was a riot. Needless to say, on the way home, I had to apologize to my boss for thinking he was full of crap. He just laughed and said "No problem. Most people do when I start talking about Chi Chi."

Definitely something I'll remember forever.

This one wasn't about me but I heard it from a friend of mine. Not sure if it's true or not but here goes...

There was a guy (we'll call him Bill) who lived in Atlanta who worked for a big firm but didn't make a lot of money. Bill was an avid golfer and played on the local muni on the weekends occasionally. Late one Thursday evening his boss called and said, "what are you doing tomorrow?" It was a work day obviously so he replied, "going in to the office." His boss responded and said, "were going to play Augusta National tomorrow and we need a 4th, can you make it?" The guy about crapped his pants and said "yes of course I can make it!" His boss said, ok "be at the ANGC front gate tomorrow morning at 8am with your clubs."

Bill was up and ready to go well before 8am, made the 3 hour drive to Augusta, and showed up to the front gate about 745am. The guard let him in and he parked and headed straight to the first tee where he was greeted by his boss, his boss' friend who was the member, and their caddies. Bills first tee shot wasn't the greatest but he didn't care, he was playing Augusta National! He was soaking it all in, and enjoying every minute of it.

They made the turn and Bill was on cloud 9. Then they came to #12. The famous, beautiful par-3 over Raes Creek. Playing about 155, Bill decided on 8iron. He caught it clean and it started heading towards the pin, then it bounced twice on the green and rolled right into the cup! Everyone in the group including the caddies erupted and went crazy! Everyone was throwing high-fives and celebrating all around.

They finished 18 and walked into the pro shop and of course told everyone about the hole-in-one, including the head pro. He was very impressed and asked for Bill's address and info so they could send him something for it. The finished by having lunch in clubhouse and Bill made his way back home to Atlanta.

A few weeks later, a very large package showed up on his doorstep. He opened it to find an oversized painting of the 12th hole at Augusta with a small engraved bronze plate at the bottom that read his name, the date and "ANGC #12, 8iron, Hole-in-One." He was blown away at the generosity and said to himself that it's too good to be true. Well he was right...he also had an envelope that came with the painting that was an invoice for $4,000 for the painting, $4,000! He immediately thought he couldn't afford to keep this thing! Bill thought about it for a while and even talked about it with his wife who said, "We both know you're not going to return that to Augusta National, you'll just have to pay it." He was disappointed to have to write a check for $4,000 for a painting but he certainly wasn't going to send the painting back!

About a month later after sending the check, he received a letter in the mail from ANGC. It read:

"Dear Bill, Thank you for your first member payment and welcome to Augusta National Golf Club. As our newest member, you will have access to the course throughout the year, clubhouse, and cabins on property for you and your guests. Please let us know if there's anything we can do for you. Welcome to ANGC."

I don't know if this story is true but I want to believe it so bad! This would be such an insane way to become a member.


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