Pride Goes Before a Fall

Monday was a great day. I participated in the Warsaw Christian School Kids Classic Golf Outing. The last two years, I have been on the first place team—not because of my golfing skills—but because of two specific truths: 1.) I have had very good playing partners ( a little love and a shout out to Mark Soto and Tom Abbitt) and 2.) We have bought a complete ball of yarn that you stretch out so that you do not putt. Now this year, there were five other groups that figured out how we were winning. We weren’t better—we were just trying to be smarter. And in the process, this year we helped the school raise an additional $500 for scholarships because our strategy came to light and the other golf four-somes caught on.

But I did come away with a trophy. I only hit two good shots all day. Really. Just ask the three guys I played with. But one of them was onto the green on 18 from 180 yards with a three wood with my wife looking on. I’m feeling good at this point. Even a little cocky. And that’s where the problem really started.

I proceeded to the first tee (the tournament is a scramble and we started on hole 6). As I took my tee shot, I hit the ground about a foot behind the ball and on the follow through I just grazed the top of the ball. That caused the ball to fall off the tee and land less than one inch from where it had started. Now here comes the good part: On this hole they had a prize for… you guessed it, the shortest drive. I thought all three of my playing partners were going to wet themselves as they laughed so hard they were about crying as I wrote my name on the card and placed it ONE INCH in front of the blue tee markers.

So I didn’t win a free round of golf at Stonehenge Country Club this year. But I did get a good reminder about what goes before a one inch fall.