The scene has played out on golf courses for centuries, men and boys playing golf, since the days when shepherds hit rocks with crooks. As Ouimet worshipped Vardon, just as Nicklaus gave motivation to a young Woods, a new generation of golfers will look for inspiration and guidance toward the great players who preceded them. That is the way with golf, a game steeped in history and tradition.
So, one particular round played on a summer afternoon would seem to be nothing out of the ordinary. Two men, two boys, one course, a match; just nine holes on a late summer day? Or nine holes of golf indelibly etched on the games of the golfers the boys will become?
For many of us, the boundless vacation days of childhood are long past. But there comes, sometimes, a certain instance or place that causes us to bookmark a moment in time. The lucky ones among us can recall a day when the world stopped just for us, and we felt - we just knew - that it was special.
As this summer winds to a close, two young brothers will take from it a new respect for an age old game. Throughout the long, hot days of June, July and August, they moved diligently from putting green to driving range and back again, for weeks on end. Along side them, every afternoon, practiced golfers of all caliber along with a few of exceptional talent.
The select players could not escape the boys’ attention. What passed between these seasoned golfers and the boys on the range and practice green were more than putting tips and chipping lessons. As the players practiced, day in and day out, they exhibited a passion for golf itself, a respect for the art of the swing and the cadence of the game.
And so it happened, as a matter of course, that a date was picked, sides were drawn, and the format of a match established. Two budding golfers, they left the practice green behind, and their season culminated in a singular round of golf on an August afternoon.
In these days when leading by example is essentially an anomaly, two gentleman golfers offered up their knowledge and love for the game in a nine hole match with two young boys in a shining example of how to pay it forward. The men who walked the fairways with the boys that afternoon could not have offered a greater gift to those young golfers.
Not so long ago these men were just boys themselves. They still remember how it felt to be wide eyed young golfers, infatuated with and absorbed by the game of golf. They are, and forever will be, students of the game.
And so it goes, from generation to generation. With shirt tails tucked and belted, golf caps on and straightened, with their sticks on their backs and a friend by their side, boys become golfers, players among men.
