| General Fiction posted February 1, 2023 | Chapters: |
...58 59 -60- 61... 
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The club championship begins.
A chapter in the book Some Call It Luck
Some Call It Luck - Chapter 60
by Jim Wile
| Background A brilliant and beautiful but insecure, nerdy young woman befriends a going nowhere older alcoholic caddie. Together, they bring out the best in each other and collaborate on a startling new invention |
Recap: Dana Griffin (nee Padgett), who was Abby’s chief tormentor all through grade school, finds herself in Altoona, Pennsylvania. She is a good golfer and joins Kettle Creek Country Club soon after moving there. While practicing one day, she sees a young redheaded girl practicing as well who reminds her of a young Abby. She then reminisces about her relationship with Abby back then and how poorly she had treated her.
Dana is invited to have lunch and play golf with a woman she met on the practice tee. At lunch the next day, who should show up to have lunch and play in the foursome but Abby, who is also a member at Kettle Creek. It’s been 20 years since they’ve seen each other, and although they are cordial, they are also rather cool towards each other. Dana learns from the other ladies in the group how successful Abby is at her job and how good a golfer she is, having won the ladies club championship the previous year.
Dana finds out that the young girl she saw practicing on the range is Abby’s daughter, Claire, who seems to be struggling with the game. She is having trouble learning the golf swing, which leads Abby to the idea of a new invention: a golf suit training aid that will swing for you to give you the proper feel of the swing. She tells Kenny about it, and they decide to invite E.J. and Eddie over for lunch and to bat the idea around. The team is onboard with the idea, and over the next few years the golf suit is created.
Now it’s time to try it out on a guinea pig—Claire. She has terrific results with it, and Dana notices the vast improvement in Claire on the practice tee. She sneaks into the locker room and steals the suit while Claire is in the shower. Abby is irate when Claire tearfully relates that she has lost the suit.
At home Dana puts on the suit and figures out how to use it. Over the next two weeks she practices with it.
Abby Payne
One week later—a Saturday
August, 2004
August, 2004
Today we completed the first round of the two-round ladies’ club championship tournament on an overcast, blustery day. Despite the chilly temperature and the funk I’ve been in the last few weeks over the loss of the suit, I still managed to put together a good round today, shooting a 4-over par 77.
I’m not leading, though. That distinction goes to Dana Griffin who turned in a 75! I didn’t play with her today, but I will be playing with her tomorrow, as they pair-off the best scorers together for the final round.
I’m a little surprised at her result, but—good for her. She seems to have improved her score quite a lot since the time we played together a few weeks ago. Maybe she’s gotten used to the course by now.
One thing that helped keep me in the game today was the fact that E.J. caddied for me. He was a golf caddie years ago when we first met and is also a very good golfer, himself, so it was great having him on the bag. I would have asked Kenny to caddie for me, but he and Eddie are out-of-town this weekend at an important golf show in Boston to advertise their putters.
E.J. was delighted when I asked him if he would caddie for me and said he would love to. He got me to focus on my game and gave me a lot of good advice, which caddies are permitted to do. He overrode some of my club selections, and he was right every time.
Claire and Greg were allowed to follow around and watch me play too.
Claire and I have finally come to peace with what happened to the suit. Although I was very upset thinking about all the wasted dollars and hours, I realized that she only made one small mistake—not locking up that locker; it just happened to be a very costly one. She’s only a kid after all, and kids make mistakes. That’s how they learn best. Hopefully this experience will make her more responsible in the long run.
On the night of the incident, Kenny and I discussed her punishment. We decided the best thing would be for her to help in the re-creation of the new suit. There is a lot of tedious work involved in hand-sewing all those solenoids and wires onto the fabric, and she will help in that effort.
The tough part was figuring out how much time she would have to put into it. Because it was such a costly mistake, we debated whether or not the punishment should be determined accordingly. Or should we be more lenient with her, because it wasn’t really gross negligence on her part, but just a single slip-up?
Kenny is more of a softy than me and wanted to go easier on her, but I felt we should be a little stricter with the punishment. In the end, we compromised and decided to require 36 hours of work in the next three weeks before school starts up again. That would put a significant crimp in her time with friends and her enjoyment of the end of summer, but we thought that would have more of an impact on her than any lesser amount.
“36 hours!” Claire whined when I told her. “How did you come up with that amount?”
“Your father and I decided that two hours a day, Monday through Saturday, for three weeks would be a fair amount. You can have Sundays off. Consider yourself lucky, young lady, that it wasn’t more!”
“Okay, Mom, but does it have to be every day like that, or could I double up one day and skip the next?”
“I’ll trust you to put in the 36 hours however you want to. I know you’ll be honest about it, right, Claire?”
“I will, Mom. I know I messed up.”
Her brother teased her unmercifully when he found out about it, and I finally had to holler at him to stop or he would end up helping out too. He stopped!
That was all behind us now, so they followed me around today, and it was a pleasure having them out there. They would applaud my good shots and shout, “Go Mom!” It was very cute, and Andrea, who I played with today, was amused.
Tomorrow, we tee off at 1:00 PM, following lunch. It looks like I’m going to need a very good round to beat Dana, who is currently two strokes ahead of me.
Sunday began overcast and cool like yesterday, which is not that unusual for late August. I decided to wear slacks again instead of a skirt, plus a sweater and windbreaker. I figured I could always take off layers if it started to warm up this afternoon.
I sat with E.J., Claire, and Greg at lunch in the clubhouse. It was pleasant enough, but I was a little nervous about playing with Dana in the final group.
There was so much in our past that was uncomfortable, and spending the amount of time with her that this round would entail was not something I was looking forward to. Plus, I wanted to win, and she promised to be a formidable opponent unless her first round had been a total fluke.
After lunch, I hit a few balls on the range and putted for several minutes to warm up before heading to the first tee.
Claire and Greg followed me around again today.
It had warmed up a little but was still on the cool side, so I kept my sweater and windbreaker on to start. Dana was similarly dressed. E.J. was already just in shirt sleeves.
Dana and I were cordial enough, and we shook hands before starting and wished each other luck. The starter announced the final group, and Dana teed off first.
The 1st hole is a long par-4 (at least for us ladies) of 360 yards. Dana stroked a beautiful drive with a slight draw on it that ended up on the left side of the fairway. She was often on the right side of the fairway or in the right rough the last time I played with her, but this drive was perfect. Her swing also looked better than I had remembered—slower-paced and not as long, but she really cranked it out there. I hit a good drive but was twenty yards behind her on a similar line.
I was first to hit my second shot and played a crisp 4-iron to the front of the green. E.J. congratulated me on the good shot, and the kids shouted, “Way to go, Mom!”
Dana required only a 7-iron to similarly hit the green. It was another good shot with a slight draw on it. We both 2-putted for par and moved onto the 2nd hole.
As we stood on the 2nd tee, I said to E.J., “I might have my work cut out for me today. She’s looking good so far.”
“So far,” said E.J. “But you just keep putting the pressure on her with good shots like those last two, and we’ll see if she can hold up. There’s a long way to go, and you’re looking strong too.”
I thanked him for his encouraging words. Dana still had the honors and hit another good drive down the middle. I followed suit, but was 20 yards behind her again. This would become the pattern of the day. We ended up halving this hole with pars again and moved onto the 3rd.
By the end of the 7th hole, she had gained a stroke on me when she birdied the 6th hole to my par. I was playing well at even par, but she was 1-under for the day which, coupled with her 2-stroke lead to start the day, now put her 3 strokes ahead of me. It was going to be difficult to beat her. She was swinging very well and striking the ball much more consistently than I remembered.
I couldn’t get over how good her tempo and timing looked. Before, she always seemed to slash at the ball and cut across it, but now she was swinging right down the line. As I mused about this, a disconcerting thought came to me, but I put it aside for now and tried to think about my round and forget about hers.
It was starting to warm up, so I removed my windbreaker but kept my sweater on. Dana didn’t follow suit and kept her jacket on.
We played another six holes, and her lead had increased to five. I had had a double bogey, a birdie, and the rest pars for 1-over so far, which was very good for me, but she kept getting par after par and another birdie to gain two more strokes on me.
E.J. kept trying to buck me up, but I think even he could see the writing on the wall. Also, the kids had fallen silent as they could envision the final result. They urged me to keep trying, which gave me a lot of comfort, but it wasn’t looking good at this point. There were only five holes to go, and I was five strokes behind. I was playing well, but just couldn’t keep up with Dana.
She and I didn’t talk much during the round. We both said, “nice shot” occasionally, but there wasn’t much more than that.
(4 more chapters to go)
Abby Payne: She is intelligent and beautiful, yet shy and awkward with most people her age, having been picked on quite a lot while growing up. She worked at the snack bar and as a waitress at Brentwood Country Club during the summers where she met both E.J. and Kenny, who is a member at Brentwood and became her boyfriend and eventually her husband.
E.J. Budrowski: 18 years older than Abby, he is an alcoholic with a traumatic past (an abusive father and a mother driven to suicide) who is a caddie at Brentwood CC. One day he finds a dirty old golf ball on the edge of a pond that seems to have unusual powers, for he makes two holes-in-one with it. He and Abby become friends when she encourages him to take up both golf and bridge again after long layoffs. He finally quits drinking and returns to college at age 40 and earns a degree in computer science. Eventually he becomes a professor of computer science.
Dana Griffin (nee Padgett): Grew up with Abby back in Butler. She is a bully and teased Abby unmercifully all the way through school. Coincidentally, 20 years later, she finds herself living in Altoona, where Abby lives, and joins the same country club as Abby.
Kenny Payne: Abby met him briefly at a frat party in her senior year and was intrigued by him, then she sees him again when he walks up to the snack bar several months later. He is a mechanical engineer and is tall, good looking, and an all-around nice guy. After less than a year of courtship, he marries Abby.
Eddie Phillips: A young member at Brentwood known for his extremely good putting and ability to hustle his opponents. Eddie is friends with Abby and beats Kenny in the club championship with a miracle shot. He and Kenny become best friends after that.
Claire Payne: The 12-year-old daughter of Abby and Kenny. Her inability to improve at golf was the inspiration for the invention of the golf suit.
Greg Payne: The 9-year-old son of Abby and Kenny.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. E.J. Budrowski: 18 years older than Abby, he is an alcoholic with a traumatic past (an abusive father and a mother driven to suicide) who is a caddie at Brentwood CC. One day he finds a dirty old golf ball on the edge of a pond that seems to have unusual powers, for he makes two holes-in-one with it. He and Abby become friends when she encourages him to take up both golf and bridge again after long layoffs. He finally quits drinking and returns to college at age 40 and earns a degree in computer science. Eventually he becomes a professor of computer science.
Dana Griffin (nee Padgett): Grew up with Abby back in Butler. She is a bully and teased Abby unmercifully all the way through school. Coincidentally, 20 years later, she finds herself living in Altoona, where Abby lives, and joins the same country club as Abby.
Kenny Payne: Abby met him briefly at a frat party in her senior year and was intrigued by him, then she sees him again when he walks up to the snack bar several months later. He is a mechanical engineer and is tall, good looking, and an all-around nice guy. After less than a year of courtship, he marries Abby.
Eddie Phillips: A young member at Brentwood known for his extremely good putting and ability to hustle his opponents. Eddie is friends with Abby and beats Kenny in the club championship with a miracle shot. He and Kenny become best friends after that.
Claire Payne: The 12-year-old daughter of Abby and Kenny. Her inability to improve at golf was the inspiration for the invention of the golf suit.
Greg Payne: The 9-year-old son of Abby and Kenny.
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