by Ray Sanchez 05.25.14
You can be hitting the ball far and straight, chipping close to the hole, making every putt then suddenly, poof! For no rhyme or reason, you start slicing or hooking, chunking every chip and missing every three-foot putt. And no matter if you’re an amateur or a professional
I know. I took up the sport when I was in my 20s and am still battling that little pill more than 50 years later.
I’ve cursed golf. I’ve sworn I was going to give it up. I’ve told myself I was wasting my time.
And I’m still playing it.
No wonder golf is a four letter word.
ON THE OTHER hand, golf is a wonderful sport.
You can see many seniors out on any course on any given day swinging away. They got to be seniors because they play golf. Golf may be frustrating, but the walking and the fresh air and the swinging is nothing but beneficial to your health.
And the amount of money the sport has raised with tournaments for charitable causes throughout the years is immeasurable.
I bring all this up because the 27th annual Nolan Richardson Charity Golf Tournament and the Yvonne Richardson Memorial Foundation is coming up.
The meet, which will be held next weekend (Saturday, May 31, and Sunday, June 1) at Underwood Golf Course, has provided untold funds for various charities as well as many scholarships.
RICHARDSON was in town last week, flew back to his home in Arkansas for a few days, and is back in El Paso to direct his tournament.
He has brought numerous national sports celebrities to play in the meet through the years but he says this year it’ll be more of a local event with local golfers.
He hasn’t lost his love of the sport. He still plays it regularly. In fact, the reason he flew back to Arkansas last week was to play in a tournament there.
How good is he? Well, he’s 72 now but when he was younger he got so good at golf some people were ready to sponsor him on the PGA Tour.
I KNOW how good he was. I played with him more than 40 years ago and boy, could he hit the ball. I was pretty good myself and could hit my drive around 240 yards. Those were the days before modern equipment increased distances. Ben Hogan, for instance, averaged only 240 yards off the tee and he is one of the greatest golfers of all time.
Of course, the courses weren’t as long then as they are now.
Anyway, Richardson was so strong when he was young he would out-drive me by some 30 to 40 yards, even with the old equipment.
NOLAN NEVER got really interested in golf as a career, though. He turned to coaching, and boy, was that the right move.
He won a NCAA championship and reached the finals two other times while coaching University of Arkansas and he’ll be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Aug. 8 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
But he’s still swinging away on the golf course, and he can still break 80. “In the course of 10 rounds, I’ll probably shoot in the 70s half the time,” he says.
He does have one special goal. “I’m trying to shoot my age now,” he says.
That’s even par 72 at most courses, folks.
MAYBE NOLAN can do it in his own tournament next week. And maybe plenty of El Pasoans will be there to see it.
I’m planning to participate, how about you? It’ll be a great way to honor his Naismith award and have some fun.
You can contact Underwood Golf Course for more information.
Keep your head down and follow through.