the rebirth of slick

each may the pga tour makes its customary stop at the colonial country club in fort worth. for the past 10 or so years, neil, brian and i have gone to the tournament together. it is a "real" golf course. the players there have to play the course. often enough these days, they can just whip out their drivers on every hole and bang away. colonial doesn't forgive that kind of approach for more than the first 2 holes. from there on in, you had better be able to golf your ball if you want to be around sunday afternoon. it is the tournament made famous by ben hogan. the sentimental call it hogan's alley because he won this particular tournament so often. of course, there are two or three other courses which dub themselves hogan's alley, so you can readily see that the hawk really got around. colonial also has a non-circus feeling because eldrick never plays. he is too busy getting 2 million dollar appearance fees from the wonderful golf benefactors of dubai. bully for us.

this year, i am unable to attend. seminary graduation is the same night, and i really have to be there. instead of going to, or watching the tournament, i'll just have to relive some of the great moments from my past adventures there. i loved finding nick faldo on the practice green an hour after his sunday round was over. just getting a feel for the greens for next year, i guess. i thought mark brooks' head was going to catch fire after watching him take a 5 on the par three 4th. one year, brian was commenting on how i can always be counted on to underdress. t-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes are as dressed as i get on the weekend...or weekday. neil came to my defense and said that it didn't matter how much money i made, i would always dress like i didn't have any. thanks.

i am much more interested in comfort. i enjoy dressing like a third grader...and it works for me. on my first date with my wife-to-be i dressed in a long sleeve white t-shirt, old baggy jeans, and flip flops. as she was used to dating guys who crease their jeans, i looked uber cool. unfortunately, familiarity breeds contempt.

at my 10 year high school reunion, some of us were looking at an old year book, and the subject turned to the "best" and "most" designations from our senior year. kenny lancaster reminded me that i had been voted "best dressed." charlotte refused to believe it until she saw for herself in the pages of the annual. after seeing my picture under the aforementioned heading, she turned to me, looked at me from head to toe, and asked, "what happened?" NICE.