PINEHURST, NORTH CAROLINA | So there I was, standing atop a real-life locomotive with a 54-degree wedge in my hands and facing a 50-yard pitch shot …
Not that there is any kind of spectacular ending to this story other than I survived unharmed and with only a small scuff on the bottom of my wedge from picking a Titleist off the steel, but we will get to that in a moment.
The moral of this story, if there is such a thing, is the everlasting joy of golf that comes in different places and in different forms but almost never fails to deliver, even if it’s sometimes hard to find amid the pull-hooks and three-putts that tend to blister our psyches.
Last Monday, Harold Varner III’s HV3 Foundation hosted a 100 Hole Hike fundraising event at the Cradle at Pinehurst Resort. A group of us spent the morning and part of the afternoon going around and around the brilliant 789-yard short course at Pinehurst Resort to raise money for Youth On Course and for the hurricane relief efforts in western North Carolina.
It is a noble and righteous endeavor enhanced by Varner, who has the gift of being everyone’s friend and is blessed with a heart that wants to help.
We broke into three groups and had free run of the place, giving us the freedom to play some cross-country golf. We were able to create our holes, provided we could all play them with the single wedge we were carrying while music played and adult beverages were available to any who might be interested.
That’s when someone suggested playing a hole from the train that’s anchored beside the Cradle and serves as a bar/party spot for anyone so inclined.
Having been granted permission to come aboard, the six of us – yes, we played a sixsome that included a pair of former PGA Tour players – made our way one by one atop the locomotive.
Imagine the scene in “Titanic” when Leonardo DiCaprio stands at the front of the boat and proclaims himself king of the world. It was kind of like that except it was a train and we were playing a match, three against three.
When you’re playing from atop a locomotive, it’s necessary to avoid the various pieces of steel protruding from the top of the car so as not to damage your wedge and yourself, and it’s also critical that you not fall off.
The good news is no one got hurt, everyone hit the green – it was hard not to, from our peculiar perch – and golf had taken us all to a spot we’d never been.
And a spot we won’t soon forget.
Ron Green Jr.
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