EASTERN GOLF, FLORIDA TO NEW ENGLAND

EASTERN GOLF, FLORIDA TO NEW ENGLAND

BY JOCK MACKENZIE – Four Times voted Best Radio
Broadcaster including twice voted one of 50 best in the
United States.



Thousands of us are enjoying the thrill of a golf hole-in-one.
Some of the best golfers can boast of two, three, four and more.
But there's something special about that first one even though it may prove to be the only one most of us will ever enjoy. It will be precious when we accomplish that feat and it will remain next to our hearts for life. Sure, the 2^nd or 3^rd accomplishment will be great but there is nothing, absolutely nothing that beats the joy of your first and only hole in one.
We place the reminder in a prominent house spot so when the golf day had us down for the day we can pick it back up and think happily of that time when we and friends shouted, leaped with joy and took home with us that one time when we could say: “My gosh, I just had a hole-in one!”
Of course there are thousands who wonder if theirs will ever come. But when they do, and they will, the most precious time of life will spread it's wings in our favor.
It will be that fascinating time when they and playing partners can jump and holler with joy because of an event that is extra special in our life. I would like to say it would happen again and again but as one who sits back happily enjoying that one and lonely time when the little white ball actually went into the hole with glorious joy, down deep we one day will realize this Ace will be our first and only such event in years and years of that wonderful game titled “Golf.”



John Maino, for instance, smacked a recent ace at the beautiful Palm Coast Golf Course in Pine Lakes from 155 yards out while using a No. 3 Hybrid. But was the thrill taken from him when noting that this classic was his 3^rd career ace? I think not. To Maino each one is special and I'll wager there are more in the bank just waiting to burst out.
The one that really got me is Bryan Hill who zapped the No. 4 hole at Grand Reserve on Hole Number 4 from 118 yards out. He never expected it, never dreamed it would happen and the last I knew was smiling like a new born for three straight days.
Hill runs the show at Grand Reserve each Monday through Friday and then gets a little relief to play golf on either Saturday or Sunday and perhaps on both days.
His friends told me he was smiling, laughing and full of that six-foot- four height every hour of the day. I spent a short time with him on the 3^rd day following his special accomplishment and they were right. Personally? I don't think he'll lose that hole-in-one smile for a year to come and maybe more.
With Hill at the time of this special event of his first Ace was Pete Field and Coleman Coy.
By the way, Hill used a sand wedge to accomplish that very special moment.
So, if you reside elsewhere, come on down to Palm Coast, FL for even a week or five more and you'll enjoy golf like few others anywhere. Maybe, just maybe, there's a hole-in-one waiting for you to come.
We have golf courses here that will test every minute of your skill, courses you will love playing.
You can play this wonderful game of golf along side the ocean or at that beautiful 18-holes named Grand Haven. Again, you'll view the lead to the ocean and watch the private boats coming in and going out. Special is not enough to describe how terrific Grand Haven is.
Then there are special golf courses like The Grand Club and Cypress Knoll. I had the honor one day of apologizing to a man and his wife from Montreal for slowing them down during 18-holes. Still in their golf cart they responded, “Don't apologize for being in our way. We have played several courses here during our vacation and this is our first at Pine Lakes and the best course of all. We think this course is so great we will be back again and again and again when we return for vacation next year.”
So, come and enjoy. Whether it be Coventry, Pine Lakes, Cypress Knoll, Grand Reserve, Grand Haven, Palm Harbor or any of the gorgeous ocean courses you'll enjoy golf this deep like no other in the good old USA.
Come here to Palm Coast. You will have struck the best deal in all of American golf!
From time to time I've read writings about getting older especially in golf. But what other sport do you know that allows you to play from youth to 90 years of age? And to enjoy it week after week!
There are times when I can sock the ball like days of yore. Then much of the time that gift seems to filter from the ends of my golf club. That's the breaks. I'm happy I can still hit the golf ball short or long. Admittedly, though, that “long” thought is too often just a dream.
As I've aged, I have become nicer to myself, just grateful to be on the links, good bad or different. When I could fire away looking to break 80, I now fight to bust the number 100. But it's still fun, a ton of fun.
I have seen too many wonderful friends leave the golf world too soon because they fail to understand the great freedom that comes with aging. I know I am sometimes forgetful. But some of life is just as well forgotten.
Sure my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break, when you lose a loved one? But that is just one more reason why the game of golf is so important.
I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves. Yet, that's why golf lasts so long and is so wonderful for people like me.
You know what I like the most? To be allowed to play golf at Pine, Cypress or Grand Reserve with good friends who perform as a team.
I find that showing up at the golf course, joining those formerly from New York or elsewhere on the course - and you may not believe this- but offering best wishes and welcome by others I do or do not know, all of us on hand to topple the other guy and win a buck or two on the way, is the answer with a ton of fun.
Do I like being old or older? Heck, does anyone? You can answer that question in your own heart. I like the career and success I've had but know that time has come and gone. What's important now is that friendships never come apart and each golf day becomes more and more special by the month.
Golf, my friends, is the answer, the game of golf and the people I play it with.
Some come to Pine Lakes otherwise know as the The Grand Club. Come to Grand Reserve and by all means, come to Cypress Knoll and play this exciting game we call golf. So, come on down. Come to Palm Coast, FL where golf will assure that life, indeed, will prove that friendships never come apart.