Nick's Links Archives |
| Tilly | ||||||||
Can't recall how many times I've asked this pertinent (or impertinent) question of fellow members, old-timers in particular:
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| A Pro's Pro | |||
Starting his third year as head of golf operations at the Norfolk Country Club, Ron Pfaefflin (pronounced Peflin) has achieved a milestone in his professional golf career.
Having completed an intense regimen of playing and written tests in just three and half years (candidates are allowed six) Ron has become a certified Class A PGA professional putting him in the exclusive company of all PGA club professionals in the country including those on the PGA tour. For the past two years Ron has brought a new level of talent and enthusiasm to the job of giving lessons, conducting clinics, supervising tournaments, running the pro shop and promoting the game of golf at Norfolk. Congratulations to Ron on his latest achievement. I think all will agree we're lucky to have him as our resident PGA golf pro. Ron has gotten off to a fast start for the 2009 season. Under his direction the storied pro shop has been rearranged and reconfigured making it much more practical for the golf staff and members alike. The sign-in counter to the right of the entrance has been moved to the far wall directly across from the doorway, opening up the the retail area and making the room seem much bigger. Ron has also transformed his former workshop to the left of the pro shop into a commodious office for himself, complete with computer, tv, files, golf memorabilia and a fine view of the first tee. His workshop has been moved to the area in back where bags and equipment used to be stored. Overall, a refreshing and needed change to the that all-important pro shop experience.
While you're checking out the new pro shop layout, be sure to take advantage of Ron's spring clearance sale - 50% off most items including shirts, hats, towels and some demo clubs. The sale will continue through the beginning of June. If your game needs a tune-up (and who's doesn't?) be sure to contact Ron about lessons (on course or on the range) and remember that you can sign up for tournaments, scrambles and lessons at the pro shop, by phone or by e-mail on the club's website.
The course is rounding into shape under the aegis of superintendant Joe Bunk and his greens-keeping staff. Here's to another great year at the Norfolk Country Club. Tee It High And Let It Fly! Nick nknickers@gmail.com |
'Tis true the NCC golf course has been hibernating peacefully this long, harsh winter under a heavy shroud of snow and ice. Greensward fairways and burrowing varmints have had a warm white blanket keeping the severe cold of winter '08/09 from driving deep beneath the earth's surface and inflicting freezer burn (please pardon the oxymoron) that might damage the entrails of our little patch of paradise off Golf Drive.
To avoid the icy, slippery slopes I skied over to the eighth tee then up the seventh fairway, every once and while trying my luck on the smaller inclines. Heading back in across the fifth tee I paused to look up the fairway to admire my favorite tree, the magnificent white pine, the signature tree which has graced the fifth fairway for longer than most members can remember.- the one which, if your ball flies past, you know you've a good drive.
I looked for the primitive sign nailed to the tree that had marked 233 yards to the green but couldn't find it in the rubble. Perhaps the tree removal crew will salvage it so we can hang it back up on the sister trunk which seems to have survived the the storm intact, as a memorial. Nick |
| Yes, it had rained all night and it was still drizzling a bit when I pulled into the NCC parking lot for the final scramble of 2008. Still, I was surprised to find the lot empty and none of the pre-play schmoozing that always goes on outside the pro shop and on the putting green.
I putt(er)ed around for awhile waiting for my fellow scramblers to arrive until it seeped into my noggin that, indeed, the final scramble had been canceled due to the inclement weather. Not to be denied a morning outing on the NCC links, I plopped my bag onto one of the complimentary pull carts and set out for a couple of hours of peace and solitude on a perfect Irish, gray morning for golf. It continued to drizzle off and on but I was in a heaven of my own making; just me, the verdant course, a little white ball and a curious deer in the woods off the third fairway. There was no hurry, no one pushing from behind or holding me up on the tees. I took my sweet time rambling down the fairways and ambling in and out of the woods howsomever I pleased. Wouldn't you know, I found 15 balls that had been sacrificed in the woods by fellow members; and in the trees on the sixth hole, I came upon a perfectly good Callaway 3-wood where someone must have hurled it in a moment of pique. Anyone missing a 3-wood (not yours is it, Co?), I have it in my bag. And if anyone knows the story of how it got into the woods, please e-mail me and I'll share the gory details with the rest of the members. That evening, the annual closing steak dinner was held in the Alfredo Taylor clubhouse, a bittersweet good-bye to another capital season at the Norfolk Country Club. Steaks were grilled in the big stone fireplace andthe accompaniments were prepared, as they have been all summer, under the talented chefs from the Old Inn On the Green. Co Crocker, who did a bang-up job in his first year as our dear leader presented his President's award to the women who have revitalized the bridge group these past couple of years. The hard work and dedication of Sue Dooley, Elizabeth Vergo, Barbara Gridley and Sally Estock resulted in a kind of a bridge craze every Tuesday evening when the clubhouse was packed with enthusiastic bidders and trumpers.
An all-male a capella group from UConn rounded out the night with a rousing, smart, funny show of old and new favorites which ushered us out into the night and into the off-season with a spring in our steps. Most golfers put their clubs away for the winter sometime in September and let them hibernate in the closet until around Memorial Day. For me, the golf season doesn't end until at least mid-November and begins again in March (with perhaps, a trip to Florida to tone up the golf muscles), leaving only four months to dream about and pine away for that first drive of the brand new season. This year it stayed unseasonably warm until November 10th when I got in my last few holes of 2008. Most of the greens were covered but the grass was still lush enough to make good, solid contact and let it fly. For the last few days, it has not been above 25 degrees, almost too cold to leave the house never mind hit the links. But the barometer says its going to be in the high-30s around Thanksgiving and I'm getting the itch; perhaps I'll break my over-40 degree rule and sneak out for a few holes before overindulging in turkey and beer on Thanksgiving Day. A few reminders: Club member Robert Dance, has just published a wonderful coffee table book called Glamour of the Gods, a collection of beautiful photographs out of the golden age of Hollywood from the 1920s to the 1950s --- from Clara Bow to Greta Garbo to Elvis. Vanity Fair magazine called it 'must read'. The book is available on Amazon.com and would look very nice under the Christmas tree.
Club member Rober Loper has part of his comprehensive collection of Italian Renaissance drawings from the 16th to the 18th century on display at the Clark Art Museum in Williamstown MA. The exhibit is called Drawn to Drama and will be hanging until January 4, 2008. The Clark is a gem and is just a 1.5 hour drive deep into my beloved Berkshires and well worth the trip. While you're there take a detour five miles east to MassMoca in North Adams, the largest contemporary art museum in the United States. Just last week in conjunction with the Yale University Art Gallery they opened a retrospective exhibit on famed Connecticut conceptual artist Sol Lewitt. The Lewitt exhibit occupies an entire building on the MoCa campus and will reside there for at least 25 years. Also, please don't forget to send in your holiday gratuities to the club for distribution as a thank you to the valued staff members from the kitchen to the dining room to the golf course who work hard all season to make our NCC summers so seamlessly enjoyable under the ever-capable supervision of Club Manager, Dan Rebillard. Happy Holidays to all! See you at Infinity Hall? Nick nknickers@gmail.com |
Teeing off in Sunday's 36-hole final were Rod Perkins, who had recently overcome serious health issues and John Wallace, who just had recovered from a freak industrial accident in the Spring.
Rod has two men's championship's under his belt but it has been over fifteen years since he last tasted victory. John, on the other hand, had been in the finals several times never to have been able to close one out and hoist the cup. By the time late in the day when the two competitors got to the 34th tee it seemed that the match was over, Rod was 3 up with 3 to go. John was dormied and another championship seemed out of his grasp. But the gods of golf had other ideas. John dug deep down and, improbably, won the last three holes, forcing a playoff. On the 37th hole of a very long day, John Wallace, sank his final putt and became Norfolk Country Club's 2008 Men's Champion. Congratulations, John! It was a tough loss for Rod, a formidable competitor, but he found solace a few day's later when his daughter, Barbara Perkins, won her 2nd women's championship in 3 years, beating Turi Rostad 4 and 3.
Congratulations are also in order for Betty Taylor who accumulated the most overall points and, for the second year in a row, handily won the summer's bridge championship. Last week a huge tractor trailer pulled into the club parking lot from the New England Golf Car Co.of Seekonk Mass. It was loaded with eighteen new vehicles that are finally replacing the aging fleet that had been experiencing more and more breakdowns these last couple of years. With the old cars, you were lucky to get 18 holes out of a charge. The snazzy new cars will last more than triple the time, at least 54 holes on a single charge. No more having to be rescued by the golf staff when your car dies trying to climb on of the course's many steep hills. With about a month left in the golf season, why not give the new golf cars a try? It's that bittersweet season when the leaves are changing and the air starts to thin; arguably the best time of year to be out on the course. It's not that cold yet. Just ask that intrepid club member who still takes a swim every day in Tobey Pond.
nknickers@gmail.com |
Though I'm nearly as old as these green woods among which we are fortunate enough to reside, I have embraced technology like any puerile teen-ager. But when a four-month old laptop suddenly up and dies requiring much time and expense to repair, it gets my Irish up big time. I was on the verge of throwing the miscreant machine into Blackberry River, but.... here I am, weeks later, stuck with the same machine, albeit with a new operating system (as I type, the cursed cursor is careening over the page) trying to catch up on the goings-on at the Norfolk Country Club. Note to self: Next time get a Mac. What looked to be a record crowd showed up for this year's inaugural Thursday night dinner and talk, featuring our very own, R.D. Sahl. Anchorman for the New England Cable Network, R.D. brought his considerable experience and expertise in the news business to bear in a lively discussion of this year's presidential campaigns. The audience was sharply divided on the relative merits of the candidates which was reflected in the tone of the questions and the groans and catcalls with which many of them were greeted. R.D. handled each question with aplomb, providing needed insight into just how complex and daunting are the issues confronting each candidate. That he is somewhat of a media celebrity was reflected when R.D. was given a standing ovation by members of the peanut gallery prior to his being given a warm, heartfelt introduction by his son, Christopher. The July 4th scramble was marked by a steady rain, but a full slate of stoic golfers soldiered through the full 18 holes. It was a soggy day of donning and taking off rain clothes, managing cumbersome umbrellas and tying to secure firm footing. Not wanting to bother with all the paraphernalia, thick Mick that I am, I pretended it was a sunny day and played in short sleeves sans rain wear and umbrella, none the worse for wear.
That night, under the inspired supervision of Barry Webber, the clubhouse was beautifully decked out in red, white and blue and a small but enthusiastic group enjoyed a delicious dinner and dancing in celebration of Independence Day 2008. Husband and wife, Robert and Lee Dalzell of Williams College gave an entertaining slide presentation and talk about Washington's Mount Vernon in Virginia and the Rockefeller estate, Kykuit, on the Hudson River for the second Thursday. Each have written books on their respective subjects and their beautiful photographs were accompanied by learned comments and interesting historical anecdotes. For Thursday night Three, Sam Messer, director of the Yale Summer School of Art on the grounds of the Battell-Stoeckel estate (he resides in the round house by the ball fields), gave us history of the school, outlined its mission and matriculation standards, then graphically discussed his own art work replete with some rather startling images.
On July 12th and 13th, fourteen two-man teams competed in the annual O'Donohue men's member/guest tournament. The weather was perfect and, for the first time in memory, the play was pleasantly seamless -- no waiting on tees and no teams pushing from behind. Everyone finished their rounds in under four hours, the way the game should be played. To no one's surprise, twenty-time club champion, Larry Hannafin and his partner, Russ (Teeter) Riva (he of Lindell's) took top honors with a gross score of 117. Last night, Christopher Gray who has been writing the 'Streetscapes' column in the Real Estate section of the New York Times for the last twenty-one years brought his column to life as he delved deeply into the prescient building ideas of Stephen Clark the business genius behind the Singer Sewing machine fortune.
Resplendent in a butter-yellow jacket over a bright red golf shirt, Mr. Gray explained how Mr.Clark, an amateur developer with deep pockets managed to foreshadow, in the 1880s, many of the modern ideas and concepts of city living in buildings such as the Dakota on the Upper West Side while creating an ideal village in Cooperstown in upstate New York. For awhile, Mr. Gray had to compete with an impertinent, bold tree frog which seemed to be croaking from somewhere in the kitchen, Eventually the frog must have dozed off or hopped away, leaving the floor and his rapt audience to Mr. Gray. My wife, Nicky, and I are off to Newport and Martha's Vineyard for some sand and surf. Look for another post in two weeks. nknickers@gmail.com |
For some club members the summer season begins on the 4th of July and ends on Labor Day, roughly coinciding with the extent of the Thursday night speaking schedule. Two glorious months of glistening Norfolk weather and carefree days of golf, tennis, bridge and dinner parties ensue. Family and business entanglements loosen up and lunch on the veranda or nine holes of golf seem like real good ideas. For my wife Nicky and myself, the Norfolk CC season begins sometime in late April and ends when crisp October days begin to give way to the inevitable cold of November. Many members share our passion for making use of the NCC's fine facilities for a full six months and can be seen tramping around the golf course or rushing the net even on days when the weather is iffy. Perhaps, because this year's May and June weather has been iffier than usual, the traffic on the golf course and tennis court's and participation in the the various scrambles and round robins has been down somewhat. It took four Wednesdays for the evening scramble to finally get off the ground. The first two were canceled because of bad weather (including the notorious, June 15th windy mess from which, hundreds of trees around town are still being cleared) and the third lasted only 6 holes before the rains came. The last two Wednesdays brought perfect weather for 20 plus scramblers who then joined the tennis round robiners for dinner and a sunset on the veranda. A reminder: the bar menu is available for all members until 8:30p every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, players and non-players alike. The men's member/member this year, won by Jim Jackson and Larry Hannafin with a net score of 63-65 = 128, had a field of only seven two man teams as opposed to the twelve teams that turned out last year. The senior men's inter-club match at Norfolk saw only three Norfolk guys turn out, three short of a full team. You'd think we could muster up a full team, especially when we are hosting the event. Of the twenty-four player's in the Lady's inter club at Sharon only four were from Norfolk, short two players. So let's get out there gang. All these events are a lot of fun and the staff does a lot of work putting the details together. You'll be glad you did. See you on the first tee. nknickers@yahoo.com |
| Paying the piper after three days of record June heat, the town of Norfolk was staggering on Wednesday and Thursday from the worst wind, rain and lightning storm in memory. Unfortunate homeowners all over town were trying to figure out what to do with large limbs and tree debris that littered yards and blocked roadways. Imposing utility trucks fanned out all over town to try to cope with emergency conditions and bring power back to a shell-shocked community. Over at the Norfolk Country Club, one would think it was just another beautiful day in June. The post- storm air was clear and bracing, the sun a golden orb in a bright blue sky. The pro shop was open, the tennis courts were groomed and ready for play; and lunch was available on the veranda.
A closer inspection, however, would reveal that under the veneer of normality, all was not quite right at the NCC: for two days electrical power was off in the clubhouse and there was substantial damage to trees in various spots on the property. The morning after the storm, Joe and his grounds keeping crew immediately cleaned up the broken branches and and large limbs on the fairways and roped off areas where broken limbs were still clinging to the trees, threatening to drop at any time. A good-sized pine tree came down in front of the ninth tee and was quickly taken out of the playing area. Just beyond the seventh green, Mother Nature did her most damage. As the result of what must have been tornado-caliber winds, several huge pine trees that had been placidly growing in the woods for over one hundred years were completely upended, their varigated, exposed roots literally tearing up the banks of the brook that peacefully meanders, virtually out of sight, in back of the green on its way to out-letting on Golf Drive near Brett Hellerman's horses. Venture back there now and you'll find an unruly landscape, quite another world.
Back at the ranch, J.B. was giving a lesson on the tennis courts, Ron was at his post in the pro shop, lamenting only that the lack of power was keeping him from watching the first round of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines; and Dan was prowling the premises trying to salvage food that was thawing in the freezer and miraculously serving lunch to all comers, making good use of the outdoor gas grill.
Because we are fortunate to have such dedicated, hard-working staff members, despite the worst storm in 25 years, all was well at the Norfolk Country Club. nknickers@yahoo.com |
Last Saturday evening Club President, Co Crocker, hosted a reception for new  members, their sponsors, the board of governors and other club dignitaries in the clubhouse lounge. Around 6:30, a fierce hailstorm blew in catching some of the guests off guard as they ran through the parking lot dodging the wind-blown, pea-sized precipitation. Inside the clubhouse, all was cozy and warm. A gentle fire burning in the grate cast a mellow glow as the new members (including, the cutest baby, Ella Hotchkiss) were formally welcomed to our ranks.July 1st will mark the 80th anniversary of the the initial round of golf played at the Norfolk Country Club in 1928. Since that fateful day, at the rate of approximately 2500 rounds a year (a round being defined by the PGA as a player having teed off on the first hole), 200,000 some-odd rounds have been played on our little course. It can safely be said that no one has spent more time on, or has seen more of, the Norfolk Country Club course than Joe Bunk. Joe came to the Norfolk Country Club in 1978 as the new golf pro and two years later took over as the course superintendent and for the next 28 years ably carried out the daunting task of performing both jobs. For the past two years, Joe has given up his duties as golf pro and has taken on the care and maintenance of the course as his full time job. Congratulations on thirty years Joe and many thanks! For years, Joe has been beseeching the powers that be at the Norfolk Country Club to install a state of the art irrigation system which most every course in the state has already. Despite working for years with an antiquated sprinkler system that was installed in 1967, and required Joe and his crew to manually screw in the sprinkler heads, Joe has managed to keep the course in top shape, no matter what the weather Norfolk summers have brought to bear. Before the 1967 sprinkler system was put in, only the greens and tee boxes were watered. The fairways were left to go brown and by August the hard, dry fairways would add several yards to every well-struck tee shot. Another anomaly of the course when Joe arrived in 1978 was that there was virtually no rough. A narrow strip of grass was the only demarcation between fairways. Also, many of the trees you see today were not yet planted or were very much smaller 30 years ago making for a more wide open course.The two groups of three pine trees separating the 1st and 9th fairways, were planted by Star Childs in the mid-70s. The crimson king maples between the 5th and 6th fairways and the one on the right, short of the 9th green were planted by Kitty Stephenson twenty-five years ago. And the nasty pine trees on the right side of the the 1st fairway (around the bend) were planted by Chubby Clark about twenty years ago. Chubby also planted the two crab apple trees alongside the fourth green. With no rough and few trees, the course was obviously a much easier test of a golfer's skill in those days, prompting some wags to declare there should be an asterisk attached to Larry Hannafin's course record 65 which he recorded some time before Joe toughened up the course. 
The Norfolk Country Club property comprises 47 acres, half of which taken up by the golf course itself. In order to keep the course in optimum shape, Joe and his crew use 30 different chemically-based products supplied by Turflinks out of Albany. When Joe started, he used only six products but they were much stronger and harder on the environment than the technologically advanced fertilizers and pesticides in use today. Every two weeks in the summer, fungicides are put on the greens and tee boxes and three times a year the fairways are sprayed to curtail the spread of unwanted critters. Of the entire annual maintenance budget for the course, 75% is spent on fertilizers and pesticides alone. The crew operates and maintains ten vehicles, including two greens mowers, two tractors and various gang mowers to cut the rough. In addition to adding the rough, Joe put in that tricky bunker with the hump to the right front of the 9th green and lenghthened the tee box on three. The monster bunker between the 3rd and 5th greens has apparently always been there. Every Fall, local tree man, Ted Hinman comes in to trim branches and clear unwanted trees as was done in recent years in the woods to the left of the 2nd and 6th holes. This year Ted and Joe, for the first time, cut the bottom branches from under 25 of the those cursed pine trees that swallow up errant shots between fairways. As a result, we should be seeing a dramatic drop in scores from previous seasons. This year, Joe's prayers were answered. In April and May, Artistic Irrigation of Woodbury installed an automatic watering system on the first three holes of the course. The rest of the irrigation job will be completed within the next few years. From an unimposing green box situated on the way to the fifth tee, Joe now can push a button or  set the timer and the fairways will all of a sudden look like the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. If he were so inclined, Joe could operate the system remotely from up to two miles away. Not only does it make Joe's life easier, the course will be greener and more lush all through the playing season. Water is still pumped from the pond between the seventh and eighth holes, but new pipes had to be installed where you now see the long strips of dirt along the first three fairways. Grass seed planted in April didn't take because of cold May weather, but next week Joe will be putting down a souped-up hybrid seed that should germinate very fast. Chunks of sod were taken up and carefully replaced where new pipes were laid under the fairways. A bonus from the new sprinkling system is that Joe has put new yellow yardage markers on many of the new sprinkler heads. For example, on the ninth, the closest marker used to be the red one at 100 yards. Now, if you look carefully, you will find yardages at 55 and 79 yards, accurate to the inch, since Joe measured them with a laser. Another reason why scores should be much lower this year. Right, gang? I can think of only one flaw on our beautiful golf course, one which was bought on by the invention of the golf cart. The cart path that cuts right through the middle of the first portion of the first hole not only diminishes the natural contours, the grand, wide-open vista from the first tee that we all savor, but it takes away from what should be a wonderful first impression of the course. Anyone have any suggestions as to what to do about this unfortunate scar? Rerouting the path through the woods, perhaps? Early in May, fifteen-year-old Nick Bardini, a sophomore on the Regional 7 high school golf team, was playing a practice round at Norfolk under the tutelege of his golf coach and our golf pro, Ron Pfaefflin. Nick teed it up on the 230-yard par 3rd hole and proceeded to hole out his drive for a double eagle, a very rare albatross. Ron, who was watching his team from near the 4th tee, said the ball hit the crest of the hill, took a couple of hops and rolled straight into the hole. Quite a feat for young Nick. Does anyone know of another such double eagle ever having been made on three? Last Wednesday's (6.4.8) scramble and tennis round robin were cancelled due to bad weather. Don't forget to sign up for the road trip to Sharon for this year's inter-club match. Lunch is at 11:30a and tee off time at 12:30p Coming soon: Joe Bunk's top-10 golfers of the last 30 years. nknickers@yahoo.com |
On a sun-soaked Memorial Day Monday, Jim Moye and I were playing a friendly two-dollar nassau with Burt Ahrens and Woody Flowers. Walking down the fourth fairway, chasing our drives under a glorious arc of blue sky, we noticed a familiar figure strolling up the first fairway. It took a moment to sink in but the familiar figure, the last person we expected to see out on the therapeutic fairways of the Norfolk Country Club that day, was none other than John Wallace. Sporting a round-brimmed straw boater, John was looking fit as ever as he watched his wife Laurene and daughter Marisa playing his favorite game. Hugs and handshakes made the rounds and John told us it will take a few weeks until he is able to tee it up again; but before too long he'll be back in his milieu, competing for the club championship at the Norfolk Country Club. Welcome back, John! By the way, Burt hit quite a drive that morning on Six: a line shot into the woods on the left. After rattling around in the trees, the ball whizzed back past our tee box before coming to rest on the third green, pin high... good thing the green had just cleared. Thanks to pure ball striking such as that, Jim and I managed to lighten Burt's and Woody's wallets a little that day.
Mother Nature decides when the golf course is ready for play, usually sometime in mid-April when frost takes leave of the greens. This year the course was playable for most of April, but an unseasonably cold May kept spring play to a minimum --- making the opening Memorial Day scramble all the more welcoming to the 36 golfers who gathered for an 8:30 shotgun start. Genuinely pleased to see fellow players at the club after the long winter, members exchanged warm greetings and enduring friendships were renewed. Ron Pfaefflin, starting his second year as head golf pro, introduced his new assistant, Rich Lehman, then gathered everyone in front of the pro shop to outline the rules of play. Carts were marshaled and nine foursomes scattered to their respective tees to await the sounding of Ron's horn to kick off Norfolk's 80th season of golf. Final net scores for the opening scramble were as follows:
There's nothing quite like passing through the screen door of of our unique Alfredo Taylor clubhouse on the Saturday of Memorial Day week-end. Welcomed by lovely hostesses at the door who direct you to your dinner table, you savor the possibilities of a magical evening.
Next stop is the kitchen window to place your wine order before a leisurely ramble through the great hall under Taylor's rustic, timbered ceiling. Random encounters with people you may not have seen for months forestall your path to the bar, all part of the sense of renewal you feel as summer at the Norfolk Country Club officially begins. There's a bit of a scrum at the open bar as drink orders are interrupted by hearty greetings and embraces, but before long you find yourself out on the veranda, drink in hand, bathed in golden, filtered light courtesy of the setting sun, disappearing out beyond the seventh fairway. At dusk, newly-installed Club President, Co Crocker stood on the steps of the veranda and called for the members attention --- not an easy task since everyone was having such a good time catching up.
Co asked for a moment of silence to pay our respects to former Club President (1994-95), Robert Kotur, who recently passed away, then summoned his board of governors to publicly thank them for all their hard work. Class of 2008 new members were introduced but a microphone malfunction ended speechifying for the night as the line for dinner began to form in the dining room. While the rest of us were chatting amiably, in full party mode, there was much activity in front of the blazing stone fireplace. Ted Marolda who, for more years than he can count, has been head grill man for those big slabs of steak that we gleefully consume, was busy turning the meat, checking the thermometers and stoking the embers. Ted was ably assisted by new member, Larry Freedman, Jon Rotolo and Ted's look-alike son, TJ, all of whom later carved our meat to order at the end of the buffet line.
This year it was difficult to find room for steak on your plate because the offerings on the buffet table were so bountiful. Under the auspices of Peter Platt, of The Old Inn on the Green in New Marlborough, we were treated to a sumptuous array of salads and appetizing vegetable creations worthy of any sophisticated restaurant. Genial Clubhouse Manager, Dan Rebillard, and his crack staff did an outstanding job of planning, organizing and implementing the myriad details of of putting together a dinner dance for over 250 people. A first for a Memorial Day Opening dinner was the addition of a live band which performed under a white tent just outside the bar. After we savored a wide variety of sinful, scrumptious desserts, dancing began in earnest. Martha Mullins, looked ravishing in a simple black dress and (very Sex and the City) sky-high, open- toed, red patent leather heels. Star Childs cut some serious rug and occasionally accompanied the band with an inspired air guitar. Had there been a prize for most elegant dancers, new members Erzsebet and Don Black would have won handily.
By midnight, it seemed the younger members had all gone home to relieve their babysitters while many of the more 'seasoned' members, the old guard, were still partying in full, charged up and ready to dance the night away. |
I had just hit what proved to be my best drive of the day on number Five.
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my tattered Sunday bag and began walking up the knoll to rendezvous with my old Maxfli. Literally, figuratively and spiritually, I was exactly half way through my weekly solo practice round; and I was reminded yet again ----- of what a fine thing it is to be a member of the Norfolk Country Club.