Tee Times Magazine’s Characters and Critters
Tee Times Magazine’s Characters and Critters, is a fun collection of articles covering individuals and our wildlife friends that inhabit our area golf courses. These are stories that will either bring and smile to your face or a tear to your eye. Please take some time to read and enjoy this wide diversity of interesting stories.
PAUL PALMER, MY GOLF HERO
I first became aware of Paul Palmer on the high school basketball court. I was an 8th grader when Paul was a senior. In Hays, Kansas, my hometown, the junior high and the high school shared the same building and the same basketball court.
Teenaged Bald Eagle Eating Lunch
It was the third day of the annual golf adventure for the Fab-4, a gang of former college golf teammates. During their freshman year their coach once referred to the group as the Fab-4 (comparing them to the Michigan freshman who nearly won the NCAA Basketball Championship). The name stuck.
LeRoy, The Special Needs Caddie
This is a feel good story about the great game of golf helping a special needs child develop a bond with his father.
Tornadoes On The Golf Course
I know that a tornado is not a Critter. But tornadoes are definitely a part of life on a golf course. Therefore, for this story, I will use my author’s license and call a tornado, a Critter on the Course.
What’s In A Name
Mr. Guy Green has been a dear friend for the past 30 years. Many times chatting over an adult beverage we have discussed the “Best Name For A Golfer.” This month I have allowed Guy Green to substitute for me and tell the tale of Wylie Bogie. Enjoy! – R.J. Smiley
The Golf Pro And The Bull Snake
What do you think of when you hear Bismarck, North Dakota? As your mind searches for an answer. any answer; let me give you one word that you had not thought of – GOLF.
DRILL THE EMERGENCY ROOM NURSE
The name on his name tag said Duke, but I met Drill, the ER Nurse, on a recent visit to a large hospital’s emergency room on a very busy Saturday night.
Hummingbird Hats
The Basketball Golf Group, BGG for short, was ready! They had made the annual golf trip since their college years. The BGG had won the small school state basketball championship as high school seniors.
The Natural
In the 26 years that we owned and operated Mille Lacs Golf Resort, the infinite variety of golf characters that we encountered was never ending. Good golfers, bad golfers, really nice people and some horse’s a$$es. But I only met one truly natural golfer.
Rabid Bobcat Attacks Golfer
On a recent April morning, a surprise ambush left a 70-year-old golfer mauled and bleeding on a golf course in Connecticut. It was not from another golfer who had been beaned by a golf ball. The attack was from a bobcat with rabies.
“HONEY, JUST TAP IT”
It was the couples club championship at Whispering Pines Golf Club near Myrtle Beach. On the final day, Frank and Linda were leading by four strokes with only seven holes left to play.
The Bulkhead Wall And The Push Cart
The question is: Can we consider a bulkhead wall on a water hazard a critter? As a writer, I will use my poetic license to say, yes. The story is good enough that you will forget whether it was a Critters or a Characters story.
ONLY 19 PUTTS
Joe Knight needed only 19 putts to win the Santa Rosa Beach Golf & Beach Club Senior Club Championship.
Roadrunner Breaks An ‘Egg’
Golf in the desert Southwest has always been one of my favorite places to play. There is nothing like golf in perfect weather conditions on immaculate rye grass turf.
Big Roy
With matching clothes, big cigars and soft country music, Big Roy was an unusual golf partner.
MINNESOTA GOLFERS WILL SHARE RECORD FOREVER
The sun had just cleared the mountaintop as 24 golfers nervously stood on the 17th at Pebble Beach. It was 7:30 AM and one – and only one – golfer would advance from this “Sudden Death” playoff.
