World Golf Hall of Fame

I'm back in Florida for a couple of days attending the Golf 20/20 Conference. Golf 20/20 is an initiative of the World Golf Foundation which also oversees The First Tee and the World Golf Hall of Fame.

I arrived Monday afternoon in Jacksonville and drove to my in-laws who are staying temporarily here in Jacksonville. I'm staying with them for the short time that I'm here. Moday evening I attended the World Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony. You may have seen it on the Golf Channel Monday night. It was outdoors and it was COLD! Fortunately it was only about an hour and a half and then everyone headed indoors to the Hall for a reception. The evening was mc'd by the Golf Channel's Rich Lerner who did his usual nice job.

The six inductees were Denny Shute, Craig Wood, Carol Semple Thompson, Pete Dye, Bob Charles and Brockton's own Herbert Warren Wind, the acknowledged poet laureate of golf writers. At the reception later I met Tony Jacklin, a Hall of Fame member himself, who was there to present for Bob Charles. Tony and I share a mutual friend so I introduced myself and he was very gracious. Also in attendance were Curtis Strange and Greg Norman who preseted for golf course architect, Pete Dye, the famous (some would some infamous) designer of many courses including the Stadium COurse at TPC Sawgrass.

Tuesday morning at the conference center adjacent to the Hall there was the Golf 20/20 meeting. Golf 20/20 was created in 1999 to address the flattened participation in the game. It was created by PGA Tour Commissioner, Tim Finchem, and others. The initiative had somewhat floundered until this week when a new grow-the-game program was unveiled called "Get Ready For Golf In 5 Days." Basically it's like a First Tee program for adults aimed at getting adults who've never played into the game. It's also desinged for the lapsed golfer who may want to take the game up again. It's still a work in progress, but representatives from all the major governing bodies were in attendance and it looks like it may have some good traction once it starts to roll in 2009. I'm sure you'll be reading all about it and seeing promos on the Golf Channel.

While I was here in Jacksonville I decided to look up the guy who I used to caddy for on tour. Yes, for those who don't know I caddied on the PGA Tour in 1989-1990. It was a great experience and I have many fond memories. Jeff Sluman was the most famous player I ever caddied for. Most of the guys I worked for were guys out of the Q-school none of whom are still on tour.

I caddied for a guy named Ray Barr, Jr. for most of 1990. I recently went onto the PGA of America's web site and found that he is the head pro at Jacksonville Golf & Country Club. As luck would have it the course is about five minutes from where I'm staying. I headed over there today around 10:00 and completely surprised him. I walked into the pro shop and the assistant pro greeted me. I asked, "Is Ray here?" He said, "Yeah, he's right in his office. Who should I say is here?" I said, "Tell him it's his old caddy." I walked into his office and Ray's jaw about hit the floor. He knew who it was right away. He looks the same with just a few more gray hairs - he said the same about me. He was shocked taht I remembered his daughters' names - Kaidee and Kelly. They were tots back then - now one is a college grad and the other in soon to be.

I had a great time working for Ray. I picked him up at the first event of the year in 1990 in Tuscon. We made the cut and he asked me to stick with him. We had a good west coast swing making every cut. Starting in the Florida, though, he began to have it struggles. We ended up splitting up later that summer but remained friends. Ray never got back on tour after that and I lost track of him. He played college golf at Houston with Fred Couples, Steve Elkington and Blaine McCallister. He even knew Jim Nantz who went there at the same time and was a somtime player on the team. Ray seems happy with his gig as a club pro. I told him about my journey in golf as an administrator, and we had a few laughs about our times together. He had to run to a meeting so we had to cut our reunion short. I told him I'd stay in touch.