Homage to a Dream Concierge

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning?

Having reflected on yesterday's entry, I realized that I had not shared with you my wonderful experience with a dream concierge. Perhaps this story will help inspire you to be a dream concierge for someone else.

The date was November 18, 1995. It was a cold and blustery New England day with temperatures hovering around 33 degrees all day.

Golf courses in our part of New England usually shut down just before Thanksgiving, and most golfers head for Florida or warm fires at home by this late in the fall.

But a few intrepid souls venture out. I was one of them. This late in the golf season I make it a practice to start later in the morning because there is usually a frost delay.

But this day, the foursomes got off to an early start. So when I was ready to play, there was no one left to play with. A few numb golfers were leaving the course after just a few holes. They had had enough.

One golfer wanted to play just a little more. His partner had given up on him, and they had ridden back in a golf cart to drop the partner off. I greeted my friend, Dr. Joseph C. Kim, and asked him if he wanted to play with me. He said, "Sure." He wanted to start on the 7th hole because his partner had just dropped out after the 6th hole.

I was really looking forward to the round knowing that I wouldn't be able to play again for months. My friend, Vera Rundlett, who worked in the pro shop had called around and found me a sleeve of my favorite golf balls which had been in short supply for months. I had one of those balls in my hand as we headed out for number 7.

This hole is an unusual Donald Ross design (he of Pinehurst #2 fame). The hole is a shortish par four which rises up a hillside and has no sand traps. A pond sits in front of the tee and a stream meanders along the right side and across the upper limits of the fairway. Jack Nicklaus once called it the hardest par four he had ever seen that didn't have any bunkers in it. It's a tough place to start a round on a cold day, but I went along because I was just glad that I had Joe to play with.

We were both wild off the tee and neither of us made par. That's not surprising. Joe and I had been rivals in the club for many years as two of the players with the highest handicaps. Joe earned his living as an eye surgeon (a very fine one), and I used to kid him that I was going to blackmail him by threatening to show his patients the way he played golf. That would terrify anyone who wanted such delicate surgery.

We finished the climb up the hill to the 8th tee. This hole is a medium length par 3 for club members and a longish par 3 for pros. In fact, when Bobby Jones set the course record, he scored a 7 on the hole. From each tee, you have to hit over a valley with wild rough and a stream in the middle. Just finding your ball down there can be an adventure.

Joe had the honors from the last hole and ripped a fine shot towards the left side of the blind green. That's where you want to be because the green slopes severely from left to right and the pin was cut in the middle right that day. The shot was a little hot and with frozen ground, the ball was likely to have gone over the green. But I kidded Joe by saying we'd have to look in the cup for his ball.

I was up then and decided to sculpt my shot to be like Joe's. With that mental image, I hit a virtually identical shot . . . with my ball coming in even hotter than Joe's. We were both resigned to looking past the hole for our balls.

When we got to the green, we found Joe's ball within 3 or 4 minutes. But mine was nowhere to be seen! It's frustrating to hit a good shot and then not be able to find your ball. You have 5 minutes to look before taking a penalty and hitting another ball from the tee.

Joe said, "I'll just look in the cup before you go back to hit another one."

And out he pulled . . . my golf ball!

I had hit a hole in one, the only one ever for me. We both danced up and down and hugged each other in a moment of pure joy. Neither Joe nor I had ever even seen anyone hit a hole in one before . . . except on television. The foursomes in the 9th and 16th fairways came over to ask us what was going on, and we shared the good news.

One of the golfers commented that a hole in one wasn't official until such time as 18 holes were played. Joe and I looked at one another. Neither of us had planned to play 18 that day. Joe had agreed to play 9 with me and had arranged a lunch date with his cousin who would be waiting in the clubhouse. Joe said, "We'll play 18. I'll look for my cousin when we pass the clubhouse and ask him to wait for us." That was a marvelous gesture on his part.

We struggled around the course for the next 16 holes, not challenging par very often except when I birdied number 12 after hitting a shot that almost was another hole in one on that short par 3. Our lips were blue. We were shivering and the wind was howling.

The high spot from there was when we got to the clubhouse. We went in to look for Joe's cousin and to get a cup of coffee to warm us a little. We found the bar filled with players enjoying free drinks (an old custom for holes in one) and felt in a more festive mood at that point.

After the round, we had lunch with Joe's cousin and had a great time. I was pleased that Joe was willing to let me eat with them. Otherwise, I would have been eating alone. Everyone else had already left the dining room. I felt like I was being treated like part of Joe's family.

Joe went with me to the pro shop after lunch, and we filled out forms together with Joe signing as my witness. Manufacturers send you free merchandise when you shoot a hole in one with their equipment or apparel. I still have a MasterCard tag on my bag which gives me bragging rights wherever I go.

It was then that it hit me. I had almost suffered the worst fate that can happen to a golfer. I had almost hit a hole in one without a witness. But Joe's kindness had kept that from happening.

The pro shop people also said that we hadn't needed to finish the 18 holes. The shot would have counted anyway. But Joe had been a true friend and stuck with me . . . playing 24 holes in total on a very nasty day.

My wife and I invited Joe and his lovely wife, Meija (who was by far the best golfer of the four of us), out for dinner to celebrate at one of the area's best restaurants. At dinner, Joe pulled out a package and asked me to open it up. It was a crystal trophy for the hole in one. I'm staring at it as I write this entry. This trophy has both of our names on it, the date of the hole in one and the details of the hole that day.

Joe also reminded me of the famous wall display at PGA West featuring Lee Trevino's hole in one during the Skins Game one year. Joe had a home at PGA West and knew that I frequently played there when I visited my family in the winter.

With that reminder, I arranged to have a photograph of the hole as seen from the tee blown up with the ball I had used mounted below it in a Plexiglas case. Below the ball is the scorecard I used that day. It's been my favorite office display ever since.

Joe also helped provide many other happy memories for me. Because of his fame as a surgeon, top officials and business leaders from Korea often came to Boston for eye surgery. Before the surgery, they would often want to play a round of golf with Joe. If he needed a fourth, Joe would always invite me to meet these distinguished leaders. We enjoyed many happy days together and always told the story of my hole in one . . . including Joe's graciousness that day.

Joe died a few years later. I have missed him terribly since then. Whenever I go onto a golf course and see a great shot, I think of him and how pleased he would be. I also know that he would do everything possible to play the role of dream concierge for his playing partners.

Thanks, Joe!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Be sure to check out my blog dated May 30, 2005 on Plan Your Best Fourth of July! To find that blog, keep clicking on the oldest blog entry you can find in the right hand column until you find the title "Plan Your Best Fourth of July."