The John Mullen Pro-Am and Ron Coleman Horse Race

For a golfer, this weekend is the most enjoyable weekend of the year because it's time once again for the John Mullen Pro-Am Health and Heritage Classic golf tournament on Saturday and Sunday, preceded by the Ron Coleman Memorial Horse Race on Friday.

I never get asked to play in the Pro-Am because I'm not that good of a golfer but I support it just the same because I love golf and it's for a great cause. The tournament bears the name of Bernie and Nona Mullen's son John who passed away at an early age from cancer. The tournament began in 1989 and it promotes our Community Hospital and southwest Nebraska. Proceeds from the tournament go to the Community Hospital Health Foundation to help provide the region with advanced healthcare needs. Shane Zywiec was the Pro-Am winner last year and he returns this year to defend his title.

My favorite part of the weekend is the horse race that starts at 4 p.m. today (Friday) on the first hole at the golf course. Some 28 golf pros will tee it up and compete against each other in a last-man-standing kind of event. The golfer with the highest score on each hole is eliminated until only one is left and he's declared the winner. Last year's winner, Justin Herron, will also return to defend his crown this year.

It's really quite a spectacle to watch. Scores of people in golf carts follow the pros around the course with everyone having their own particular rooting interest. Stops are made at different houses along the back nine for fellowship, refreshments, and the occasional adult beverage before moving on to the next hole. It's a great sharing opportunity for all those with any interest in golf at all and if you've never been to one of these before, you really owe it to yourself to attend. I had lived in McCook for several years before I went to my first one and haven't missed one since. The shootout was renamed the Ron Coleman Memorial Horse Race in 2008 in honor of the long time McCook High School golf coach.

Ron Friehe, one of the organizers for the memorial event says, "This is our way of remembering Ron for all he did for the golf course, the community, and the young people he served as a coach, teacher and mentor. He was a special man who left a wonderful legacy."

I had the pleasure of chatting in the Heritage Hills clubhouse with Bernie and Nona earlier this week, after having met them for the first time a couple of years ago. They drive up every year from Hot Springs Village in Arkansas to play in the tournament named in honor of their son and they're absolutely delightful people. They're most appreciative of the people who support the tournament, either through donations, attendance, or participation, so if you see them this weekend, be sure and say hello.

If you want to attend an event that is very special in so many different ways for not only McCook but for all of Southwest Nebraska, the horse race on Friday and the Pro-Am on Saturday and Sunday is the way to go.

Finally, for those of you who don't know or follow golf, there's an important distinction to make between this game and all the other games that go on world-wide, including our most favorite games in America. Unlike NASCAR, Indy racing, football, baseball, basketball, soccer, or practically any other sport you can name, golf is based on personal integrity, honesty, and truth telling.

There's no other sport I can think of where players call fouls on themselves except for golf. Those who follow golf saw a player a couple of weeks ago who was only one stroke away from winning an important tournament call a penalty on himself on national television that literally no one else in the world saw. But HE saw it.

There's no name calling or fist-fighting in golf or prima donnas who choose not to play by the rules. There's genuine respect for the game and your competitor, even if your competitor is only yourself.

No matter whether you're a scratch golfer or have a high handicap, you play the game as if the whole world is watching. You don't improve your lie, you don't find a ball in the rough that isn't yours and claim that it is, you don't "fudge" on your score, and you respect your competitor. Sometimes it would be so easy when you find your ball in the rough, to just tap it over to one side or the other to give you a better shot because no one else is watching. But to do that would be cheating, and golfers don't cheat. So we play the ball as it lies, unlike what so many other people do in their lives who don't know a single thing about golf.

Are there any golfers that do cheat? Of course there are, because there are cheaters in every field, profession, occupation and relationship in the world. But I would go out on a limb and say there are fewer cheaters in golf than in any other walk of life because, in this game, honesty is more important than your score.

If my golf partner had to constantly watch me as he's walking to his ball to make sure I'm not moving mine because he doesn't trust me, I would give up the game. Maybe you can fool everybody else but you can never fool yourself.

The way you play the game is the same way you live your life.