When golf is more than a game

Another season of golf is over for me with the start of college this past Monday but the best was saved for last, even though I didn't know it. Last Sunday, my summer-long golf partner, Jim Lemon and I teamed with Bill Beiber from Culbertson and Bill Stokley from McCook to play in the four person Hayes County Fire and Rescue Scramble at Heritage Hills golf course in McCook.

Beiber told us that Hayes Center was a proud community that turned out and supported whatever was going on in town and the surrounding area and they proved that once again by sending several teams to play in the scramble. I believe we ended up with 26 teams, give or take one or two, and most of them were from the Hayes Center area.

It was a really hot day, with the temperature well over 100 and south winds blowing 20 to 30 miles per hour. We knew we were going to have our work cut out for us because we were the only team that had players all over 60 years old. But we did okay. Lemon and I made some putts, Beiber hit his new set of irons like he had been hitting them forever and Stokley hit more good shots in a day than I usually hit all summer. Because of that, we finished third in the Championship Flight with a nine under par score of 63.

But the score's not really the story; the friendship the four of us had with each other that blossomed during an oppressive day is. We have all been friends for some time although we play golf together infrequently. Beiber has a group he plays with every morning, Stokley plays with 'the boys' once or twice a week and Lemon and I play together most weekday mornings.

We've only scrambled together two or three times over the past few years but last Sunday was special.

Everyone contributed and everyone supported each other on every shot. There was no whining, complaining, or belly-aching by any of us and that allowed us to develop a camaraderie I've seldom seen on the golf course. That was illustrated perfectly on the hole number one. In a scramble, two teams of four start on different holes so everyone is playing at the same time. We started on the second hole so the first hole was going to be our last one and the volunteer fire department tricked it up a bit. Players were required to put on a fire-fighting suit and boots before they hit their drives. It probably wasn't too much of a chore for those who played the first hole early but we were getting ready to play it after we had been on the course for almost six and a half hours and no one was looking forward to it.

Then Stokley made a totally selfless suggestion. He volunteered to put the suit and boots on first, hit his drive and if it ended up decent, we would play from where his ball landed and the rest of us wouldn't have to 'dress up' to hit our drives. Amazingly, he donned the heavy, wet gear and hit a beautiful draw that ended up less than fifty yards from the green, giving the rest of us a get out of jail card.

That's the kind of thing friends do that we don't see much of anymore. We've turned into a 'me' world where if something isn't in our best interest or doesn't benefit us in some way, we don't want any part of it.

Putting on that fire suit and boots didn't benefit Stokes at all because of the heat and the wind but he did it so the rest of his team wouldn't have to.

It was a truly altruistic act and it meant more to us than he could ever know; not because we didn't have to put on the suit and boots but because he cared enough about us as friends and people to make that sacrifice.

The first hole which was our last hole belonged to Stokley because he also made the birdie putt which allowed us to finish nine under par.

We had a great day together and although we will maintain our current playing affiliations, I feel sure that if the four of us have another chance to play in a golf scramble together, we will. We will because even though we each won some money by finishing third, the true winner on Sunday was character, integrity, and friendship.