Wednesday, June 11, 2008

I took a golf lesson on Tuesday and it went fairly well, I think. Nobody ever believes me when I tell them I’m a beginner, but after one swing, it’s pretty obvious. A listener hooked me up with a guy over at Cog Hill and I have to admit I was a little nervous about the whole thing. Who am I to take a golf lesson at the place where they play the Western Open? That’s like taking flying lessons at O’Hare. I will be returning next week to see if any of it took. One thing I will say, golf (even the lessons) is expensive. It will be worth it if I can get my game to something that at least doesn’t embarrass me.

Ernie Banks just happened to be out there at Cog Hill when I was there, and much to my surprise, he remembered me. I have met Ernie a few times over the years, but not so many that I should have been memorable to him. Heck, I’ve met Minnie Minoso over 50 times and he still doesn’t remember me, and I’m a freaking Sox fan! Minnie was working some chicks at the bar at “The Cell” on Sunday. They might have been working him. It was kind of hard to tell. One guy who always remembers me at Sox Park is Moose Skowron. Moose is the best guy and the spitting image of my grandfather. Ernie’s all right too.

I even wore a golf shirt for my lesson today. It was a Callaway, and I have to say that I felt like I looked pretty sharp in it. That was until I saw myself on videotape. My instructor, Jim Suttie, videotaped me and I looked ridiculous trying to hit the ball like it was a splitter that just dropped out of the strike zone. Jim gave me a DVD of my performance to study, but I think I will keep it locked away for now. Maybe when I make the Senior Tour, I’ll let The Golf Channel use it as a wacky “before” tape when they profile me. Actually, I could probably make a few bucks with it on America’s Funniest Home Videos too.