Last Saturday, I joined three of my closest friends at Cronin’s Golf Resort in Warrensburg for a rip-roaring scramble round for the ages.
Joining me for Golfing with Gordon were Greg Helwig, Richard White and Mick Powers.
All four of us are 1980 South High graduates. We’ve been playing golf together since the beginning of time. When we play as a team, as we did at Cronin’s, it’s pure joy.
Left to right: Richard White, Mick Powers and Greg Helwig
Greg, our favorite Corrections Officer, is the best golfer of the foursome. He’s our anchor, and our captain. Of course, there was not a vote for captain. He is self-appointed. But that’s okay. He is the glue that holds our group together. He encourages, cajoles, prods, challenges and pushes us as only he can, with that effervescent smile and easy-going way. He threatens not to speak to us again, and then seconds later is back in our ear, cheering us on.
Richard is the best athlete of the group. A star at South High, he went on to captain the Colgate University football team under legendary coach Fred Dunlap. An agile and quick inside linebacker, he terrorized opposing offenses and was a dynamic force and all-league performer. Now a senior analyst with the State Department of Labor, Richard is still refining his golf game. He terrorizes trees on either side of the fairway, but when he slows down his swing, he’s solid! And he has a great short game. We’ve been best friends since first grade at Tanglewood, which, for those keeping score at home, is a long time.
Mick is the wise counsel of our group, the calm presence needed in a foursome with excitable personalities. Nothing phases Mick. He takes in the world at his own pace, in his own time. He sees the world through unique glasses. Funny and biting and intelligent, he keeps us loose. And he makes great trail mix, though I could do without the cashews.
And then there’s me. I’m just along for the ride. I can make a putt here and there, and occasionally I hit a good drive. But I’m just so darn inconsistent, that I’m afraid I’m not much help most of the time.
But when we’re playing a scramble, we’re all one, a motley crew of smiling Bulldogs enjoying the game.
Cronin’s is in great shape. Lush and well maintained, it’s a challenging track, with long holes along the Hudson River and tight bowling-alley fairways across the road. And James Cronin is so generous, it makes us want to go back again and again. The dude is flat-out funny, and kind, too!
The four of us had played two weeks earlier in another Adirondack Golfers’ Association tournament, and we finished two-under. That’s not usually going to win a scramble with more than a dozen teams, and it didn’t two weeks ago.
On this day, we finished two-under again. Four birdies, two bogeys. And more laughs than we could count.
At one point, Greg couldn’t find his golf ball.
“Where’s my ball?” he said. “I just had it!”
We all started looking around, and then Mick said, “Greg, what’s that in your hand?”
It was his golf ball.
Halfway through the round, Greg decided to change the order. He hit first, theoretically because he was sick of watching the three of us visit Shank City before he stepped up.
On this day, it didn’t help. Nothing did.
But it didn’t matter. We have a chemistry that can only come from knowing someone for 40-plus years. We easily find a relaxed rhythm. Some putts fall, others don’t. Balls are lost, some are found.
For four hours, our world shrunk to just us. And it was perfect.
Until next time -
Gordon
This story was made possible by Cronin’s Golf Resort.
Nothing says vacation quite like a game of golf and what better resort in the Adirondack region other than Cronin’s Golf Resort?
Visitors have been creating wonderful memories at Cronin’s Golf Resort since 1945. Located in Warrensburg, NY, Cronin’s is an award-winning golf course with breathtaking views of the Adirondack Mountains and Hudson River. Our guests return year after year with their family and friends, and we’d love to welcome you this summer as well - learn more here!
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