My Handicap! Are you kidding?

Sammy Davis Jr. loved the game of golf. He was once asked what his handicap was and he said: "handicap? are you kidding? I'm a short, ugly, one-eyed, black Jew!"

Let me tell you about the handicaps of some very special people that I know.

Bic Long has been a member of Pinehurst for more than twenty years. He lost his right leg in an automobile accident years ago and he wears a prothesis. He has won the National Amputee Championship eight times, and the Pinehurst Club Championship four times. The latter being the one for golfers with two arms and two legs. He is a show off. Wears shorts all of the time so that we can see his wooden leg. So would I.

Then there is my friend Jim, a part time member who lives up in the mountains. He has one arm and a club foot. The last time we played he beat me by five shots.

One day I played behind one of our members who was recovering from a stroke. Apparently he still had a balance problem. Because his equipment included a long pole with a cross piece at the top--like a very tall T. And he braced that T against his chest as he swung at the ball. It was slow going that day. Nobody cared.

We have a blind member. The one time that I played with him he had a caddy who did the seeing. He would line him up, give him the yardage, and tell him to swing away. He practices a lot. The other day I saw him on the practice putting green. He would lay his cane on the green, pace it off, hit the ball and listen for the sound.

We all know the golf nuts with respiratory problems. They unhook the air line, hit the ball, hook up again, and drive on to the next shot. Ask them about it--the answers always the same. "it beats sittin at home"

Now, about Harry Wilson. Harry was a much loved member of AA. He founded the Wilson Group, a motley bunch of recovering drunks who knew the true meaning of fellowship. We played a different course in the area every Friday. And did we have fun.

Harry was our leader. He made up the schedule, reserved the courses, did it all. And then came the cancer. . He continued to play until he had to call it quits.

His handicap - he was dying. And one day he asked his wife Lucy to take him out to the golf course one last time. She called five of his friends to help and out they went. He played two holes. And it took two hours. We lost this very special man two weeks later.

Lucy, also a recovering alcoholic, passed away last year. She was not a golfer. But if you would ask her about that, she would smile and say "Harry and I played our last round together."