The beautiful sunshine is back to warm our faces and to dry out our fairways. Like many of you, I spent the last two months watching Windsor Golf Club’s 1st, 9th and 18th fairways get battered and soaked by the winter rainstorms. These holes looked like long deep lakes with a few tiny “dry” grass spots for birds to rest.
From the view adjacent to the 18th green on Golf Course Drive one can watch for how weak or strong a storm is. If it’s just a light rain, the hearty golfers, men and women alike, will go out to get in at least nine holes. Once the steady rains come you might see a dozen golfers trek out and play over the course of a day. But once the days of two inches of rain come like they did in early January, then nary a soul can be found on Windsor Golf Course.
That’s enough waxing poetic about the weather. It’s time to get onto the business of golf. The great news is that there is business to report. Golfers are playing. Carts are being driven. And range balls are being hit. I can’t guarantee you’ll see every one of your range balls land and roll, but they will indeed land.
The Windsor golf pros are dried off and ready to teach again. LPGA Pro Molly James is once again offering her group lessons through the Town of Windsor. Lessons begin in April and are Tuesdays from 5 to 6 p.m. or 6 to 7 p.m. depending on your skill level, beginner or intermediate. I checked the website tonight and there are still spots available. Sign up at www.townofwindsor.com and scroll down to Recreational Activities. Molly is an excellent teacher and these classes WILL sell out. Sign up today. Call Molly at 707-591-3260 for individual lessons.
I always enjoy reading the Sports Illustrated “Where are they now?” issue. Here’s my first local golf installment. My friend and former Windsor head pro Alex Wright was in town over the weekend to visit family and we met up at Café Noto on Saturday. Alex is still a young man even though he was an employee of the Windsor Golf Club when it opened to the public on Oct. 17, 1989. On that day he worked as a cart-boy, assistant pro, jack-of-all trades, sandwich maker and whatever else needed doing.
That’s the day Charles ‘Sparky’ Schulz made an eagle two on the Par 4, 3rd ‘Silo’ hole.
When Alex and I were new dads, we’d sit at a local park and talk for hours, and make sure our toddlers didn’t eat too much tambark. Alex is a solid guy. He’s smart. He works hard. He has truly amazing hidden talents such as high-end woodwork. He almost always has a wry smile on his face. And he married well, to Laurie who he met on the driving range.
Alex worked at Windsor until about 10 years ago. Current head pro Jason Schmuhl and Alex are boyhood friends, and he joined us for coffee as well. Both men have been through the “golf wars” of pulling intoxicated golfers off the course, not having enough golf carts for tournaments and having to work an afternoon in the snack shack when an employee forgot to show up. Oh, and let’s not forget trying to give a golf lesson to a person with a huge ego and absolutely no coordination. It may not be digging ditches but it’s not for the faint of heart.
Alex lived and worked in the Sacramento area for a few years working alongside Charlie Gibson in the golf course management business. Nowadays, Alex and his beautiful wife live in Monterey County with their handsome young son Ethan. Laurie is in management at a high tech firm and Alex has spent a lot of time fixing up and making their already nice home even nicer.
Alex can still break 80 and he stays in the golf world by caddying at Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill or Spanish Bay when he wants to. He’s told me some really great stories that I’m not at liberty to repeat.
If you’re ever planning a golf trip to the Monterey Peninsula and want a caddie call ahead and ask for Alex Wright. A better caddie, and guy, you won’t find.
Send caddie stories I can print and golf news to ma**********@gm***.com.
