I was excited to see the email from my friend Mark because I knew it meant he wanted to play golf. For a while we have been using the word Fore in the subject line of our our mails to each other to immediately identify what the subject is about. Anytime I see a Fore from Mark, I know that I am going to get a game soon.

    This round was on a Friday at the Country Club of Orange Park, Fla. with another friend of ours, Steve, a local CPA who just happens to do both of our taxes. When Steve showed up with a set of Tommy Armour blades, I wondered if he knew what he was doing or if it was just the only set of clubs he had. 

     After a few holes, I figured it out quickly. It was both. The blades were clubs his father had bought in the 1950s and Steve indeed knew how to hit them. Both Mark and I have relative new sets of the over-seized heads that all golfers of our skill level use these days. While Steve hit the blades fairly well, he only plays once or twice a year, so he was a little rusty in the early holes. But once he got cranked up you could tell that he had some coordination, even though he crunched numbers all day long.

   I like to play golf with Mark because he is a very forgiving partner. “Hey, hit another one,” is his response to any bad shot by those he is playing with. Some people call it cheating and maybe it is but I like to think of it as friendship golf. Nobody is trying to take anybody’s money and we are just out having fun. And we don’t post scores for a handicap either. Real cheating involves hitting a bad shot into the woods and placing your ball in the middle of the fairway for your second shot. We don’t do that. After all, we do have our standards.

   Mark was particularly effective this day, carding an 80 while I had an 87 and Steve came in with a 94. Mark hits the ball a very long way and can reach most par 5s in two when he is on. I take a minimum of three strokes to get there and so does Steve. Once or twice a round, I will hit a monster drive, like I did this day on Hole No. 17, a relatively short par 4. I parred that hole and went to No. 18 looking for another par. My drive was a little short and to the left behind a tree. I was left with a 120-yard shot but I had room to loft a 9-iron over the tree, a shot I only make about once a decade. Well, let me tell you, I won’t be making that kind of shot for another 10 years, but I will relive this one for a very long time.

    Mark is not only my friend but he is helpful to me on the course and he talked me through the shot. Of course, we were all surprised when it landed on the green about 15 feet from the hole. Naturally, I two-putted for my par and the best round I’ve had in a while. 

     The course was in great shape and the weather was Northeast Florida gorgeous. Plus, I was playing golf with two good friends. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Oh, wait. Yes, it did. Steve bought me a margarita in the clubhouse after we were done playing. 

    See you around the course.