Chapter 53: First Practice

After the incident with the Consulate, everyone wanted to come with me. But I explained how I desperately needed practice time to myself, so I hopped in dad’s rental car and we drove the three hundred meters to the clubhouse.

When we got out of the car at the Paradise Island Golf Club, dad showed me two different sets of new fairway clubs he had brought with him. I took the Callaway driver and hefted it my hands and it felt good. Then I tried the Ping driver. There was something oddly familiar about that driver so I told dad I’d practice with the Ping’s today and the Calloway’s tomorrow.

Then he pulled out a set of Taylor Made irons and a set of Titleist irons. I tried both and finally settled on the Taylor Made mostly because my dad loved his Taylor Made’s. I also took both of the putters he brought. Then slipping an entire box of Titleist Pro-V 1’s in my new bag, we made our way to the clubhouse.

Never having done this before, we simply went to the guy behind the counter and told him who I was and how I had no idea what to do next in order to use the practice range.

“He smiled at us and told me, “Relax, man. We have your back. Andy will be here in a minute to show you where to go. Got everything you’ll need?”

“Oh, yes,” I told him. “We spent a small fortune in here this morning already.”

“Well, you just bear in mind that every single one of them golfers out there has done been exactly where you are today. And I dare say that a good many of them will be more than happy to help out the new guy. So go tear ‘em up kid!” he told me.

Dad and I looked at each other. This might just be fun. I could feel my old excitement about playing golf beginning to come out again.

“Ahh, here’s Andy now,” he said a few moments later as an older gentleman pulled up in a golf cart that had a Pro Shop advertisement on the side.

He quickly whisked us and my clubs around to the Player’s entrance to the clubhouse. I had to go through the paperwork gauntlet to get registered and was then assigned a locker. After a quick look at my locker, we headed out to the practice range.

I only made it a few steps when it hit me! I was doing it! I was walking up to my first professional tour practice range. Then I got scared as I remembered that I hadn’t picked up a club in over nine months. But my dad hefted my bag to his shoulder, just like a professional caddy and said, “Let’s check over there.”

He was right. To the side was a table with a couple of guys in shorts and golf shirts with the Paradise Island Golf Club logo on them. One of them checked me in and the other handed us two knit bags of balls. “Leave the empties on the range and come on back if you need some more, man,” he said.

There were more than two dozen guys hitting balls and we had to walk all the way to the end of the range to find an empty slot. I felt bad as I didn’t recognize a single one of them. But you could tell who the more popular ones were as they had several reporters and social media bloggers surrounding them. Quite a few had coaches who were filming their swings with their iPads and then reviewing them with the golfer. Others just had someone watching their swings and making an occasional suggestion.

This was it! I pulled out my new Ping driver, grabbed a pocket full of tees and teed up one of the range balls. Then did a few stretches. It started coming back to me then. I immediately went back to my old routine of breathing and focusing, and then lined up my first shot.

Before the lightning strike, I was usually good for 240 to 250 yards off the tee with my driver, so I found the 250 sign and aimed in that direction. I could tell when I hit it that it was a clean shot.

“What were you hitting before, Alex? Wasn’t it something like 250?” my dad asked. He was referencing yards, not meters. In America, the PGA uses the older Imperial system.

“Yeah. 240 to 250.”

“Well, that one cleared over 300,” he announced. And then we both looked at each other in surprise.

I hit another dozen balls with the driver and I was in love! Not a one was less than 300 yards and I was actually getting some shape on my fade. Then I moved to my fairway woods with similar results. When I jumped to my irons, I started with my seven iron. In the past, it had been a consistent 150-yard club for me. The first ball scooted off the side of the blade, a shank. But after that, they were landing at 175 consistently. I knew I’d need to dial in each club tomorrow, but for now I was hurrying to get to my wedges.