Our Life in Golf

Chapter 14 More Mike Stories, The Fishing Day

14

MORE MIKE STORIES

THE FISHING DAY

It wasn't just his impeccably groomed swing, it wasn't just his ability to use the most effective winning strategy, but more, Mike's ability to codiedntrol his mind, his will, applying the self-control needed to emerge victorious from the pressure cooker of tournament competition.

During a PGA event he would win four times, professional Johnny Miller, after shooting a 61 to win the Tucson Open, signed this note under a picture of himself he gave to Mike, "Thanks for the Fishing Day...It Worked!"

On the eve of The Tucson Open's last round, Mike, after Johnny's final lesson tee instruction, found a small boat and took him fishing.died

Johnny Miller was in position to win the PGA tournament and Mike could see that Johnny's building tension needed to be addressed—and what better way to chill than with a fishing pole in hand drifting on a small, placid inland lake, learning patience by waiting for a bluegill to snag the bait.

Mike saw the potential greatness in Johnny Miller, and chose him out from among the other touring pros. Mike sensed that Johnny was willing to learn some of the wisdom Mike had already acquired in order to help this young upstart become a Master of his Craft.

In 1990, the year of my father's passing, I found myself in a hospital emergency room having 11 stitches in my face after flipping my bicycdiedle over and landing on it while flying down Grand View Drive in Ashland, Oregon.

I had been in training at the American Hub of the European tour for the Shakespeare Festival. On a strict macrobiotic diet along with taking dance classes, I was seeking spiritual enlightenment through my own mentorship and mindfulness.

I had been moved by inspirational readings, yet still I was not at all sure of the direction my personal journey would take. I was teaching a Movement Class for the area's Conversations With God (CWG) center, and working for the author, Neale Donald Walsh.

Working as an American Red Cross WSI trainer, I was hired to be the Aquatics & Fitness Director.

Right around that time, back in Wisconsin my father bought me a swimming instruction business with 3,000 students.

With that business I was able to transition out of another position at the University of Arizona Sunfish Competitive & Synchronized Swim Teams, and a spot on the Wildcats Golf Team, where I was carrying a double major in Physical Education and Dance through the Dramatic Arts Department—dashing from one end of campus to the other with a tennis court I couldn't resist in between.

So Dad lured me back home to Wisconsin with that swim school housed in our Racine's historic DeKoven Foundation. After two years I'd upgraded and was teaching at the nearby University of Wisconsin - Parkside Campus.

Then, after my father passed, and I found myself wanting to study Shakespeare, I went to Southern Oregon University where my Uncle Frank Bencriscutto often taught during the summers. The Shakespeare Festival was born out of this in 1954 and The Jackson Hot Springs Holistic Clinic was renamed The Springs.

The Springs was also the name of the 18-hole National Golf Course designed by Robert Trent Jones, but completed by my father, Mike Bencriscutto. And that work wasn't done behind a desk, no, Mike was on a tractor working right along side the crew he brought from Racine.

Forward thinking men of vision like my father had to know a little bit about everything, or rather a lot about whatever the current crisis problem-to-solve was that day and that meant doing the research. So, there was my father with his golf course construction hardhat on, standing in the rain, watching the water flow down the spectacular terrain of the Wisconsin River Valley where the course was set.