The Club

Chapter 24 - Home

I checked my phone twenty times on the way to the airport. Once we were sitting at the gate I let Lorna have a look at the picture. We laughed hysterically.

Thanks to a tremendous cocktail of drugs, puffers, and assorted medicines, Lorna had a much better return flight. I returned home to see that Deirdre had already moved in and the apartment was beginning its transformation. I filled Deirdre in on all of the events of the trip and made it over to the Club for a chat with Jason.

Jason was working in the shop and told me the whole story. Cloudy and Harry had had a huge fight a few days before. No one really knew what it was about, as was usually the case with those two, but when Cloudy returned later that evening it got even more heated. The next morning when Jason came to open the shop, he saw Cloudy’s keys were on the front counter and all of his personal effects were gone. Jason called the general manager of the club who told him that Cloudy had sent a one-word text to him a few hours earlier which simply said . . . “Gone”.

It turns out that when Cloudy went to the U.S. so many years ago to make his fortune, Harry had been his caddy and had gotten sick and tired of Cloudy’s poor attitude and effort. Harry had hitched his wagon to this rising star but rather than apply himself Cloudy had let everyone down so Harry had ended up with nothing except a couple of wasted years to show for it. Harry came home and started working as a greenskeeper, eventually finding his way to the Club a couple of years before Cloudy arrived.

Jason said that Dick had picked up the slack at the pro shop since Cloudy was gone and I was away. He wasn’t sure who the Board was thinking about for a replacement for James McLeod. The next day I was let in on their plan. I was asked to sit down with the Chair of the Board and the General Manager to discuss my future at the Club. It was there that they offered me the full-time job as Head Professional. They were impressed with what I had done with the junior development team and the recognition I had brought the club from my selection as an assistant National Team coach.  They also felt that the chemistry I had with Jason would be good if I decided to offer him the assistant’s position, with Dick stepping in as the intern. The package was generous and I told them I appreciated the offer and would think it over in the next couple of days. To them, their plan seemed to make sense. I wasn’t so sure.

The following week the Annual General Meeting was scheduled and they were hoping that I would be able to make a decision in time for the event. The AGM also served as a presentation night with an awards ceremony attached. My junior pennant team were being honoured for their second place finish and the regular clientele were being highlighted for their traditional mediocre play. I sat in the back and listened for most of the evening. Lorna and the boys accepted their awards and I was able to get a picture of myself with the team. The topic of the Head Professional’s position came up from the members and the administration made it known that an offer had been made to a candidate and they were awaiting a decision from the individual. All eyes fell upon me at the back of the room and Big Al Greene stood up and asked, “Well, Teddy, are you gonna take the job?”

Silence fell over the room as they were hoping that an answer would be forthcoming. I decided that I would not prolong the agony so I moved to the front of the room and took the microphone. A number of members were in the audience, including the junior development team at the back of the room, so I thought it was the perfect moment.

“It was over a year ago when I first came to Canberra. It was a logical decision, having finished my apprenticeship in Coolum and the next step in my career path to becoming a Head Professional. I can say I have truly become fond of the members at the Club. I have received so much credit for my work with the junior development program and Lorna, in particular, but I have to tell you that I have received way too much acclaim. All of those players would have been fine without me; it was just a matter of being given the right opportunity at the right time. They will all go on to be fine golfers no matter where they play in the future. I can’t say that I learned an awful lot from James McLeod but the little things I took away from him were valuable. Of course you all know what a special talent Jason is; there is no way he should be allowed to leave the Club to go anywhere else. When you find someone that is such a perfect fit for a place my advice is, don’t let them go. I have spent the past year searching for my calling. I once thought it might be as a player but an afternoon being trounced by the late James McLeod convinced me that this was not where my talent lay. Then I felt I could make a difference as a coach, but watching some of the coaches in Chicago convinced me that this wasn’t the place for me. It is true that I have a special talent for working with young people and I enjoy making a difference, but it is not a love of golf that I want to impart on them. Instead it is a love of literature and that is why, starting in January, I will begin my Bachelor of Education degree at the University of Canberra with the hope of becoming a high school English teacher. So while I appreciate the offer, I must decline. I will be giving the Club notice that I will be leaving at the end of December. Once again I thank everyone at the club for a fantastic year; it has been an amazing journey.