At Tim’s Memorial Service I was stunned to hear someone talk about what an expert he was at playing golf. Then I figured out that he was talking about Virtual Golf on a Video Game, played at his local pub. He apparently held some records there and was hard to beat. But my story is about REAL golf, played outdoors in the traditional way. In my 16th summer. My Mom took Tim and I on a vacation to Laguna Beach. It was so far back in history that we drove for about an hour through nothing but Orange groves before we reached the road to Laguna. I had been playing golf for about a year, so I brought my clubs on the off chance I could find a course. Sure enough, there was a 9-hole course – Aliso Creek – located adjacent to Ben Brown’s Restaurant. I didn’t have my driver’s license so Tim said, “Let’s go play,” and grabbed Mom’s keys. I was surprised to hear Tim suggest that he wanted to play. As far as I knew, he had never held a club in his hand. “Have you ever played before?” I asked. “Oh yeah, I’m not bad. Let’s hit it.” And we took off down Coast Highway in the sporty, blue ‘55 Oldsmobile. I admit I was afraid Tim would spoil my experience at this beautiful course nestled into a scenic canyon. There’s nothing more embarrassing than playing with some hacker making his way down the fairway like he was chopping grass. So here we were, sharing my meager set of clubs. I teed off and then Tim took the tee. I’ll be damned if he didn’t hit it down the fairway, alongside of mine. Hell, this could be fun. I’m not sure what the outcome was, maybe a bogie for both of us. But before we could tee off for the second hole, a foursome of men appeared from behind. One of the men said, “Hey boys, mind if we play through?” Well, Tim and I both realized that was pretty much of an insult. I said, “Are we playing too slow for you?” “Uhh, well you guys are kinda’young... maybe we should move on through.” Without missing a beat, Tim said, “Why don’t we all play this hole? The team with the best average plays through.” The older golfers paused then reluctantly agreed. Tim looked at me and gave me a wry smile, “We got nothin’ to loose, little bro.” We laughed. We teed off down the fairway, and the foursome behind us were all over the place. They had the yips (before it was an expression). I can just imagine what swing thoughts were going through their minds, thinking they must beat these upstart teenagers. The foursome, screwed up left and right (they couldn’t take the pressure of being pitted against these teens). It turned out that the team with the best average was US! We ended up playing through and taking our time to spite. Every once in a while we would look back at these defeated old duffers and laugh (maybe loud enough for them to hear). This was not only a wonderful golf game but a great lesson in life. Thanks, Tim.