No Time Like The Present

I know I probably sound like a bit of a hypocrite when I immediately follow up my July 27 blog about there never seeming to be enough time in the day to do everything I want/need to do, with a post about blowing off work to go golfing with a buddy of mine.

But instead of serving as this contradiction to what I said the other day, which incidentally, I still stand by, as you read on, I think you will understand how including this particular story just goes to prove my point about the scarcity of time, and how we have to make sure we are always doing what we can to focus on what’s important, our real priorities, to make the most of the limited time that we have.

I first introduced you to my friend Jim Lautenschleger (A.K.A. L14) last June in part 2 of my “For Whom Golf Is A Religious Experience” blog series.

Along with “Angry Bob” Sherer and Rey “They’re not booing, they’re saying Guuuzzzman,” L14 is the other member of the infamous foursome that I have golfed with for several years now, well, “had golfed with” to be more accurate, since it has been more than three years since the four of us have been able to golf together.

Sure, COVID-19 played a big part in why we weren’t able to schedule any outings the last couple of years, but we had a small window of opportunity to get out late last summer and were never able to make it happen from a scheduling perspective. Sensing that we were about to let yet another summer slip by, and miss an opportunity to get the gang back together, I picked up the phone last month to call my friend L14 to check his availability for coming into town, so we could work on getting something scheduled with Bob and Rey.

That’s when he shared his news with me.

L14 informed me that he was in the process of healing from surgery following a prostate cancer diagnosis that he had received earlier in the year. Not wanting me to worry too much, he was quick to point out that his treatment had been going well so far, and the outlook was good, but that he would be on the mend for a little while longer so we would need to postpone golf until after he received clearance from his doctor during his post-op appointment.

While he had done his best to prepare me for his news, it was nonetheless shocking, and the reverberation of his words shook me to my core.

This seemed like yet another devastating body blow in what has been a truly gut-wrenching couple of years, especially considering the fact that L14 and I are still reeling from the loss of our dear friend and former boss, Christine Quinn, who had tragically and unexpectedly passed away last year.

Before we hung up, L14 and I made plans to touch base again after his appointment on July 6. By then he figured he would have a better idea of when he might be able to resume normal physical activity, so we could reevaluate our tentative plans for golf.

Well, I’m happy to report that L14 got that clean bill of health during his post-op visit, and that he and I were able to proceed with our plans to get in the round of golf that we had been talking about.

We had kicked around the idea of waiting to try and schedule a time when all four of us would be available, but both L14 and I decided against waiting, neither of us wanted to let this opportunity slip us by.

So, despite all of the ongoing accessibility testing projects that I have going on right now, all of the work that I currently have on my plate, I didn’t hesitate to do what I knew I had to do—I cleared my calendar, put things on hold for 24 hours, to make time for my friend, and I’m so happy that I did.

Jim and I had an absolutely great time yesterday. He picked me up from my house around 8:30am and we decided we would head over to Grand Ledge Meadows to play the front nine, a picturesque setting that would serve as the backdrop for our first outing in nearly four years.

Even though it was just the two of us, we decided to still play best ball as is customary for our usual foursomes with Bob and Rey. Before we teed off at the first hole, we made our predictions for the round. I said that with him still on the mend from his surgery, and the fact that I hadn’t played in four years, that I thought it would be a struggle, but that I was confident we would be able to fight and claw our way through the round to score a 2 over par. L14, not feeling quite as optimistic, guessed we would finish 16 over par, which I couldn’t tell if he was joking or being serious. But he didn’t offer up another score, so as the round progressed, I had to assume he was being serious, or at the very least, he was purposefully trying to tank his guess to hand me the victory and the bragging rights that come along with it.

Well, right from the get go it looked like his strategy was going to backfire on him. My first two shots after an approximate four-year hiatus were surprisingly good, still not better than Jim’s shots, but better than average for me. A couple of holes later, after L14 hit his second shot into a creek in front of the green, we were able to use  my eight-iron shot  that had skipped off the back of the green to salvage par, and all of a sudden, it was looking like we might actually pull off my brash prediction of a 2 over par round.

Like any round of golf though, there were plenty of ups and downs. And while I was able to contribute a shot here or there, I was mostly along for the ride, as L14 continued to drive the ball well off the tee, consistently strike his irons, and drop some clutch putts to keep our score hovering around four over par.

So, when we were (and by “we” I mean “mostly L14”) was able to make a couple of late birdies, including sinking a long 30-foot putt on the final hole, we were able to get back to a respectable 2 over par for the round, just as I had predicted.

The score card from L14 and Chris’ round of golf.

My only real regret from our time out on the course that day, is that I wasn’t quick enough to act, when this pure gold comedic moment presented itself during an impromptu exchange between L14 and this elderly gentleman who we were in the process of letting play through. After exchanging some good-natured barbs with this guy about being old, and the 83-year-old offering up that he suffered a stroke a few years earlier, L14 decides to raise the stakes and proceeds to jump out of our golf cart, lift his shirt to reveal the series of scars from the incisions on either side of his abdomen, and says to the guy, “I bet you don’t have bullet holes like these.” Well, based on the guy’s rather subdued reaction, it appeared that he must have thought they were real bullet wounds and not the incisions for the surgical robotic arms that had been used to remove Jim’s prostate, but in retrospect, I wish I would have had the wherewithal to jump in at that exact moment to say, “damn it Jim, I said it was an accident. Are you ever going to let me live down the fact that I shot you?” I would have paid anything to see the look on the elderly gentleman’s face when he processed that next bit of information, here’s this guy who was recently shot, and he’s golfing with the guy who shot him, what the hell is going on here?

Jim “L14” Lautenschleger and Chris’ selfie behind the ninth green.

Jim’s only regret—that I still didn’t get that elusive hole-in-one, to put me into that uncomfortable position of following through on my “alleged” promise to take my fake eye out and leave it sitting in the bottom of the cup for the next group of unsuspecting golfers to find.

After posing for a quick selfie behind the ninth green and turning in our cart, we drove back across town, ending up at one of our regular hang-outs, Buddies Grill in Holt to have a nice lunch and enjoy a couple of ice-cold beers.

All in all it was a great day – time well spent with a good friend – and to me, that’s the definition of important.