The Curious Incident of the Putter in the Green

There is a golfing story from my teenage years of which I am greatly embarrassed.

You can look back and say… well, it was teenage angst… these things happen… it was a learning experience… but that doesn’t discount the appalling behaviour that took place.

If you are a Grange Golf Club member, please look away now.

I was 30 when I got married, and my best man’s speech went something like this:

“Kevin loves golf, but it hasn’t always been that way. He has his bad days and he has his tantrums. We were playing at Grange Golf Club when we were at school and Kevin was not playing well. We reached the 11th green, a par three, and he missed a tap in putt for par. Overcome with rage, he slammed his putter into the putting surface creating a ragged hole right beside the cup.”

The beginning/end of the story I can’t recall for the simple reason that I was overcome with embarrassment.

The 11th green at Grange Golf Club. The fact that it is new has
nothing to do with events of  30 years ago... I swear!

Perhaps you’re reading this aghast, appalled and dismayed that any golfer would do this on the hallowed turf of a green, but my embarrassment stemmed from something else.

The facts of the story are true – I don’t dispute them… apart from one tiny, weeny detail.

My best man had reversed the story, because it was he, not I, who did the burying of the putter. Somehow, over the years, he had reversed our roles so that I was the villain of the piece… or perhaps he just thought it would make a good story for a wedding.

I am relieved to say that having played Grange this summer the green has long since been replaced.

For more photos of Grange Golf Club, click here.