Donnyboy and the Trencher
This past weekend I finally had the chance to be the weekend warrior that I’ve spent my entire adult life preparing golf courses for. It’s quite rare that I have an opportunity to take a full day on a Saturday or Sunday and dedicate it to golf. Admittedly, I enjoy being around my wife and kids, so weekend golf simply isn’t a priority but I had a buddy invite me out and I was tired of declining his invitations. Donnyboy agreed to pick me up on Sunday morning and south we went on the 5 freeway towards San Diego, coincidentally, the town where he and I met more than 20 years ago, under quite a unique circumstance. The course we were playing was a bit inland, so we had about an hour in the truck to catch up on the recent months. Donny is also in the Turf Industry as a Sales Rep for a fertilizer and chemical distributor, but also spent many years as a Superintendent. We both had the same mentor during our tenure in San Diego, who ultimately led to our friendship.
Donny has always been one of my favorite guys to hang out with, he was like a big brother to me as we grew up wreaking havoc in SD during our 20’s. He has a kind heart and twinkle in his eye. If there is one word I’d use to describe him its: Jolly. He’s working on the Santa Claus belly to prove it too! (That was a cheap shot, but we kid because we love!). Finally, we arrived at the Spanish style clubhouse in the hills of Fallbrook, CA and were all set to take on the Baird Brothers on this muggy San Diego summer day. Jim and Tom were two real nice fellas, in their early 60s—and they knew their way around a golf course. It was fun to witness their brotherly bond and teamwork, but not fun as they methodically dismantled Donnyboy and me on the back 9! We had our chances but couldn’t continue our “ham and egg” routine for the full 18 holes of the match.
After the round we saddled up on the veranda of the clubhouse to settle the bets and have a beverage. During this time, Donny explained the story of how he and I met and why I have a scar on the back of my left leg that looks like a shark bite…It was late September 2004 and I had recently been promoted to an assistant superintendent position at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. My boss, Buck, and I were in the midst of a property wide cart path construction and drainage enhancement project. Buck had asked Donny to come by our course to check out the work and bring up some spare parts so we could finish up a few areas before the weekend. Buck was operating a Vermeer trencher when Donny arrived. I was assisting Buck, by ambitiously removing the dirt spoils from the trench being created when BAM, something hit my left leg. Curiously I looked down at the back of my boot and saw a big gash in it, then I looked at my pants and saw a big rip, and then I looked at my leg and saw a big slash of flesh right in the area of my Achilles!! The pain hadn’t set in yet and I stepped out of the trench as DonnyBoy sprung to action, he quickly grabbed my hooded sweatshirt and crafted a makeshift torniquet. Unable to walk, he carried me over to his golf cart and we made our way to the resort’s parking lot where the ambulance was waiting. The rest, as they say., is history. Lucky for me, I was able to return to work 6 weeks later and have regained full function of my leg, but the scar remains as does the memory!
Like the amateur blogger I am, I showed up to the course eager to take photos to better document the day and surroundings only to find my camera battery at ZERO. Bummer, but the day’s round of golf was less about location and more about the occasion of sharing laughs and nostalgic memories of some really fun years of our lives. Few people are as ready to laugh at a joke like Donny, so even though we both have changed over the years, there is no shortage of opportunities for the perfect one liner to keep things light. For me, making him laugh is as much fun as making biridies—and frankly, a lot easier! In my opinion, you have to take the good with the bad if you’re spend your life playing the game of golf. But if you’re surrounding yourself with people who care about you and make you laugh, the grass will always be greener.
Of course, the trencher that got me had a menacing scowl and much bigger teeth…or it was exactly like this one!