Garza Family at Gus

I’m registered to play the Little John Golf League event tomorrow at The Golf Club at Cinco Ranch, but the weather forecast suggests early thunderstorms, so I woke up at the crack of dawn this morning to hit the links in case I can’t play tomorrow.  I’m shelling out a lot of moolah to play tomorrow, so I had to find something reasonable today.  Hmmm…. where to go for cheap golf?  I already played Brock Park two times recently.  Sharpstown was really crowded the last time I tried to walk-on on a Saturday morning.  Hermann is around $40 and they make you ride.  (One way I rationalize playing is if I’m walking, I’m getting much needed exercise.  If my 36′s start getting too snug, I’m in trouble.)

The perfect venue… Gus Wortham.  It ended up being an awesome day of golf.  First, I got off with the first group.  Second, the weather ended up being great.  I wore shorts and it paid off.  Temps were around 60, but not too sunny.  Thirdly, and most importantly, I got paired up with 3 super-cool dudes: the Garza family.

I play as a single a lot, so I’ve met all kinds of golfers.  Golfers who take 10 practice swings on every shot on their way to a 110.  Golfers who shout obscenities at the top of their lungs while people are putting 10 yards over.  Golfers who break clubs.  Golfers who scull 10 shots to make it from the tee box to the green (haha, I’m not far from those days).

That’s why it was so fun playing with Severino Sr, Severino Jr, and Melchor.  They all had walking pull-carts like me, which I think plays just as fast (if not faster) than riding.  All three guys hit the ball pretty well.  On the 1st tee, Severino Sr belted a driver straight down the pipe.  Severino Jr did the same with a 3i hybrid (I think) and Melchor followed up with a bomb from the blues.  Luckily I hit a solid shot myself so I didn’t look like a putz.

During the round, I learned a lot about these guys.  They’ve been playing golf together since Severino Jr and Melchor were kids.  Melchor reminisced about when they grew up living not far from Gus Wortham and they used to play there a lot (even bringing their dog).  Now they play at Gus because it’s central between Greenspoint, Friendswood, and Pearland.  Severino Jr proudly said they recently played with Melchor’s 11-year-old son, 3 generations of the same family together on the golf course.  Later in the round, Melchor got a little excited talking about his son’s prowess on the golf course.

One two separate occasions, someone almost got hit by a ball.  On holes 11 and 17, the tee boxes are notoriously close to the greens.  As Melchor walked from the blues to meet us at the whites on Hole 11, a ball bounced within a foot or 2 in front of him on the cart path.  On Hole 17′s tee box, as I addressed my ball, another ball bounced within inches of me.  Neither time did the jerks hitting into us yell fore.  Jeez, how hard is that?

Playing with the Garza’s really reminded me of the greatness of golf.  What’s better than playing a round with your dad?  I only get to play with my dad once or twice a year since we live in different states, but it’s always a blast when we do.

It was easy to tell that the Garza’s are a close-knit bunch.  No matter what’s happened in their personal lives over the last 20 or 30 years, they shared a lot of tradition, respect, and good old-fashioned fun on the golf course.  Think how much better the world would be if more families had that.