Dad and I drove in early to the country club. Because of my height, Dad thought I needed to get my own clubs. He had Eric, his golf pro, there to take the measurements. Eric first measured my height and then handed me a five iron.
“Grab it by its head and hold it upside down as if it were a walking cane. If the end of the club doesn’t touch the floor, it’s too short,” he explained.
He didn’t have any that were long enough, so he had to get out a ruler and measure the difference.
We then walked out to the driving range. Eric had me swing the club a few times and winced. Dad tried not to laugh. It probably isn’t typical to get custom-fitted clubs if you’re as bad as I was. Then we tried different grips. Again, we discovered I had bigger than average hands.
Eric returned to his shop and got his largest driver with the biggest grip for me to hit some balls.
“Don’t worry about hitting the ball, just rip it,” Dad coached. “He wants to get an idea of the speed of your swing. People who swing faster want a stiffer shaft.”
I smirked at the ‘shaft’ comment, being a teenager. Dad gave me a withering glare, so I kept my smart remarks to myself. I didn’t think about what I was doing with my golf swing and just hit the ball. Both Dad and Eric whipped their heads around when I hit it solidly. I figured it was dumb luck, but that didn’t stop me from taking full credit.
“How come your ball never goes that far?” I asked my dad.
Eric almost got himself fired when he laughed at his boss.
“Let’s see you do that twice,” Dad challenged.
Welp, that didn’t quite work out. I topped it and watched it dribble barely past where the ladies’ tee would be. Now it was my turn to glare at Eric.
When we were done, I was told they would have my clubs tomorrow. I guess being a VIP who would use the clubs in a TV series had its perks. I didn’t want to know what else they had to promise to get me clubs that fast.
◊◊◊
“Da-vid,” Tracy said with a singsong voice.
We were at lunch, so that got everyone’s attention.
“Tra-cy,” I sang back.
“We need to make another
“I’m not sure when I’d have time,” I said, trying to beg off.
“Mom said that when the spots ran for Granny’s West and Our House, they were packed for the next few days.”
“Why are you doing them for free, then?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Brook asked.
“If it brings people in to try your restaurant, it’s better than any coupon you might run in the paper. I know that we would pay to get that kind of result,” I explained.
“So, if I can get us paid?” Tracy asked.
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for me to do it if you’re paid. I have a feeling the NCAA would take a dim view of that.”
She didn’t look happy.
“Brook, would you do the segments with her?” I asked.
Tracy looked at my girlfriend hopefully. I think she just didn’t want to do them alone.
“Why not? I do get to eat free dessert, don’t I?”
I laughed at her. Of course you did. That had been the only reason I’d done it in the first place. Well, that, and I wanted to help Tracy. I would stick with that story.
“Where are we going out tonight?” Jill asked me.
“Did you invite Jill to go out with us tonight?” I asked Brook.
She pondered that for all of two seconds.
“Nope.”
“Why don’t we all go to Monical’s tonight?” Pam suggested.
Brook looked at me, and I gave her my drowned puppy expression. Who could resist that?
“Okay, but after we eat, we’re doing something on our own. I want some alone time with my boyfriend,” Brook said.
“Could you give Pam and me a ride?” Tracy asked innocently.
I did a little bunny hop in my seat that made everyone laugh.
“Only if you plan to hold him down for me.”
Brook could be a total fun-sucker sometimes. I vowed to hide the ‘toys’ in my bedroom if they all showed up together.
“You ladies are on your own,” I pronounced.
Pam and Tracy tried to mimic my drowned-puppy face. They needed to work on it because even I wasn’t swayed, and I was a sucker for distressed pups.
◊◊◊
“Your next assignment will be individual,” Ms. Saunders, our photography teacher, announced as she handed out our projects.
I read mine, and it said, ‘macro photography.’ A quick Google search on my phone confirmed it was what I thought it was: extreme close-ups of small objects. Ms. Saunders talked to us individually about our projects.
“The strict definition of macro photography is to take pictures where your subject is the same size as your camera sensor or smaller, and it fills the frame. Your camera sensor is about one inch wide, so you will be photographing something one inch or smaller.
