| General Fiction posted March 15, 2023 | Chapters: |
1 2 -3- 4... 
|
  |
Eddie's plan for beating the hustlers is revealed.
A chapter in the book Lucky Eddie
Lucky Eddie - Chapter 3
by Jim Wile
The author has placed a warning on this post for language.
| Background Two young men meet as opponents during the finals of the golf club championship and soon become lifelong best friends. It is their great friendship that helps them navigate many of life's challenges. |
(See the Author Notes for the definition of any golf terminology used as well as a description of the main characters.)
Recap: The story is narrated by Kenny Payne and begins when he is 22 years old. With a phenomenally lucky shot on the 18th hole, Eddie Phillips beats Kenny, whom he had just met that day, in the 1975 club championship at Brentwood Country Club in western Pennsylvania. Kenny and Eddie become best friends and begin golfing together regularly. Eddie is an inventor working on putter designs, and Kenny, who is a mechanical engineer, begins helping Eddie figure out why his current putter works so well.
The next day they arrange to play a match against two prospective members of the club. Kenny is reluctant because he senses they are hustlers, but Eddie accepts a money match with them, knowing they are hustlers, but with plans of his own to hustle them. They begin the match the following day, and the bet is $2,000. By the end of the third hole, the match is even.
A continuation of the chapter The Match
By the end of the ninth hole, I was seriously worried; we were now 3-down! As we all walked over to the snack bar for a drink and a quick bite, I pulled Eddie aside and said in a fierce whisper, “Eddie, what the hell’s going on? Where’s your so-called hustle? Don’t you think it’s getting a little late here? If we keep losing holes, we could be out of this very quickly on the back 9!”
“Relax, Sport, we’re just settin’ it up here. Don’t you worry now; we got this! Go say hi to your sweetie over there and tell her Eddie’s got it all figured out.”
That did little to assuage my fears, but I guess I had no choice but to trust him at this point. Still, what could he have planned?
“Hey, Red! How’s business today?” he said to Abby as we made our way to the snack bar. Welborn and Fairbanks were already there, flirting with her behind the counter.
I just looked at Abby and said nothing. She frowned a little, and I could tell she sensed my anxiety. We ordered our drinks and snacks and sat down for a few minutes to relax. Welborn told a few off-color jokes, and Eddie laughed uproariously at them, but I couldn’t bring myself to even smile. These guys were real turds as far as I was concerned, but Eddie acted as though we were all best friends out for a casual round of golf.
Abby saw all of us get up to go, and she called Eddie and me over to the snack bar. “Alright, Eddie,” she said accusingly. “How's the match going?”
“C’mon, Red, you’re as bad as your boyfriend here!”
“And how much is the bet, Eddie?”
“Don’t you worry, Doll. We’re not losin’ anything here today. We got this completely under control.”
“How much, Kenny?” she said, turning to me.
“Two grand, and we’re down by three holes.”
“Eddie! What have you gotten yourselves into here?” she asked incredulously.
“Relax, both of you!” he said. “It’s coming soon, just trust me! By the way, Doll, would you give me two bottles of Coke for the caddies?” He placed a five on the counter.
She glared at him but retrieved the Cokes from the cooler and slapped them down in front of him. “Kenny, stay here a second, would you? Eddie, beat it!”
Eddie left us then without another word, and Abby said to me, “What did he mean, ‘It’s coming soon?’ ”
“I don’t know. He said he knew they were hustling us, but that we were going to hustle them. I just don’t see any evidence of it yet.”
Abby relaxed a little at that. “Okay, I guess he’s not as dumb as he looks. Gimme a kiss and do what he says. I think he’s probably pretty good at this kind of game. Just play your best; I’m sure that’s all he wants from you.”
I gave her a quick kiss and then headed off down the path to catch up with Eddie. He had stopped about halfway to the tenth tee, waiting for me. “Here, hold this,” he said to me as he handed me one of the Coke bottles from which he had removed the cap. It was only about a third full, and I could see a puddle beside him where he had poured the remainder out on the ground. He then pulled a hip flask from his back pocket, opened it up, and poured enough of the contents to fill up the Coke bottle again. Then he screwed the cap back on.
“What is that?” I asked.
“It’s dark Jamaican rum. And make sure E.J. gets this one, will ya?”
I smiled. “Is this the fix—to get E.J. drunk and start messing up?”
“It’s part of it. Just play along with the rest when it comes.”
“Alright, Eddie.”
We proceeded down the path and joined Fairbanks and Welborn on the tee. I handed the Cokes to the caddies, making sure E.J. got the spiked one. He took a big swig and let out a “Whoop! Whoop!” as the rum and Coke hit the pit of his stomach. Fairbanks looked over at him quizzically, but soon forgot about it as Welborn stepped up to the tee and ripped a low bullet down the middle.
Fairbanks and I both hit good drives, but Eddie sliced his over into the rough beside some big trees lining the right side of the fairway. He hacked his ball back into play, but as he was passing by one of the big trees, his foot caught on a root. He stumbled and came down hard on his left foot. He immediately rolled onto his back and let out a cry of anguish. I came running over to see if he was alright, and he just lay there cursing and holding his left ankle.
“Oh, shit! I think it’s sprained!” he said as he gingerly started pressing on it. By this time, both Fairbanks and Welborn had hurried over to see what the fuss was about. Eddie pulled up his pant leg and pulled down his sock to take a look at it, and what we all saw was not good. His ankle was red and starting to swell. I helped him up slowly, and he tried gently to put some weight on it. He managed to limp a little, but he was unsteady and apparently in some pain. I caught his eye at that point, and he gave me a little wink.
I suddenly realized that this must be the moment. I surreptitiously winked back, but I wondered how he had faked that ankle; it really looked sprained.
“Gary, would you run back to the pro shop and get me an Ace bandage and a golf cart?” Eddie asked our caddie.
Gary took off running, and I told Eddie to just sit down and quit trying to walk on it until Gary came back with the bandage. I saw Fairbanks and Welborn a few yards away talking to each other, probably wondering how the match was going to proceed at this point.
Gary came back driving the cart within five minutes and handed Eddie the Ace bandage. I helped him wrap his ankle tightly, and he again stood up and walked around on it. “That’s a lot better. Let me see if I can swing a golf club.”
I handed him an iron, and he took a wobbly stance. He kept fidgeting with his feet, trying to get comfortable. Eventually, he took the club back and swung it down, but half fell down as he cried out in obvious pain. What an actor, but I still wasn’t quite sure where he was going with this.
Fairbanks and Welborn came over at this point, and Welborn said, “Okay Eddie, what’s it gonna be? Doesn’t look like you’ll be able to keep playing. You guys just want to forfeit now?”
“Hell, no!” I said. “I can go it alone against you two. It’s a best ball match, so it shouldn’t matter to you whether Eddie plays or not.”
“But Kenny, I want to play,” whined Eddie.
I just looked at him, dumbfounded. “Eddie, you can’t. How do you think you can swing at the ball with a sprained ankle—especially on your forward foot? Just now you almost fell over.”
“But Kenny, it’s not right to put it all on you. I’m the one who accepted their bet. I’ve got to help out somehow.”
He thought for a minute. “Alright guys, how about this? How about if Kenny hits all the shots to the green, and I just putt. We’ll combine for the one and only ball. I’m sure I can putt. It’s not like taking a full swing. Also, I hope you don’t mind if I ride in the golf cart.”
Now I could finally see the whole plan. It was brilliant! I was sure now that Eddie had been faking his mediocre putting. I looked in his bag (on the back of the cart now) and noticed his ‘Enterprise’ putter in there, underneath a putter cover—right alongside the one he had been using. And now it dawned on me why he had pulled the 2-iron from his bag before going in to accept the bet from our opponents. Apparently, he was going to put it back in his locker and grab an extra, normal-looking putter. He didn’t want to exceed the 14-club limit rule by having that extra putter in his bag. Plus, I’m sure he wanted to appear like an average putter with an average-looking club. No sense in bringing undue attention to his very strange-looking model before the fix was in. I marveled at the thought he had put into this and just hoped that Welborn and Fairbanks didn’t see through it.
They conferred with each other for a moment, and Fairbanks finally said, “Okay, Eddie, why not?”
Success! though it certainly wasn’t a lock. We had nine holes to make up the three-hole deficit and hopefully pull ahead, but at least we now had a fighting chance.
To be continued...
Handicap: A method of allowing golfers of varying skill levels to compete against each other when betting. A number of strokes are given to the players with lesser ability. To have a 10-handicap means you will have 10 strokes deducted from your score in an 18-hole match.
Handicap ranking for a hole: The scorecard shows the relative ranking of each hole. The #1 handicap hole is the most difficult hole, while the #18 handicap hole is the easiest. If you are to receive 4 handicap strokes, you would get one on each hole marked #1 - #4 (meaning you would deduct 1 stroke from your score on each of those holes. Remember that in golf, the lowest score wins.)
Handicap stroke hole: A hole on which a handicap stroke is given to the team with higher handicaps.
Best-ball match play: A best-ball match means only the best score of each partnership is used to determine the outcome of the hole. Match play is a type of golf match where only the number of holes won is kept track of, not the score for each hole. Thus there's no difference in winning a hole by 1 stroke or by 4 strokes; it results in a +1 for that hole. A best-ball match play match combines these two criteria together.
Scratch: A zero-handicap.
Halve a hole: Tie a hole
Chip shot: A short shot from near the green
Fringe: The closely mown area immediately adjacent to the green
Kenny Payne: The narrator of the story. He is a mechanical engineer who recently graduated from college and joined Brentwood Country Club where he meets Eddie in the finals of the Club Championship. He and Eddie become best friends.
Eddie Phillips: Described by Kenny as the loudest, most flamboyant, often obnoxious person and the kind you either loved or hated, who he had ever met. He is known for his phenomenal luck and his extreme prowess in putting.
Abby St. Claire: Introduced to Kenny by Eddie, she works at the snack bar and as a waitress at the club for a summer job while she finishes college. She is a smart and beautiful redhead who Kenny falls in love with and eventually marries.
E.J. Budrowski: A notoriously bad caddie who has a problem with alcohol. He caddies for Fairbanks and Welborn during the money match.
Jimmy Fairbanks: One of the two hustlers who challenge Kenny and Eddie to a high-dollar match. He is probably a scratch player (0-handicap) although he is a sandbagger who said his handicap was 10.
Bucky Welborn: The other hustler playing with Fairbanks against Kenny and Eddie. He is not as good as Fairbanks.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. Handicap ranking for a hole: The scorecard shows the relative ranking of each hole. The #1 handicap hole is the most difficult hole, while the #18 handicap hole is the easiest. If you are to receive 4 handicap strokes, you would get one on each hole marked #1 - #4 (meaning you would deduct 1 stroke from your score on each of those holes. Remember that in golf, the lowest score wins.)
Handicap stroke hole: A hole on which a handicap stroke is given to the team with higher handicaps.
Best-ball match play: A best-ball match means only the best score of each partnership is used to determine the outcome of the hole. Match play is a type of golf match where only the number of holes won is kept track of, not the score for each hole. Thus there's no difference in winning a hole by 1 stroke or by 4 strokes; it results in a +1 for that hole. A best-ball match play match combines these two criteria together.
Scratch: A zero-handicap.
Halve a hole: Tie a hole
Chip shot: A short shot from near the green
Fringe: The closely mown area immediately adjacent to the green
Kenny Payne: The narrator of the story. He is a mechanical engineer who recently graduated from college and joined Brentwood Country Club where he meets Eddie in the finals of the Club Championship. He and Eddie become best friends.
Eddie Phillips: Described by Kenny as the loudest, most flamboyant, often obnoxious person and the kind you either loved or hated, who he had ever met. He is known for his phenomenal luck and his extreme prowess in putting.
Abby St. Claire: Introduced to Kenny by Eddie, she works at the snack bar and as a waitress at the club for a summer job while she finishes college. She is a smart and beautiful redhead who Kenny falls in love with and eventually marries.
E.J. Budrowski: A notoriously bad caddie who has a problem with alcohol. He caddies for Fairbanks and Welborn during the money match.
Jimmy Fairbanks: One of the two hustlers who challenge Kenny and Eddie to a high-dollar match. He is probably a scratch player (0-handicap) although he is a sandbagger who said his handicap was 10.
Bucky Welborn: The other hustler playing with Fairbanks against Kenny and Eddie. He is not as good as Fairbanks.
You need to login or register to write reviews. It's quick! We only ask four questions to new members.
© Copyright 2024. Jim Wile All rights reserved.
Jim Wile has granted FanStory.com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
