Lucky Eddie - Chapter 11

by Jim Wile

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 of the previous few chapters: Kenny and Abby’s kids grow into adults. Their daughter Claire marries and has a baby girl of her own, Emily. Their son Greg joins Kenny and Eddie in the golf equipment business, allowing them eventually to partially retire. They take a number of golfing trips together. Eddie grows very fond of Emily as he sees her often when he visits Kenny and Abby while they are babysitting for Emily. Emily turns five.

On a visit to Kenny’s house to plan a new golfing trip, Eddie prevents a tragic accident to Emily who is charging across the street to greet him. He throws his body in front of an advancing car to push Emily out of the way and is struck instead, while Emily bumps her head on the curb. Both are rushed to the hospital. Emily has only suffered a minor concussion while Eddie’s pelvis and leg were severely damaged in the accident. The family visits him in the hospital the next day.

After months of rehab, Eddie is recovered and goes over to Kenny’s house to plan another golf trip. He doesn’t look quite right, and it’s revealed that he has pancreatic cancer, and this will be his last trip. They plan to go to Scotland together to play the Old Course at St. Andrews.

The Trip

The trip to Scotland took place at the end of summer. Eddie and I flew into Edinburgh, where we rented a car and drove the hour or so up to St. Andrews. We checked in at The Old Course Hotel—the one you had to shoot over with your tee shot on the quirky 17th hole—had a late dinner, and decided to go to bed early. It was only 6:00 PM by our time at home, but we were both tired from the long flight. We would not be playing golf tomorrow to give our bodies time to adjust to the five-hour differential, but we had a tee time at The Old Course the day after tomorrow.

The next morning, we were up early and decided to take a short tour of the town before stopping for breakfast at a local eatery. After breakfast, we walked some more, but Eddie, who tired easily these days, wanted to go back to the hotel for a nap. That afternoon, we planned to play a round of putting at the famous Himalayas Putting Course, and he wanted to rest up for that.

After his nap, we had a small lunch at the hotel, got our putters, and headed over to the Himalayas. This unique course, officially known as the St. Andrews Ladies Putting Club, but more commonly called the Himalayas Putting Course, adjoined the 2nd hole of The Old Course. It was originally founded in 1867 and was located on a piece of land for which the appellation “Himalayas” was entirely appropriate. Nestled among the many peaks and valleys of this absolutely huge putting green were 18 holes that presented an incredible challenge of green-reading. It was not uncommon to have two or three different breaks that must be played on any given hole. The course was open to the public most of the time, and people of all ages could be seen wandering the holes and having fun at this challenging course.

Two young boys of nine or ten were about to begin the first hole, and Eddie asked if we could join them. “We’re new around here, and maybe you old pros can teach us a thing or two about reading this green,” he said to them. They welcomed us and assured us they knew all the breaks around there.

Each cup had a short, metal flagstick with either a red or white flag, and the “tees” were marked with small, white, wooden arrows. We let the boys hit first on every hole to show us the breaks, some of which were absolutely incredible. On the very first hole, which was fairly straightforward, Eddie knocked his ball in for an ace.

“Wow, mister, nice putt!”

“Thanks, fellas, but call me Eddie. This old goat here is Kenny.”

Their names were Sean and Billy, and we got along splendidly. They were pretty good little putters and did a great job of showing us the line on each of the holes. Up until the 18th hole, I had two-putted about half the holes, three-putted six others and had two four-putts. Eddie had two more aces and only two three-putts, so he was one under par going into the 18th. Sean and Billy went first, as usual, and Billy knocked his ball right up just short of and slightly right of the hole.

“Better go mark it or putt out, Billy. I wouldn’t want to carom off your ball and sink it accidentally,” Eddie told him.

“Jeez, Eddie, I wish you had been as magnanimous to me during the club championship you stole from me.”

“Yeah? Would you really have walked all the way up there and marked your ball if I had been?”

“Probably not.”

“Alright, then. Quit your belly-aching.”

While we bantered back and forth, Billy went up to his ball and holed out, leaving the way open for Eddie. He gave it a good rap, and we watched as the ball took one break and then another, curved around and fell in the back of the cup for his fourth ace of the afternoon. Billy and Sean were jumping up and down, cheering for Eddie. They had never seen anyone putt like him.

I finished up with a deuce and added up my card—46. Eddie’s final ace gave him a 34.

“Eddie!” Sean exclaimed. “You broke the course record! It used to be 35. And you also broke the ace record which was three! That was top putting!”

“Couldn’t a done it without you boys showing me the way. Thanks for a swell time!”

We all shook hands then and said goodbye. What a couple of nice kids.

Eddie was tired again from all the excitement, and we slowly made our way back to the hotel. It was time for afternoon tea at The Old Course Hotel, and we didn’t want to miss it. I loaded up my plate with a couple of fruit scones and their famous lemon pancakes with clotted cream. Eddie’s appetite was very small these days, so he just had a cup of tea and one blueberry scone.

It was 3:30 by the time we finished, and Eddie was ready for another nap. While he slept, I called Abby and filled her in on our exploits so far. She advised me to just take things at Eddie’s pace and not to push him too hard. We talked for a while more, and then I decided to go and catch a few winks, myself, before dinner.

(2 more chapters to go)

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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.

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The Trip to Scotland

A chapter in the book Lucky Eddie

Lucky Eddie - Chapter 11

by Jim Wile

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