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A golfing memoir in monthly tokens: June
As some might say, if you don’t take the plunge, you can’t taste the brine. Others might not say such a thing. I’m taking the plunge, because I want to taste the brine. Here you’ll find the fifth installment of “A Golfing Memoir” as we trace a year in the life of Flip Hedgebow, itinerant teacher of golf. For January, click here. For February, click here. For March, click here. For April and May, click here.
cirE “Flip” Hedgebow was never in hurry. He considered his penchant for blending preparation with feigned disenchantment to be a singular and enviable proclivity. It wasn’t a predilection, as he had to work at it. If his managers felt that there employee was in a hurry, they would connect it to bother, and would wonder about what would eventually distract him from the jobs they had hired him to do. As for his clients, speaking of distraction, they believed that his time in their hire was all theirs, and that hurry translated to distraction, which led to let’s find another instructor. Complicated, huh?
June wasn’t a month for hurry. It was the beginning of the summer season, and the two months that followed represented an eternity. He had been on site at Klifzota for nearly two months, and had weathered the final dusting of snow, the conversion of informal cross-country ski trails into fairways, and the drying of those same fairways from frozen to quaggy to playable. Even thought there would be rains in the year’s sixth month, the deep frost had melted, which meant that arriving water would find its true level.
The arrival of the young woman whose attention Flip had capture in Florida was imminent. He had received a text message from her current outpost on Long Island. Whether it was the Hamptons, somewhere farther out, or nearer in, he did not know. Twenty-five percent of him was disinterested, while the other three-quarters cared deeply enough to not enquire. Don’t be too eager, that seventy-five percent had to be reminded. Agnes Porter the younger would arrive by air, and would then commute to Flip’s oasis by hired car. Not Lyft, not Uber, but hired car. Something about a hired car traversing the Allegany foothills compelled the golf pro to smile broadly. The byways were never flat, and were bent on balancing uphills and downhills with regularity. A hired car that was not used to country roads would certainly makes its share of quick brakes.
As a result, Flip was in the most massive hurry of his life. It, this, SHE all mattered. He didn’t know why, at least in his conscious mind. He had known since his parents went separate ways, that relationships were not permanent. The stars, the winds, the guarantee that another day were dawn, were as ephemeral as the connection between two human beings. After the age of 16, the one that John Cougar Mellencamp instructed us to hold on to, as long as you can, Flip Hedgebow had no need for a personal relationship.
The resort was humming. The Krupnik was flowing for the locals, and the White Russians remained the drink of choice for the Maple Leafs that crossed borders to reach their favorite chunk of the Empire state. Flip moved gracefully among them, although he would be the last to deem his efforts as bearing grace. That was something reserved for Agnes Porter the Younger, more than he knew.
What he did not know, over the past months, was that Agnes Porter the Elder had gone to the Hamptons to die. She knew that her passing was imminent, and she knew that the place say farewell to earthly matters was coastal. She would not stomp the soils of her beloved isle, so the waves and the winds would carry her ashes eastward, to its shores. She and her granddaughter had discussed these matters, and when the time had come, GES had smiled with eyes first, then cheeks, then mouth, at her namesake. She planted a kiss on her young forehead, then began her journey homeward. A single tear, for a single soul, made its way down her cheek. In an instant, the past turned its page, into the present and the future.
Flip Hedgebow left the shop in capable hands, and took his clubs to the practice area to settle his core. He found a barren spot of hardpan and scattered balls around it. As a youth, he and Freezer had determined that hitting off fairway grasses was easy, if you could hit it off baked earth. Flip had never feared taken a dirt divot, which explained why he would trust his action down and through, until the end of days.
Behind him, those red and yellow waves overtook the blue ones in the sky. Not even the sun could keep up its strength forever. It was these colors that settled Flip into an evening calm, that allowed him to transition from daytime pro to nighttime host, with little indication of intention.
That’s the golf swing I’d like to own one day.
He had missed the crunch of tires, the slam of the car door, and the muffled conversation between passenger and driver.
Grace Éimí Seáin had arrived at Klifzota. The sky burned red behind her.
Art by JaeB
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage
GolfWRX is on site this week at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island for the RBC Heritage. Plenty of golfers who competed in the Masters last week will be making the quick turnaround in the Lowcountry of South Carolina as the Heritage is again one of the Tour’s Signature Events.
We have general albums for you to check out, as well as plenty of WITBs — including Justin Thomas and Justin Rose.
We’ll continue to update as more photos flow in from SC.
Check out links to all our photos, below.
General Albums
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #2
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Justin Thomas – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Rose – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Chandler Phillips – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Nick Dunlap – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Thomas Detry – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Austin Eckroat – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Jason Day – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Will Zalatoris – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Patrick Cantlay – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Ludvig Aberg – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Collin Morikawa – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Sam Burns – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Stephen Jaeger – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
Pullout Albums
- Wyndham Clark’s Odyssey putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- JT’s new Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Thomas testing new Titleist 2 wood – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey putter with triple track alignment aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Scotty Cameron The Blk Box putting alignment aid/training aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey Ai One Eleven T putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Christian Bezuidenhout – testing new Callaway Ti 340 mini driver – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele testing the Callaway Ti 340 mini driver & the DUW – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Byeong Hun An, two new L.A.B. Golf putter builds with “T” alignment – 2024 RBC Heritage
See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.
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Morning 9: Aberg: I want to be No. 1 | Rory’s management blasts ‘fake news’ reports
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News
Masters 2024: Reduced-scale clubhouse trophy and green jacket to Scottie Scheffler
In the world of golf, there is Scotty and there is Scottie. Scotty Cameron gave the world of golf a nickname for a prestigious putter line, and Scottie Scheffler has now given the golf world a blueprint for how to negotiate one of the toughest tournaments to win. Sunday, Scheffler won the Masters tournament for the second time in three years. He separated from the field around the turn, making a trio of birdies at holes eight through 10. On the long walk home, he added three more birdie at 13, 14, and 16, to secure a four-shot win over Masters and major-championship rookie Ludvig Åberg.
On No. 7, Ludvig Åberg makes birdie to move into a tie for second place. #themasters pic.twitter.com/ZSjcOr9OQK
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 14, 2024
As the final group moved along the ninth hole, a quadrilateral stood at 7 under par, tied for the lead. Scheffler, playing partner Collin Morikawa, and penultimate pairing Max Homa and Åberg advanced equally toward Amen Corner, with the resolution of the competition well in doubt. Morikawa flinched first, getting too greedy (his words) at nine and 11. Double bogey at each dropped him farther back than he wished, and he ultimately made a 10-foot putt for bogey at the last, to tie for third position.
Ludvig Åberg made the next mistake. Whether he knew the Ben Hogan story about the approach into 11 or not, he bit off way more than he should have. His approach was never hopeful, and ended short and right in White Dogwood’s pond. Åberg finished the hole in six shots. To his credit, he played the remaining seven holes in two-under figures. Finally, Max Homa was the victim of the finicky winds over Golden Bell, the short, par-3 12th hole. His disbelief was evident, as his tee shot flew everything and landed in azaleas behind the putting surface. After two pitch shots and two putts, Homa also had a double bogey, losing shots that he could not surrender.
Why? At the ninth hole, Scottie Scheffler hit one of the finest approach shots of all time, into the final green of the first nine. Scheffler had six inches for birdie and he converted. At the 10th, he lasered another approach shot into a tricky hole location, then made another fine putt for birdie. Within the space of 30 minutes, Scheffler had seized complete control of the tournament, but Amen Corner still lurked.
Scottie Scheffler is back in sole possession of the lead. #themasters pic.twitter.com/MGytXpJcXH
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 14, 2024
At the 11th, Scheffler played safely right with his approach. His chip shot was a wee bit too brave and left him a seven-foot comeback putt for par. He missed on the right side and gave one shot back to the course and field. His tee ball on 12 was safely aboard, and he took two putts for par. On 13, the 2022 champion drove slightly through the fairway, then reached the green, with his first two shots. His seventy-foot-plus putt for eagle eased up, four feet past the hole. His second putt went down, and he was back in the birdie zone. As on nine, his approach to 14 green finished brilliantly within six inches. His final birdie came at the 16th, where he negotiated a nine-foot putt for a deuce.
Leader by four with two to play. #themasters pic.twitter.com/KcoilYExDr
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 14, 2024
Scheffler reached 11 under par and stood four shots clear of Ludvig Åberg when he reached the 18th tee. His drive found the lower fairway bunker on the left, and his approach settled in a vale, short and right of the green. With dexterous hands, Scheffler pitched to three feet and made the putt for par. With a big smile, he embraced caddie Ted Scott, who won for the fourth time at Augusta National, and the second with Scheffler. Ludvig Åberg finished alone in second spot, four back of the winner. Not a bad performance for the first-time major championship participant Åberg, and not a bad finish for the world No. 1 and second-time Masters champion, Scottie Scheffler.
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