As I continue to build this blog and look for actual people to read about the average golf guy, I decided to take my recruiting efforts to Twitter. Listening to the radio I hear a lot of people discussing Twitter and I thought that this could be a direction to find people who might actually read what I have to say, as a lot of them are looking to find people just like me.
I went to twitter to sign up and looked for the user name, averagegolfguy. Low and behold it was available and I took the user name and started learning how to use the site. I started by searching for golf to see all those who are twittering about golf. There was no surprise on my end that there were thousands and thousands of people following golf and all golf events.
It was easy to follow someone because all I had to do was click the follow button and then I was following them. Not difficult, I believe my dog could learn how to do this. Then the search for all the pro golfers began, the announcers on the golf networks keep discussing how all these guys twitter.. I found Immelman, Cink, Ogilvy, Boo Weekly, McIlroy, and even Tigers head cover. Then I came across the man that I first saw back at Crooked Stick back in 1991, John Daly.
I was with my now deceased friend Amy Evans as we went to watch the Saturday round of the PGA. I had purchased a ticket off my brothers girlfriends dad (confusing myself here), for $30.00 and later found out junior golfers could purchase tickets for $10.00. I can remember Amy laughing at me when she purchased her ticket since she had told me that a day earlier at the golf course that juniors only had to pay $ 10.00. I just wanted to make sure that I had a ticket and not wait until the last second (for those of you who really know me you know this to be true.) What if they had sold out, it was the PGA Championship.
After entering the grounds we decided to walk around the course when we found this guy on the golf course with a mullet and a swing that only came from the movies. The name said Daly and I then looked in my program to find this guy and he wasn't there, Amy asked a few people but, no one really knew who he was at the time. Not having facebook, twitter, or anything back then I had to wait untill I got home that night to learn more about John Daly. Amy and I followed him for awhile until, she decided that it was time to follow the popular players. Little did we know that next day John Daly would no longer be the man from Arkansas that drove all night to be the third alternate to John Daly the 1991 PGA Champion and the average golfers favorite player.
Going to the PGA was an experience and one that I have never forgotten because of the time I had with Amy. Who knew that in two years that she would pass from cancer and I would no longer get to play golf with her like I had so many times growing up and playing at the Kokomo Country Club.
One maybe wondering how did I get from Twitter to that story. Well here it goes; I found John Daly on Twitter last night and sent him a question "lovin the loud pants, who is your pick for the superbowl this year?" I never thought in a million years John Daly would respond but he did. John responded with " I hope my steelers do". Then the conversation went on for just another tweet were we exchanged information on his new line of Loud Mouth Pants (by the way I am going to get me a few pairs of those pants for the course). After, the conversation I was telling my wife what had happened and of course she questioned if it was the real John Daly. It was John Daly and honestly if it wasn't him I did not care. Thinking about the first time I saw John play golf only reminded me of a time in my life that I got to spend with a friend that I grew up on the golf course with. The images that I remembered from that day will last a life time and sometimes it takes twittering with John Daly to remind me of that day.
Thanks John Daly for bringing back a memory of a day that is a day I will never forget. The tour needs more personalities like you out there.
Have a speedy recovery on that rib.
Until next time everyone, please keep sending me my grammar errors as I keep improving but, I know I will never be perfect.
If you would like to see John Daly's loudmouth pants please visit www.johndaly.com
John Daly is an amazing Man! I had heard the name thru out the years without being a Pro Golf fan. I was a big Howard Stern fan, and John was on the show one day to promote his book. Right away I became a fan of his and started to keep an eye out for him. You knew right away he was a down to earth person, and not what I thought a Golf Pro would be like. Plus he kinda mirrored my life, but I'm not a Pro or famous, it's just that he's been in the trenches, and knows exactly where he came from, and that sets him far apart from any celerity.
ReplyDeleteI had singed up with Twitter around 4 months ago now, and had seen John Daly's Avatar picture, with the bright orange jacket, on Kyle Petty's followers list. I had to click on John and follow him. Then I seen that John had clicked to follow me? I was new to twitter, and started thinking maybe all the celebrities followed you too? It didn't take long to learn, that was not the case, so I looked at John's profile, and he was taking the time to follow all his Fan/followers!
That is so cool and says so much about a person. Then the real test came when I had twitted John, and he replied back! How cool was that! With all the followers he has, I'm sure he can't get back to all of them, plus Twitter cuts him off at 150 Tweets. I know when I wish him luck, or make a quick comment he can't get to every one, and I don't expect it, but if you have something that's in the grove, you have a real good shot at getting a reply from John.
After an experience like this, you feel like your just Bub's with the Man!
Forgot to add this to my comment;
ReplyDeleteMy Twitter name is @HonestJohn60
Trent, I'd have to print out the page and mark it up. You know I have a degree in English, right? My minor is in creative writing. However, I'll let you have a pass, because I enjoy reading your blog. So I'm not going to correct your grammar and punctuation.
ReplyDeleteJohn was the ninth alternate in the 1991 PGA Championship.
ReplyDeleteMjtb79 here, ease up on the criticism guys its about the story, the memories, and one mans view on part of his life! So forget about the grammer or how many alternate entries there was in the PGA! Give a guy a break for a great heart warming story. Keep it up Trent.
ReplyDelete