narrominded
Jake Narro, PGA professional, head golf coach at Southeastern Louisiana University and
Backspin publisher
take your kids to play – they won’t forget it
4
June
is
an
important month
in my life for
numerous reasons.
My Mom’s birthday
is the 9th, my late
g randmother’s
birthday was the
4th, and my twins,
Blane and Harris,
were born on the
29th.
Those birthday’s
are obviously very
important to me but
there’s another one
that I look forward
to a bit more. Mine on June 1st. I’m not
saying I’m more important but I am saying I
love my birthday. Another great day in June is
of course Father’s Day. Just like my birthday,
I also enjoy being the center of attention
on Father’s Day as well. It’s the only day of
the year my wife allows me to be in charge.
It’s great sitting around and watching every
second of the U.S. Open while my favorite
meal is cooked and served to me. I also really
enjoy those terrible presents my kids get and
the brand new underwear pack I get from
my mother-in-law.
But what’s really special to me is to think
a bit more about my Dad while sitting in
my chair watching golf. He’s the guy who
introduced me to the game of golf and all
sports for that matter. Let me tell you how he
did it and how much fun the process was to
go through.
My Dad was a home course five handicap
who played with the “game” every day at
noon. One of his favorite rounds to talk
about was the 72 he shot with six pars, six
bogeys, and six birdies. This was the type of
player he was, not good enough to win the
club championship but good enough to be a
dangerous four-ball partner.
Growing up in Meridian, Mississippi,
I played most of my golf from the age
of roughly 7-14 at Briarwood Country
Club. My teenage years were mostly spent
playing at Lakeview golf course with a little
Northwood Country Club sprinkled in.
Baseball was my first love as a kid, especially
during that 7-14 time frame. However, when
our recreational league all-stars was done,
golf took center stage. (There was no travel
ball back then, and I’m thrilled there wasn’t).
When I became good enough to finish nine-
holes, my Dad would take me out with him,
and we would play each other. There was
always something on the line whether it be a
quarter, who was going to do the yard work,
or most important, if I could beat my Dad.
On the first hole at Briarwood, there’s
a ditch that runs across the middle of the
fairway that’s about a 200-yard carry from
the back tees. From the forward tees, it’s
maybe a 100-yard carry which, at 7 years old
or so, forced me to lay up. The game at that
time was my Dad played the back tees and I
played the forward and got two strokes per
hole. It took me a shorter time to beat my
Dad with the two strokes than it did to finally
be able to carry that ditch, but I finally did
it one day. Then I had only one stroke from
the same tees. Beating Dad with one stroke
from the forward tees didn’t take that long,
but beating him straight up did.
When I stated getting close to beating him
straight up, the competitor in my stubborn,
Italian father kicked in, and he moved me
back a tee. I guess I was about 11 at this
time, so a handicap adjustment was needed
to make the match competitive. I was still a
much better baseball player at that point but
getting a little better at golf. As I got older, the
distance I could hit the ball really improved,
but I had no idea where it was going most of
the time. This newly acquired length gave a
big advantage playing a tee up from my Dad
as I was hitting it as far or even further than
he could. So he moved me back to the tee he
was playing, and we had another handicap