Four heroes . . . Four rounds . . . Four lessons . . .
“Thank you,” I whispered, as my daughter hit her first tee shot.
Thank you.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
After his family, my father’s greatest passion was the game of golf, and his hero was “the Golden Bear,” Jack Nicklaus. During the final round of the 1986 Masters, when Jack charged up the leaderboard, Dad became so nervous that he left the house to mow the grass. After Jack hit his approach close on the fifteenth hole, I made Dad come inside for the conclusion. The first time I ever cried watching a sporting event was when Jack hugged his son Jackie after finishing the winning round. Echoing Randy Clark at the end of this book, it was the most perfect sports moment I had ever seen and would remain so until Tiger Woods’s victory at Augusta in April 2019.
In the summer of 2015, Dad, my brother Bo, and I played East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. As you know from reading this story, East Lake was the home course of Bobby Jones. This was to be the first of four excursions. We would play Scioto in Ohio, Jack’s home course; Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, the course Ben Hogan founded; and Latrobe Country Club in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where Arnold Palmer’s father was once the pro and the course where the King learned the game.
Dad wanted one last golf odyssey with his sons at the courses sacred to the players on his Mount Rushmore: Jones, Hogan, Palmer, and Nicklaus. As we drove home from Atlanta, I thought that perhaps I should write a memoir about our adventures, but as it turned out, East Lake would be the only leg of the journey we were able to complete.
In April 2016, Dad was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer. Eight months later, my wife, Dixie, was diagnosed with early stage-three lung cancer. Dad died on March 3, 2017. Thirty days later, exactly a month after Dad’s death, Dixie had curative surgery to remove most of her right lung. In the aftermath, I began to think about turning Dad’s unfulfilled dream into a fable that might help people during hard times and offer a glimmer of hope in the darkness of life.
Four heroes . . . Four rounds . . . Four lessons.
Thank you for reading The Golfer’s Carol. As I finish this voyage, I am grateful for the story of Randy Clark, whom I named after my hero.
My dad, Randy Bailey.
Robert Bailey
December 9, 2019
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My wife, Dixie, has been there on this journey since the first word. I’m so thankful for her presence, her health, and her love. She is my everything.
Our children—Jimmy, Bobby, and Allie—inspire me every day.
My mother, Beth Bailey, is always my first reader, and her questions, ideas, and support mean more to me than words can say.
My agent, Liza Fleissig, has helped me achieve my dreams. I am forever grateful for Liza’s efforts and persistence.
Thank you to Tara Singh Carlson, my editor, for her expertise, passion, and vision. Also, special thanks to Helen O’Hare for her assistance on this book and all of the great folks at G. P. Putnam’s Sons for believing in this story.
Thank you to my friends Bill Fowler, Rick Onkey, Mark Wittschen, Steve Shames, Judd Vowell, and David Little for being early readers and providing encouragement.
My brother, Bo Bailey, is my favorite golfing partner, and it was a round with Bo and Dad at East Lake that planted the first seed for this story.
My friend Rob Clark, the director of golf at The Ledges, set up our round at East Lake and played with us that day. Thank you to Rob for a priceless memory and for being a great friend to my family.
My father-in-law, Dr. Jim Davis, was an early reader and has been a constant source of positive energy and enthusiasm.
My sister-in-law, Denise Burroughs, a longtime AP English and Literature teacher for Cullman High School, read an early draft, and her critique was a tremendous help as well as a confidence builder.
My wonderful friends Joe and Foncie Bullard were both early readers and are two of the finest people I know.
Finally, this story would have never happened without the love, support, and influence of my father, Randy Bailey. I love and miss you, Dad.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Bailey is the bestselling author of the critically acclaimed McMurtrie and Drake Legal Thrillers series, which includes The Professor, Between Black and White, The Last Trial, and The Final Reckoning. An experienced trial lawyer for more than twenty years and an avid golfer who made All City as a senior in high school at Huntsville High and played three years of golf for Davidson College, he now lives in his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama, with his wife and three children.
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