BRATTLEBORO — How long has Satan been on hold, calling to get his weather back? For the past month, we were slowly turning into fungi, slipping pans under leaks, cultivating mosquito farms. And then things got bad. The vents to Hades stuck open and suddenly the eternity of last winter didn't seem so bad.
It was an interesting time for Alex Feeman to start his quest to play 49 golf courses in 49 days in 48 states and Washington, D.C. The 27-year-old left Buffalo, N.Y., on July 14, played his first round, and wandered our way for his second just as the furnace heated up.
Brattleboro Country Club pro Eric Sandstrom let me take Alex around the course once he heard that the pursuit wasn't a mere stunt, but rather an attempt to raise some funds - in this case for the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
Alex has apparently gone through his own anxious years just trying to figure out what to do with his life. Clearly a bright and personable young man, he was leading a fiscally successful life in Buffalo as a claims adjuster for Geico. But after five years at the desk he felt stale and stifled, and not developing into the person he had hoped to be.
So what better remedy than a road trip, that All-American attitude adjustment? In this case, a golf-intensive one. Once the idea developed, all it required was the decision to actually do it.
As I write this on July 20, Alex should be motoring from Frederick, Md., to Martinsburg, Va., by day's end. The homemade sign on the passenger windows of his Jetta will then read, “I have played 12 rounds of golf in seven days in 12 states.” Then he wends his way into the South, where it's not likely to be cooler.
It's a grand adventure, easy enough to wish him well upon and enjoy vicariously at his blog, Golfing49in49 (www.golfing49in49.wordpress.com). Alex has posted his itinerary, maps, donation information, golfing stats, and a favorable report on his BCC experience (look for the “Greens in the Green Mountain State” post).
He can be a little wild off the tee but hits the ball a mile, and I'm sure his 10.9 handicap will be a single digit by the time he strokes the final putt. I leave it to him to describe his play, which he does in some detail. (I'm assuming Alex is under that old writerly saw of churning out lengthy entries because he doesn't have the time to be brief.)
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Gov. Peter Shumlin was brief on July 17 at BCC when he appeared to help the club dedicate its entrance drive to the late Sen. Robert Gannett - partially because it was hot, but mainly because that's the way the Senator would have liked it.
Actually, Shumlin said, “If Bob were here - well, first of all, he wouldn't be here,” referring to Gannett's well-known reticence in taking any credit for his philanthropy, which was considerable in the area and included a bequest to BCC, revealed after he died last August at 95.
Shumlin, former state legislative colleagues, friends, and golfing partners showed up for the ceremony, which included proof from Shumlin that white men can jump. When he pulled the cord to unveil the sign, down came the cord but not the covering sheet. Shumlin leapt, snagged the cloth, and unveiled the handsome sign designating the entranceway as Senator Gannett Drive.
Frequent playing partner Steve Baker was on hand to relate a few anecdotes about Gannett. “Bob liked to be warm when he played, and usually wore a sweater. Today I think even he might be in short sleeves.”
Gannett was a member of BCC for 66 years, and in 1956, somewhat to his surprise, won the club championship. His wife, Aldie, won in 1971. Baker said, “As far as I can determine, they're the only husband and wife champions in the club history.”
As of July 1, the club began its 100th year. Baker said part of that history, when it was restricted to white men, stood under a bit of a cloud. “We don't like to talk about it much, but it was a fact; there was even a sign out front that indicated we were restricted. Bob had a lot to do with changing all that.”
So there's a better sign out front now.
“This is a fitting tribute to a great man,” said Shumlin. “He was a Windham County gem.”