Tommy Bolt

I read today that Tommy Bolt died. This is sad to me and I never met him; on top of that, he lived a long, full life. Tommy Bolt was a great golfer and when I was growing up, Golf, (yes, with a capital "G" was always on.) I come from a LONG line of golfers even though I never played. My grandfather, father, and brother played, all very well. In fact, Dad even beat Tommy once in a local tournament.

Tommy Bolt, as my Dad used to tell it, could have been a much greater golfer than he was and he was pretty damn good! But, oh the legendary temper. Bolt was known for throwing clubs; in fact, he slung one in Texarkana that my mom had to duck. My Dad knew Tommy Bolt; Bolt moved to Shreveport when he was 6. As my mom tells the story, times were hard and Tommy's family lived "over the river" in Bossier; he was a little self-conscious about his family's economic status and one night after hanging out (drinking!), my Dad was driving him home. Tommy had Dad drop him at the Shreveport foot of the bridge so he could walk home from there rather than have Dad see where he lived.

Another Bolt story is that Tommy had to play in a big local tournament. He did not have any clubs; because of his bad temper he had either wrapped his clubs around a tree or thrown them into the pond, I can't remember. But he had no clubs for the tournament, so he asked Dad if he could borrow his. Dad was really nervous about it because he didn't want Tommy to lose his temper and throw HIS clubs in the pond. But he loaned them to Bolt and all went well; Bolt even won the tournament and began a come back from a long, dry spell. Dad always took a sort of silent credit for Bolt's success!

I hope Dad and Tommy are up there at the 19th hole reliving the old days.

(Photo credit: AP)