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President's Letter |
I love spring because I love golf. Even though I've never driven a ball 300 yards or scored below par, each spring I get out my sticks, buy a dozen of the latest over-priced, must-have balls and make my way out to Katke Golf Course with a bounce in my step and hope in my heart. As you receive this issue of Crimson & Gold, we will be completing the finishing touches for our annual Alumni Golf Outing on May 15 at Egypt Valley Country Club in Ada (just northeast of Grand Rapids). Each year we host around 200 alumni (we can accommodate more!) for a fabulous day of contests, drawings, golf on a championship course, great food and even better company. After the event, everyone has their own personal highlight-reel clip they replay over and over in their minds that shot that proves just how good they'd be if only working didn't interfere with their tee times. After nine years of playing in the Alumni Golf Outing, the shot I most replay happened two years ago at the third hole of Egypt Valley's Ridge Course. Number three is a par 3 which was chosen as the win-a-car-for-a-hole-in-one hole. At 215-yards-long with a green flanked by trees it's the kind of hole usually selected for such contests. That day I stood on the tee, staring down my target. After conferring with my playing partners, I visualized the high fade (working the shot from left to right for a right-handed player), which would result in my ball ending up in the hole. I addressed the ball with my 3-wood, selected my target line and swung. For once, I hit the ball the way you're supposed to squarely off the sweet spot of the club. The ball's trajectory was high and long, fading back to the green and directly at the flagstick. Two big hops, a roll and then as I was already adjusting the seat of my new car and planning on giving rides to all the Professional Golf Management students who had helped me with my swing the ball stopped about six feet short. In the end our scramble team made the birdie (my personal highlight reel does not include the six foot putt I missed, but holed by a team member) and played on. The golf at the outing is always fun, but what I and everyone else most looks forward to each year is the companionship of fellow Bulldogs. It's a great afternoon for former classmates and roommates, as well as for fathers and sons, mothers and daughters even spouses. It's a day to reminisce about times in The Zoo (Cramer Hall), cold walks to the Starr Building and those extra-curricular visits to the Creek and Alibi. I hope to see you at this year's outing, one of our other alumni events, or at Homecoming, or your child's commencement. And I wish you the best for all your spring and summer fun both on and off the course. Sincerely,  Jeremy Mishler, E '96 |
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