How Northside Almost Ended My High School's Perfect Record in Golf

I didn't get to hit a golf ball until I was fourteen years old when I became a caddy at Corning Country Club. Corning Country Club is where, now, the LPGA Corning Classic tournament is played. There were virtually no golf carts in the 1950s and most of the members of the country club could afford the two dollars that it took to hire a caddy for a round of golf. We loved when there was a tournament because we could even carry double bags and make four or five dollars for a round of golf if there was a shortage off caddys. The country club had a policy of allowing the caddies to play golf until noon on Mondays. Wanting to play on "caddy day" but not having any golf clubs to play with, I developed a plan to get some clubs. The idea really hit me the day I was chosen to caddy for Mr. E.J. Smith. He was an executive with Ingersol-Rand which was headquartered in Painted Post, a of suburb of Corning, despite the fact that the city had only something between fifteen thousand and twenty thousand people in it. I went to Corning Free Academy (high school) on the south side of the Chemung River which runs through Corning. Northside High School was on the north side of the river.

I worked hard that day. I grabbed the rake and raked every time someone, even if it wasn't Mr. Smith, got into a sand trap. I made sure that he noticed that I cleaned the clubs that he used with the towel that I brought along when he gave the club back to me, even if it was his putter. When the round was over and he was getting his pocket change out of the bag, I asked him, "My name is Joe Btfsplk, would you ask for me when you play on the weekends?" He said he would. I felt that he'd probably forget but it was worth a try. The next day, which was a Sunday, the "caddie master" called me and told me that E.J. Smith wanted me to caddy for him. My plan was working.