M MIND / THE NEXT ONE’S GOOD
A great wind is blowing off the sea, a source of courage or pain for golf- ers. I’m reporting from the battlefield of links golf in a howling, moaning gale on the Southwest coast of Ireland at the 16th World Invita- tional Father-Daughter Tournament. My daughter Sam and I are not accus- tomed to playing every day, and this is rattle-bottom golf – every shot chased down, every gimme putted out – and we’re loving it. My old friend Sandy Tatum once said, “Put me vertical and give me the feel of seaside turf through my spikes and I could go on forever.” As the days and weeks now pass, I want to keep that feeling alive. “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful,” said Mae West. I always preferred the sport psychology of Mark Twain: “Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough.” You could say the same about playing golf with your kids – it never gets old, even when you do. This year was our first time in the tournament inspired by Jimmy Layden and Marty Carr of Ireland’s famous Carr Family. Joe B Carr was the greatest amateur in Irish history. His offspring now operate a travel com- pany, Carr Golf, and its daughter- and son-themed tournaments evoke the warm affection only a golfing dad can feel after 18 holes, a swim in the freez- ing Irish Sea and a pint of Guinness at midnight in the little pub they call “The Shebeen.” I admit that I have the stooped posture and delicate hands of a shoe salesman. Pretty reliably I aim it right and hit a soft pull hook into the middle. I learned in these pages a long time ago, “Working the ball means finishing with the same one you start with.” How Much Golf Is Too Much Golf? Tears and all, it takes a father and daughter to find the answer BY JERRY TARDE
Not so for Sam, who pummels her drives, as Bernard Darwin once described Nicklaus, “like a kicking horse.” Opposites attract; we make a great team. I had the passion but not the talent. Sam had the talent but not the passion. Should I have pushed golf more when she was younger? We played our first round with Roddy Carr, Marty’s older brother who used to manage Seve Ballesteros. Roddy advocated equal measures of opportunity and neglect: “When Seve’s son Javier was about 10, I noticed he
was hitting balls cross-handed. I said, ‘Seve, you’ve got to correct his grip.’ Seve said, ‘No, Roddy. Some day his friends will tell him he looks stupid hitting it that way, and he will figure it out for himself and be better for it.’ ” Sam has figured it out on her own. From the “up” tees that our daughters play, Sam’s ball can finish 100 yards past me on firm and fast fairways. MY GIRL Jerry and Sam Tarde pause for some hydration at The Shebeen at Waterville Golf Links.
8 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
MAY 2025
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