LOOKING AHEAD...

Recently, I received a visit from our good friend, and occasional golfer, Dr. John Nasi, who aside from his excellent reputation as a dentist and a good representative of our community, athletically is better known for his tennis and cycling prowess, than for his golf scores. Before his visit, I had read about his health problems in a short story in the Gallup Herald. It turns out that Dr. Nasi was diagnosed with cancer not long ago, but as he has always done, in his personal, professional and sports life, he is looking into the future with optimism and for ways to come out ahead. In his visit, he was asking a small favor: “would you please give my grandson a lesson on Thursday morning?”

It turns out that we are closed on Thursday mornings, but since eleven year old Derek Scott was leaving that same Thursday in the afternoon back to Texas, I contacted Bob Weekes, our superintendent, who graciously agreed to change some of his Thursday maintenance schedule so grandpa and grandson could have a moment on the range (thank you Bob).

The lesson went very well, Derek, a lefty, who is a natural and good baseball player, had to do some changes in his swing, but, not surprisingly, adapted quickly and hit many very nice shots, both to his and to his grandpa’s satisfaction.

At the end, since Dr. Nasi is right handed and Derek is left handed, I asked them if they could try something for me: hit a shot, simultaneously, in front of each other and see if the balls would collide in the air. I know the odds for this are pretty much close to zero, but it is worth trying, just for the fun of it. At first, Dr. Nasi said “no” since he had not hit a golf ball in several years and was feeling weak, but Derek’s success inspired him, so he came and hit some practice shots with my club before our little “private exhibition”. He never missed one shot!

I borrowed their camera and got them ready. I tried to get the picture at impact, to see if we could get the balls in the picture as they flew off the clubhead. Fortunately, these little pocket digital cameras are not as fast as I would like to for what I had in mind and the picture and the snap shot is way after impact, both of them looking at their shot, as if as looking into the future, looking ahead, heads up and optimistically.

Whether the golfer in him is 2 down with 3 to go, or the tennis player is 4-5 and 15-40 in the 10th game of the set, we know that in every swing, he is giving it his very best effort and that he will not give up. We are pulling for you... better yet, we are praying for you. We are looking forward to another visit of both of you, perhaps this time, you can make the balls collide in the air...

... I do not find it coincidental that their shot in this picture, was the best of the session, nor that the picture turned out to be of two people looking ahead, not looking down!