AND IF YOU PLAY GOLF, YOU ARE MY FRIEND...

Last Friday, we lost one of the best golf characters we had in our city, Rick Carpenter who lost a battle with his ailing health. Locally, I doubt if I have ever met someone more involved and interested in all aspects of golf, than Rick. His curiosity and knowledge expanded to the swing, history, club repair and construction, equipment characteristics, ball flight and trajectory, rules of golf, etc.; but, more importantly, he knew how to treat people, which was a natural extension of his livelihood, where he excelled as a car salesman.

Over the years, I have met many wonderful people who loved, played and supported the game of golf, all of which Rick did, however, he went a step farther: Rick studied the game like no other amateur I have known. About a year ago, he called me so that he could read to me part of an instruction book he was writing ("Why Golfers Fail To Improve").

I thought it was excellent as it was: simple words, simple descriptions, no pictures. Harvey Penick style. The picture should be formed in your mind, not on a piece of paper. However, I had the feeling that he wanted more than clean up the grammar and prose, and that he wanted to expand on it. As of now, it has not been published.

The truth is that he knew more about golf than the average golfer. An average golfer himself, as far as knowledge and communication as a teacher, he had more in him than any amateur I know, including many who have gone to golf schools, and he helped more people with their swings than any other amateur in Gallup. Rick, was in fact, a "golf encyclopedia" and owned more golf books and videos than anyone I know. His favorite though, was “Natural Golf”. He could speak for hours on that subject.

Unfortunately, the last few years, he limited his golf to his living room, where he would watch an instructional video, or the Golf Channel. Sometimes he would invite someone to watch a video on whatever his new theory was. I did plenty of that. But, some of the most enjoyable times with Rick were actually spent on the practice range, hitting balls together and talking about the golf swing. We always talked about “squaring the clubhead with the turn of your body, instead of using the hands to do so”, which was in complete opposite to one of his videos from a well known teacher that we saw last year, and one with which we mostly agreed, except for that part. Like all of us who are parents of other golfers, he particularly enjoyed playing with his two sons, Chris and Ricky, both of whom gave him many good golf memories, partricularly when the subject was "distance"!

I know I speak for his friends when I say that we will truly miss him, we have indeed, missed him at the course for quite a while. Rick could put a smile on your face quicker than anyone else. Either indirectly (when we told stories of him, many of which he quickly corroborated with a smile or sometimes with a "that's not exactly what happened" look), or directly, when he reached into his vast memory bank and told you a joke or a “one liner” related to whatever problem you had. Rick always had this desire to make you feel better or to help you, but, particularly the last few years when he found inner peace in his faithful practice of Christianity, something that he told me more than once last year, “I knew I should have come to my senses sooner. I feel like the prodigal son, but it is never too late for this. God loves me.”… yes, Rick, HE DOES!

“AND IF YOU PLAY GOLF, YOU ARE MY FRIEND” is the title of a Book by Harvey Penick, one of Rick’s favorite golf teachers.