Part One-Casual golf

By John Ryan

I write this column with mixed emotions, on one hand I feel sad and heavy hearted because my best friend and favorite golf buddy, Jim Cahill, passed away in June 2005 with ALS.  On the other hand, I have never played golf with anyone who entertained me more on the golf course than Jimmy did.
If you've ever been around when I tell these Jimmy Cahill stories, especially after a few refreshments, you'll know it's hard to have a dry eye.  He was that funny. In fact I could probably write a book on the great times Jimmy and I have had on and off the golf course.  This column will be about our casual golf experiences and next week's will be about our tournament golf adventures together.
I'll try to keep these stories as brief as possible and believe me that's hard to do.  Here goes.
Back in 1977 Jimmy and I both joined the Highland Golf Course.  We were two lefthanded teenagers trying to take the local golf scene by storm.  We wanted to be recognized as two of the top players around.  At one point in our careers we did accomplish that.  Jimmy won six tournaments, aced three of the four par three's at the Brockville Country Club.  He also tied the course record there with a round of 66, a year before he was diagnosed with ALS.  I, on the other hand, have won 16 tournaments and two professional events not to mention tons of top five finishes.
Before we reached that status, we embarked on a journey and what a great journey it was.  There was alot of hard work put into our games but there was also alot of fun on the way as well.
First of all when we started, Jimmy and I hit some pretty big slices off the tee, infact it got so bad we were struggling to keep golf balls in our bag.  So one Saturday evening we had this bright idea that we will go up to the Highland Golf Course and rake the creeks and ponds for golf balls.  It was brilliant.  We set out with our gym bags, good thing because the haul on this moon lit night was huge.  Jimmy and I raked in about 80 balls each.  And if you know Jimmy, he got a little too greedy on this night and it cost him dearly.  While riding our bikes home on Stewart Blvd. by the Brockville Shopping Centre around 11pm, something happened.  As the cars were passing us by, I noticed a few golf balls rolling down the street and within seconds Jimmy's gym bag split at the seam and his entire haul was rolling down Stewart Blvd.
Then there was the Titleist DT incident.  We skipped school this one fine morning and decided we're going golfing.  Jimmy felt the progress in his game warranted the purchasing of a brand new ball, a Titleist DT.  He went into the pro shop and spent $2.25 for this ball.  We headed over to the old 10th hole at the Highland which used to have a pond about 20 yards in front of the tee box. Yeah you guessed it, he topped that brand new ball right into the pond.  Well Jimmy isn't losing no $2.25 ball in no pond, no sir ree.  He went into that pond, plugged his nose and down he went, the railway conductor's hat he was wearing was floating a top of this slimy green pond.  About 20 seconds later and some 20 feet from where his hat was floating, he resurfaced with that brand new Titleist DT in hand.  He was covered in green slime, that didn't bother Jimmy as he snagged another 20 balls or so.
Next week I will talk more about Jimmy including being paired with him in a tournament round.  I was always giddy playing with him in a tournament because you just never knew what he would come out with next.