Sunday, October 5, 2008

Flint Postcards: Flint Golf Club


Sadly, this postcard doesn't include the caddy shack, where I spent too many summer days lolling around and waiting for the chance to lug a golf bag around for one of the Flint elite in exchange for very little money and, typically, lousy tips. But I will give a belated shout out to Jerry Spickler (I may be getting the name wrong after all these years), who I remember as a smart, funny guy who also happened to be a generous tipper.

6 comments:

  1. Does Flint still have an elite that putters around the FGC links? I'd assume that most of the high falutin' golf set would have migrated south.

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  2. Caddies and cart boys/girls never forget the golfers they 'work' for. I can still remember the generous tippers. I can still remember the old farts who would flash a fifty dollar bill and tell us they would come back with change.....and never come back until the next time they golfed....kids never forget!

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  3. I did some time in the FGC caddy shack too. I think I was the only Caddy with a yardage chart, which was my secret to getting out most days, but I do recall that big tippers were rare, but the cool golfers would buy you a snack at the half-way house.

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  4. One problem with the halfway house was that, if I remember correctly, number 9 was particularly tough, so the golfers were often cranky after that hole. But you would have to be a real cheapskate not to spring for a drink at the halfway house. That was part of the deal. My favorite was chocolate milk and vernors, which, now that I think about it, was probably not the best thing to drink on a really hot day when you'd been sweating a lot. But it sure tasted good.

    And I used to count off the yards between markers to be extra accurate. Never did me much good at tip time.

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  5. i also did some time in the shack during the summer if the falkland islands invasion. good times in old flint...

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  6. lol my kids like to have a cream-ale to this day.....

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.