| General Fiction posted January 30, 2023 | Chapters: |
...56 57 -58- 59... 
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The golf suit gets its debut
A chapter in the book Some Call It Luck
Some Call It Luck - Chapter 58
by Jim Wile
| Background A brilliant and beautiful but insecure, nerdy young woman befriends a going nowhere older alcoholic caddie. Together, they bring out the best in each other and collaborate on a startling new invention |
Recap: Dana Griffin (nee Padgett), who was Abby’s chief tormentor all through grade school, finds herself in Altoona, Pennsylvania. She is a good golfer and joins Kettle Creek Country Club soon after moving there. While practicing one day, she sees a young redheaded girl practicing as well who reminds her of a young Abby. She then reminisces about her relationship with Abby back then and how poorly she had treated her.
Dana is invited to have lunch and play golf with a woman she met on the practice tee. At lunch the next day, who should show up to have lunch and play in the foursome but Abby, who is also a member at Kettle Creek. It’s been 20 years since they’ve seen each other, and although they are cordial, they are also rather cool towards each other. Dana learns from the other ladies in the group how successful Abby is at her job and how good a golfer she is, having won the ladies club championship the previous year. Dana finds out that the young girl she saw practicing on the range is Abby’s daughter, Claire, who seems to be struggling with the game. She is having trouble learning the golf swing, which leads Abby to the idea of a new invention: a golf suit training aid that will swing for you to give you the proper feel of the swing. She tells Kenny about it, and they decide to invite E.J. and Eddie over for lunch and to bat the idea around. The team is onboard with the idea, and over the next few years the golf suit is created.
Dana Griffin
Three weeks later
July, 2004
July, 2004
I’ve been a little frustrated with my golf game lately. It began after watching Abby Payne play that round of golf a few weeks ago. She doesn’t hit the ball as far as I do, but has a beautifully consistent swing, and never seems to miss a fairway or many greens. She’s just an average putter, but her ball-striking is top-notch. It sure pointed out my lack of consistency, as I constantly fight a slice, though it’s not as bad as her daughter, Claire’s.
That is, until last week, when I saw Claire practicing again on the range. The sudden transformation of her swing was incredible. Just two weeks earlier she was hitting these weak fades and slices off to the right, and now she was hitting the ball either straight or with a beautiful little right-to-left draw. She no longer possessed that awkward-looking loop in her swing and was hitting the ball from the inside now instead of over the top.
She swung with abandon, with a look of joy on her face. I’ve never seen such an amazing turnaround in such a short period of time!
A peculiar thing though: Her outfit was rather strange for a warm summer day. She was wearing long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, even though the temperature was in the mid-80s. She also kept pulling at her sleeves and seemed to be straightening something under her clothes. I wondered what that was about.
As I continued with my struggles with the slice, I saw her again a few days later. She had on the same sort of outfit—long pants and shirt—and was hitting the ball just as far and straight as previously.
But the story gets “curiouser and curiouser.” I quit watching her after a while and went over to the chipping green to practice my short game. I practiced there for half an hour or so, then decided to go back to the range and hit a few more iron shots to finish up for the day.
When I got back, Claire was still there, but now she was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. I set up behind her back so she wouldn’t notice me watching her again. She concentrates on her swing so hard that I don’t think she’s ever noticed me watching her.
She wasn’t swinging quite as fluidly as earlier and hit a few bad shots mixed in with the good ones. Her tempo wasn’t quite the same on each shot as it had been a half hour before. She was hitting the ball noticeably better than a few weeks earlier, but it just wasn’t quite as consistent as when she had all those long clothes on.
Something was definitely up, and I had to find out what. She finished up soon and headed for the clubhouse, eventually making her way to the locker room. I surreptitiously followed her in. There were a few other ladies in there as well, so she didn’t pay any particular attention to me.
I watched her as she opened up her locker. Inside the locker, hanging from a hook, there appeared to be a long, tan, one-piece garment, somewhat resembling an old-fashioned swimsuit from the early 20th century. Claire then stripped off her clothes to take a shower. She was modest and quickly covered her body with a long bath towel before heading into the shower stalls.
In the meantime, the locker room had cleared out, and it was just me. The attendant was nowhere to be seen. I quickly crossed to Claire’s locker and removed the garment from the hook. It was surprisingly heavy and nubby all over, and I could see little wires sewn into the fabric—a very strange-looking garment, indeed. I quickly stuffed it in a carry bag that I had gotten from my own locker.
I would examine this thing in detail later when I got home. I had a strong feeling that this is what was responsible for Claire’s sudden turnaround.
Abby Payne
Later that afternoon
July, 2004
July, 2004
After work I stopped by Kettle Creek to pick up Claire. She was taking her role as the guinea pig seriously, and has been practicing religiously with the suit. Her swing looks great when she’s wearing the suit, and her ball-striking has improved markedly.
I’ve been encouraging her to start her practice sessions with the suit on, but then to remove it after a while and see how she does without it. She has tried this a few times now, and her swing has definitely improved, though she’s not as consistent as when she’s wearing the suit. I told her that it takes time to retrain the brain and the body to perform new motions and to be patient, but of course she expected to have instant success. Ah, the impatience of youth!
When I arrived at the club and she got in the car, I could immediately tell something was off. “What’s the matter, sweetie? Didn’t it go too well on the range today?”
She didn’t answer and just looked down.
“Claire, what’s wrong?”
She burst into tears then and said between sobs, “Mom, I lost the suit.”
“WHAAAT? What do you mean you lost it?” I hollered.
Among the sobs, she managed to get out, “I didn’t mean to. I went into the locker room to change out of it after I used it for a while, and I thought I hung it up in the locker, but when I came back, it wasn’t there. I looked all over for it but couldn’t find it.”
“Did you lock the locker after you put it in there?”
She hesitated for a moment. “No,” she confessed in a small voice. “I guess I forgot to.”
“Oh, Claire! How could you?” I was really peeved at her because I’d told her many times that she needed to lock it up whenever she was not wearing it. “Alright, I’m going to park this car, and we’re going to go back in there and look again!”
We got out of the car, and I took her by the arm and marched her right back inside. We searched all over and couldn’t find it anywhere. We even looked inside some trash cans in the locker room and clubhouse.
When we got back to the car, I just put my head down on the steering wheel and let out a loud groan. She tried to tell me she was sorry, but I put up a finger to shush her. That suit cost thousands of dollars and hours to create. To make another one will set us way behind schedule.
After a minute or so of thinking through the ramifications of this, I turned to her and asked, “Was there anyone in the locker room who might have seen you when you removed the suit?”
“I don’t know… maybe. There were a few ladies in there, but I didn’t notice anyone watching me. I just don’t know.”
“Claire, I know you didn’t lose it on purpose, but I’ve told you several times not to forget to lock it up if you aren’t using it.”
“I know, Mom. I’m really, really sorry. Will you be able to make another one?”
“Yes, I can make another one. All the plans are written down and stored in the computer. And I’m not worried about someone stealing the idea from me, because I have a patent on it. But there are thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of work tied up in that suit. It’s a prototype and still needs a lot of tweaking before we can consider trying to manufacture and market it. Now I’ve got to make another one to experiment on. That sets us way back in our budget and schedule. And I’ve got to break the bad news to Dad, and Uncle Eddie, and E.J.”
“Mom, I’m just so sorry.”
“I know you are, sweetie,” I said in a kinder tone. “I think you’re going to have to pay a price, though, for your carelessness. Dad and I will discuss it at home tonight.”
We drove the rest of the way home in silence.
(6 more chapters to go)
Abby Payne: She is intelligent and beautiful, yet shy and awkward with most people her age, having been picked on quite a lot while growing up. She worked at the snack bar and as a waitress at Brentwood Country Club during the summers where she met both E.J. and Kenny, who is a member at Brentwood and became her boyfriend and eventually her husband.
E.J. Budrowski: 18 years older than Abby, he is an alcoholic with a traumatic past (an abusive father and a mother driven to suicide) who is a caddie at Brentwood CC. One day he finds a dirty old golf ball on the edge of a pond that seems to have unusual powers, for he makes two holes-in-one with it. He and Abby become friends when she encourages him to take up both golf and bridge again after long layoffs. He finally quits drinking and returns to college at age 40 and earns a degree in computer science. Eventually he becomes a professor of computer science.
Dana Griffin (nee Padgett): Grew up with Abby back in Butler. She is a bully and teased Abby unmercifully all the way through school. Coincidentally, 20 years later, she finds herself living in Altoona, where Abby lives, and joins the same country club as Abby.
Kenny Payne: Abby met him briefly at a frat party in her senior year and was intrigued by him, then she sees him again when he walks up to the snack bar several months later. He is a mechanical engineer and is tall, good looking, and an all-around nice guy. After less than a year of courtship, he marries Abby.
Eddie Phillips: A young member at Brentwood known for his extremely good putting and ability to hustle his opponents. Eddie is friends with Abby and beats Kenny in the club championship with a miracle shot. He and Kenny become best friends after that.
Claire Payne: Abby and Kenny's 12-year-old daughter. Her inability to improve at golf was the inspiration for the invention of the golf suit.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. E.J. Budrowski: 18 years older than Abby, he is an alcoholic with a traumatic past (an abusive father and a mother driven to suicide) who is a caddie at Brentwood CC. One day he finds a dirty old golf ball on the edge of a pond that seems to have unusual powers, for he makes two holes-in-one with it. He and Abby become friends when she encourages him to take up both golf and bridge again after long layoffs. He finally quits drinking and returns to college at age 40 and earns a degree in computer science. Eventually he becomes a professor of computer science.
Dana Griffin (nee Padgett): Grew up with Abby back in Butler. She is a bully and teased Abby unmercifully all the way through school. Coincidentally, 20 years later, she finds herself living in Altoona, where Abby lives, and joins the same country club as Abby.
Kenny Payne: Abby met him briefly at a frat party in her senior year and was intrigued by him, then she sees him again when he walks up to the snack bar several months later. He is a mechanical engineer and is tall, good looking, and an all-around nice guy. After less than a year of courtship, he marries Abby.
Eddie Phillips: A young member at Brentwood known for his extremely good putting and ability to hustle his opponents. Eddie is friends with Abby and beats Kenny in the club championship with a miracle shot. He and Kenny become best friends after that.
Claire Payne: Abby and Kenny's 12-year-old daughter. Her inability to improve at golf was the inspiration for the invention of the golf suit.
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