Pledge and Invocation
The altitudinous Michael Kimball led us all in the pledge of allegiance on this beautiful sunny Wednesday.The pietistical Father Michael Mahoney gave us an invocation worthy of golf enthusiasts everywhere, and there were a few in the audience today. He asked us to continue to stand on that tee not knowing where that ball is going to take courage and keep trying. An analogy for life, Father Mike.
Guests and Visting Rotarians
The inimitable Pierre Bouquet was super pleased to introduce his guest for today, non-other than our guest speaker John Abendroth. Pierre also had invited his longtime golfing friend Dwayne Stephens. Fritz Bauner asked us to say hello to Mr. Pete Wanger (he keeps showing up and we love to have him). Ms. Liz Mayta was visiting us from San Mateo Rotary. Liz is a local CPA who lives in Burlingame but whose business is in San Mateo. She is a bookkeeper and is working on her Rotary badge. Welcome, Liz.
Announcements
Bill Tiedeman reminded us that our raffle tickets for Rotary Foundation are due now. Heard from our table immediately after Bill's announcement from a Ms. O (whose name will not be mentioned) 'I put them somewhere and now I can't find them' - Bill assured us that he has more if anyone has lost them. How did he know?The ubiquitous Cary Koh appeared at the mic to tell us that we are now ramped up for the 6th Annual Golf Tournament event on Monday, October 2nd. We have 110 golfers signed up - well done Golf Committee!!! He reminded us that breakfast is at 10 AM and Tee time is at 11:30 AM and they will be using the 'scramble' format - sounds like a hoot!
Cary also wanted to let us know that breakfast is courtesy of our very own Stan Moore and Doug Winnett. A big round of applause and thank you was had for Stan and Doug.
Fun Guy/Gal
Fritz Brauner thought we could do with a little fun today and brought back that ever-popular '2 truths and a lie' game. A volunteer stepped up, it was our own Nancy Bush who told us to find the lie in the following 3 statements:1. Even though George Bush was my husband's second cousin, in 1992 I took a job as one of a dozen senior staff members on Ross Perot's first (and last) Presidential campaign. It was a closely guarded secret that Mr. Perot wore leopard bedroom slippers when he was in his office. I didn't end up voting for him
2. When I was 5 years old I ended up on top of an elephant riding through the streets of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. I have no idea how I got there! By the way, it wasn't at a circus.
3. When I was 49, after months of training with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, I completed a marathon in Hawaii in a record 8 hours and 20 minutes, by crawling across the finish line amidst a cheering crowd! WOW... Number 1 was a lie...who knew. Thanks, Fritz and Nancy for that bit of nonsense. Could not find a photo of Nancy crawling to the finish line so her face will have to do.
Program
After a tortuous - I mean tremendous introduction from Pierre Bouquet today's speaker John Abendroth stood up to address us golf club in hand. John told us how Pierre had been his printer when he owned the Indoor Golf Center in San Mateo and they had become great friends. He then went on to tell us about his numerous holes-in-one. He achieved those amazing feats of golf notoriety when he played in the qualifiers at the PGA in Windsor, CA and at the Olympic Club. He also told us that when he made a hole-in-one playing with Father Mike Mahoney as a witness he was told by the Jewish organization where the round was played - that particular witness held no sway! John spoke about the mass closings of golf courses around the US and locally due to the water shortages and cost. He has devoted his career to encouraging youth and started an organization for kids called 'Youth on Course' where kids paid $5 to play and the organization picked up the rest of the cost. He lamented the fact that kids today are not as interested in golf as video games and technology hold their attention more and more. He is, however, encouraged by the younger players coming up like Zander Schauffele who was born in La Jolla, California to a German/French naturalized immigrant father and a Taiwanese/Japanese naturalized immigrant mother. Also, Rickie Fowler an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He was the number one ranked amateur golfer in the world for 37 weeks in 2007 and 2008 and he sponsored a kind of Golf 'Little League' to encourage younger players. John reminded us that the Safeway Open begins next week and October is the start of the 2018 season. There are also Tours coming up in Napa, CA, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai China and Las Vegas. Truly an International sport and for the top 75 players in the world it's a nice life as they move around the world with their entourage of trainers, psychologists, coaches etc., After answering some great questions from the floor John gave us a tip for buying equipment - take the 2-year-old clubs as they are often better and cheaper than the newer ones. John completed his lively talk by awarding Pierre Bouquet a golf hat for best question of the day.
Final Reminder...
Mike gave us a visual of Stan Moore waking up at the crack of dawn to pick up all the sandwiches and drinks and walking barefoot, in the snow, to the Peninsula Golf and Country Club to deliver the goods for the golfers. But seriously folks be there and if you can volunteer to help and let's make our 6th Annual Golf Tournament and Dinner Event on Monday, October 2nd the best event ever!!!!