Bagger Vance moment

Most people didn't see The Legend of Bagger Vance but in the film there was a moment when Will Smith, the spiritual guru caddy, was telling Matt Damon, the young wannabe professional golfer, how to focus on the task at hand....which happened to be the art of visualizing an important shot on the golf course.

In the film everything disappeared in Matt Damon's sight except the green, and the Flag where the ball was suppose to end up.

EVERYTHING DISAPPEARED......except the target. And Matt successfully completed the task at hand and put the ball exactly where it was intended to go.

Tuesday while I was playing golf with my Dad Bill, who is now 90, and his best friend, I had a Bagger Vance moment.

It was surreal and it was real.

It was the best shot I've ever hit on a golf course and I've been banging that little ball all over the place since I was 12.....and I really do bang it all over the place. But Tuesday I had a moment that will forever make it ok for me to continue to play the game, no matter how high my scores might be.....and yes sometimes they are higher than the night I saw the Rolling Stones at the Forum and the roof came off and we started flying through space....and the girl next to me turned into an extremely large peanut.

That was a great night......and on Tuesday there was a great moment.

15th hole.....par 5. My drive took a right hand leaning turn into the trees about 200 yards down the course. When I found my ball behind a tree I realized that I only had about a 6 foot hole in which to play in order to avoid the two trees in front of me.....and I would have to slice the ball around the trees to put it back into the fairway. I thought about moving the ball a few feet to the right, which would have given me a slightly larger opening, but since I don't cheat on the course I realized that thought wasn't going to materialize into action.

There's no point in cheating on a golf course because the only person you cheat is yourself.....and every time you cheat yourself you slice a small piece of your soul into oblivion.

I'm really trying to keep my soul as fully intact as possible.

So instead of moving the ball, I grabbed my three wood and turned to look at the small gap between the trees.

I focused on the opening and took a deep breath and suddenly

EVERYTHING DISAPPEARED......

......except for the opening. The trees went away, the fairway went away and I calmly turned to the ball, took a deep breath, looked up at the magical hole one more time and then looked back down at the ball and took a perfect swing.

I knew it was a perfect swing because I finished high and made great contact and my balance was impeccable.

The ball went through the opening and slowly started rising and turning toward the fairway and after 230 yards ended up dead center, about 60 yards from the green.

My dad's friend, whose name is also Bill, said right after I hit the ball...."that was incredible."

He was exactly right. It was incredible, and there's a very good chance that it will never happen again. Oh yeah, I'll drill another three wood from in the trees, but I'll never have another hallucination where everything disappears except for my objective.

It was a once in a lifetime moment.....I think.

I ended up three putting for a bogey 6 and then decided to remind my father,as we walked off the green, about the shot when he stopped me and said...."it's only about the score and you screwed up that hole by getting a bogey."

That was a Marine Corps reality moment.........but it made me think........and

my answer was exact and precise....."tonight when I get in bed and put my book down and turn out the lights, I will close my eyes and I will remember the moment that everything disappeared and I hammered the ball through the magical hole that was created and ended up hitting the best three wood of my life."

"YOU BOGEYED THE HOLE.....END OF STORY.....BAD HOLE......TOUGH LUCK....FORGET ABOUT IT".........said Staff Sargeant William Anthony McAlevey, 90 years young and still cantankerous as ever.

Just to let you know how things work out........sometimes.

Last night as I was getting ready to fall asleep......I finished reading my book, turned out the lights and the BaggerVance moment completely played in my frontal cortex. I hammered the ball through the hole and realized that I might never forget what happened at that precise second on the 15th hole during the early afternoon of March 9, 2010.

On the other hand I can't even remember three putting that green and the bogey is forever gone from my mind........sorta.

I know there will be no bogey's tonight when I get ready to hit the sack......just a magical moment that keeps hanging around the course of my mind.

One thing I know for sure.......it's not about the score.....it's about the moment.....unless of course you are a composer and then it's all about the score.

Thank God I'm just a simple duffer.

Michael Timothy McAlevey