PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon, as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

If you need more indication that I have too much time on my hands in retirement – and/or the coronavirus pandemic — here’s another one.

As I walked around my golf course the other day here in Salem, Oregon – glad I was still able to do so — I had enough time to think about some of my favorite golf phrases over the years.

Better, I say, to think about stuff like that than to focus on all of the information, plus misinformation, we get on the pandemic. It would be possible to drown in the information if we let ourselves do so.

Here’s my list:

First, how about these two from highly-paid golf commentators on TV?

• If he hit harder, it would have gone farther. [Comment: Oh, really, I didn’t know that.]
• He has a lot of work left. [Comment: As if having a five-foot putt constitutes real work.]

Second, how about this one I have often uttered in light of huge endorsement deals golf companies cut with top players?

• Callaway pays Phil Mickelson to play its golf equipment while I pay Callaway to do so.

Third, how about this one — I also came up with it —  to indicate how much better at golf my son is than I am?  [By the way, the fact that this is true is one of the highlights of my life. The first time my son beat me he was 12 years old – or what is 11? At the time, that result irritated me greatly – you know how fathers and sons are. All of the other times – and let me say that it has been “all of the other times” — I am very proud of him…for his golf, for his life, and for his family.]

• I taught my son all I know about golf and then he turned five.

During the current pandemic, we are fortunate in Oregon to have golf as an outlet – as long we live within both the spirit and the letter of the various rules and executive orders that have been in place, as well as our own actions.

Let me add that the course where I play in Salem – Illahe Hills Golf and Country Club – has done a superlative job of keeping the course open for the benefit of those who need just a bit respite from “stay at home” orders. There are a number of restrictions governing golf and all of them make eminent sense.

It is a tribute to the management and staff at the Club – as well as the volunteer Board of Directors – that they have risen to the current challenge.