Perspective from the 19^th Hole 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 my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), 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.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

These days, with too much time on my hands in retirement, my thoughts went to bad names of players that, if had the name, I’d have to change it.

This came to mind in two contexts.

First, I often serve as a starter for Oregon Golf Association (OGA) junior tournaments where I announce names of players before they tee off.

Second, I was a lobbyist in Oregon for about 25 years and, in that form, came into contact with loads of client names.

Three examples:

• A young man named Hudson Hackwell now plays on the junior circuit in Oregon.  In some ways, it’s not bad name, but I suspect he gets kidding a lot about this phrase – “go on and hack well as you play.”

• In my days as a starter, I had to prepare myself to mention this young player’s name, Oren Shank.  If he didn’t embrace his name, he couldn’t play the game because all his golfing friends know what the word “shank” means.  It is a word you don’t utter on the golf course for fear of coming down with the problem, much like Kevin Costner did as he played Roy McAvoy in the movie Tin Cup.

• Speaking of the word shank, I also had a client in business with the name, Gary Shank.  Needless to say, I never played golf with him.

In conclusion, I thought of the professional golfer, Jason Dufner.  His name comes close to another bad golfing word – duffer.  And, lately, he has played like one – a duffer.