J. Patrick Henry

        For those of you who follow golf and watch it on TV, the phrase, "inside the ropes" will have some meaning. For others?  Eh…not so much.
 
     But for me, it's about to become a reality.
 
    Being "inside the ropes" at a PGA event means that you're literally standing in the field of play, charged with crowd control, finding lost balls, and in every way possible, making it easier for the pros to play their game.
 
     You stand behind the players as they tee off, position yourself on the sides of the fairways to make sure that errant shots into the crowd are protected, or surround the green to insure that the crowd remains silent while the pros putt.
 
     (And I'll be the first to argue that this command of "silence, please!" as a golfer stands over a four-footer for par is overdone. Baseball players try to hit a round baseball coming at them at 100 MPH with a round piece of wood, and manage to do this even as the crowd goes wild.  But professional golfers, when the ball is just sitting there, begging to be hit. WTF?)
 
     As a member of the NYS Golf Association, I was offered a chance to volunteer as a Hole Marshal at this week's PGA Championship tournament in Rochester.  It was an offer I could not refuse.
 
     As a lifelong golf fan, I've often wondered what it would be like to stand right next to the greatest players in the world as they demonstrate, for the nth time, why I will never be nearly as good as they are on their very worst days.
 
     And now I have the chance to prove it.
 
      The only down side is that I'll also have to serve the 18 players who, like Phil Mickelson, held their noses and took the Saudi blood money because…well…because there was so MUCH of it. 
 
     Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus each turned down a billion dollars not to be a part of the charade that is the LIV tour.
 
     But I guess my price is quite a bit lower. 
 
     So…if you're a fan, and are planning to watch the PGA on CBS on Saturday afternoon look for the short, bearded guy in a bucket hat on hole #8 trying to keep the crowd at bay while a pro tries to win a tournament that could change his life (and, hopefully, it won't be one of those LIV sellouts).