100% COTTEN
5/6/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 6, 2000
by Stan Cotten
The ACC media made their annual trip to Banner Elk and Grandfather Mountain a few days back for fun, fellowship and golf. Mostly golf. Bad golf. I guess that's not really true. After all, in my opinion, there is no such thing as bad golf.
The event is staged on a Sunday-Tuesday stretch in late April every season and has been for decades. Monday morning is the first organized tournament which is hosted by the Grandfather Golf and Country Club, which is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the top five courses I've ever played. The mountain scenery is breathtaking. It takes the sting out of the really bad shots.
I always like to get to a course early when I get to play in a tournament. I try to soak it all in. I like to hit range balls at a leisurely pace, putt for about fifteen minutes, then sit in the cart and scan the scorecard to see what it is I'm about to get myself into.
When you get to Grandfather early in April, you'd better have donned your thermals before leaving the hotel. It can get quite chilly on the mountain. There's often a frost delay if you try to get started before nine o'clock. Tee off was set for 8:30 this year, but it was about 9:00 when we actually got started. Frost. But it was not as cold as the last time I played at Grandfather when hail and ice greeted us on our drive in.
I got to the course about 7:45 so I could go through my pre-tournament ritual. There weren't many people there yet. Only a few cars in the parking lot. I got all checked in and headed for the range. As I made my way to the practice tee I saw a well-wrapped figure by himself hitting irons into the brisk, mountain air.
The first thing I noted about this man as I got a little closer was that he was a left-handed golfer. I noticed because there aren't many of us around. More these days it seems than in years past. We've even got Phil Mickelson to cheer for. As I got a little closer, I knew who it was.
The legend. Wake Forest Hall of Fame golf coach Jesse Haddock. Still bangin' balls after all these years. I wonder how many he's hit in his time? Better than that, I wonder how many balls he's seen launched from the tee by other players? Players with names like Strange and Wadkins. I'll have to ask him the next time I see him.
As I walked up I said hello. I can't remember exactly what I said, but he responded as he always does, with a smile and a handshake and something positive.
I bet he's always the first one on the practice tee. I bet his players were, too. Maybe that's why his teams were so good and his Deacon program produced some of the finest golfers in the world.
Hard work, a positive attitude and first on the tee. That's Coach Haddock in a nutshell.
I remember the first time I met Coach Haddock in person. As a golf nut, I had known of him and his impact on the game for some time. Shortly after I was hired by Ben Sutton at ISP Sports to be Wake Forest's radio play-by-play announcer, I drove down from Huntington, West Virginia, before officially starting the job to meet with Ben to go over some things before I started work. We met at Linville Country Club up in the mountains just down the road from Grandfather Mountain. Part of the day would be a round of golf with two of Ben's friends. One of them was Jesse Haddock.
I felt a bit in awe at first. But Jesse has a way of making everybody feel comfortable. When I found out he played golf left-handed I liked him even more. He and I would ride together and team up as partners in our afternoon match with Team Sutton. The match came down to the last hole, and Coach Haddock dropped a tricky 15-foot downhill putt to win the match for the good guys. Coach didn't play as much as he had in years past, and I'm sure his game wasn't as sharp as in previous years. But when it came time to call the hogs, he did. He was a winner, and, because he was my partner, so was I.
But I would have won that day even if we hadn't prevailed on the scorecard. I won because I met Jesse Haddock. It was several weeks after that when I saw him the next time. As soon as he saw me he called me by name. That impressed me. I'm awful at that. If you don't have a number on your back it takes me a few times. But not Jesse.
It's no wonder he recruited all those great junior players to continue their careers at Wake Forest. I know mamas liked him. And, as we all know, mamas are the key.
To me, Jesse seems to be the kind to bring out the best in people. Every time I see him he makes me smile and, for a time, forget what it was that was bothering me.
Legends are like that.
