John Burkholder, MGA9 Publicity
In 1955 then Massachusetts junior senator, John F Kennedy, wrote Profiles in Courage, the inspiring true accounts of eight unsung heroic acts by American patriots at different junctures in our nation’s history. With that tome as our literary model, over the next two years MGA9 will publish, in these hallowed Pioneer Press pages, its own Profiles in Discouragement featuring selected, maybe even infamous, MGA9 members, each of whom has contributed to the growth, success, fun and many times discouraging and/or memorable moments here at the Ranch, all in spite of how discouraging golf is and can be, as we all so well know!
The first of these Profiles in Discouragement presented here visits Jack Zastrow, MGA9 Golf Championship 2015 Tournament Winner.
Nurtured in the heartland of America, South Dakota, Jack moved to RR Denton 14 ago, leaving behind homes in Yuma, AZ and Alexandria, MN. With that move Jack became the Ranch’s 106th homeowner and won his inaugural Ranch’s recognition as the “little house on the prairie,” being that his house was the first and only house on the north side of the golf course. Having taken up golf at the spry age of 40, Jack was convinced that Wildhorse Country Club was the place to hone his championship mettle. However, the real driving force behind Jack and wife Linda’s relocation to the Ranch was its closeness to family. Their son and daughter then and now live in the greater Dallas/Denton area.
Enjoying the good life at the Ranch, Jack aggressively pursues his two sport loves, golf and ping pong, eventually becoming champion at one (2015 MGA9 Golf Champion) and survivor at the other. Jack plays both three days a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday; golf in the morning, then off to the RR Fitness Center for a challenging afternoon tiff on the ping pong tables. Jack carries a reasonable 32 handicap from the gold tees in golf. There’s no telling what he carries on the Fitness Center’s ping pong tables. At least he wouldn’t say.
Asked to discuss his best golf experiences at the Ranch, Jack didn’t have to think long to reply. His most memorable game came the day AFTER his 2015 Championship Tournament win when he shot four strokes better than his tournament winning score! The sign of a true champion!
The second was the day he and Gary Sapp, another RR early member, were playing Wildhorse’s seventh hole; you know, the one where the green is next to a small, relatively unintimidating pond. Well Gary, doing his best imitation of Kevin Costner in Tin Cup hitting ball after ball in the water, proceeds to hit four, YES FOUR, straight balls into the water, much to the loud and raucous laughter of Jack and Gary himself!
So you be the judge of who the real Profile in Discouragement protagonist should be: Jack or Gary? Write and let us know what you think. We’ll include the results of this curious query in a future Profiles in Discouragement.