Joseph takes on the PGA Tour

Last week, the PGA Tour was in town for the Buick Invitational. Joseph wanted to study up on the competition and the course setup, so last Monday afternoon we took a quick trip to Torrey Pines to watch some of the pros during their practice rounds.

Watching approach shots

Checking out the length of the rough

Joseph loved being out there, and we ended up spending several hours exploring the course.

One of the highlights of the day came when Joseph befriended a caddy somewhere along the 10th fairway. Although Joseph's vocabulary is limited, and often impractical, it paid off this particular instance when Joseph--in an attempt to describe what he had just seen in his immediate surroundings--told the caddy, "Golf ball!"

The caddy was so amused with him that he opened up the bag and gave Joseph not one, but two golf balls. Joseph's eyes lit up. He clutched the balls to his chest and kept repeating "Golf ball! Golf ball!" Throughout the day, he stayed protective of his new treasures.


I think Joseph also tried to get a club or two, but I caused him to retreat before he got too demanding.

Needless to say, Joseph and I are now on the Casey Wittenberg bandwagon. We were pretty bummed when he missed the cut, but we'll be pulling for him (and his caddy) in future tournaments.

While wandering around Torrey Pines, we also found some other interesting sights at the course including:

Rocks

Air Planes

Cart Paths

After seeing some impressive shots from the pros, Joseph felt inspired to demonstrate some of his skills as well with some "woods" he found lying around the course.


Unfortunately, Joseph got a little overzealous with one of his swings and snapped his first club in half. He tried to work some kind of repair, but there was no undoing that one.


Undeterred, Joseph kept on playing:



Ultimately, we found a replacement for his broken club, and Joseph continued to happily swing away at his new golf ball.


Now, at this point I need to make a disclaimer. I am NOT (nor will I ever be) one of those dads. You know the kind I mean: the ones who try to re-live their dreams through their children and take all the fun out of childhood by forcing their kids to pursue a sport obsessively.

For example, this week I saw a parent watching her roughly five-year-old son receive a formal golf lesson. Later, I overheard a father carrying Snoopy golf clubs ask a golf shop if they could cut the clubs--the Snoopy golf clubs--to a custom length for his one-year-and-three-month-old son (who was, quote, "very good").

Joseph likes to chase golf balls around, and he likes running around on grass, so the way I see it I'm just living up to that "I've got the World's Greatest Dad" t-shirt I bought for Joseph last year.

Now, maybe you think that taking your one-and-a-half-year-old to a PGA practice round is just step one down that slippery slope, but seriously, if I liked hiking (which I do, incidentally) and I had taken Joseph to wander around a forest or a national park for the afternoon would we really be having this conversation?

Bottom line: I like golf, but that doesn't mean I'm going to try to mold my child into becoming the next Tiger Woods. (As an aside, people also often ask me and Erin if we think our kids will all grow up to be lawyers. Answer: I don't like being a lawyer, so I hope not).

With that out of the way, I can't even begin to describe to you how much I love watching these videos:

This one makes me laugh, because you can see him imitate what he's seen other golfers do:

Did I happen to mention that Casey Wittenberg's caddy is also his father?