Martha and I paid for our kid’s college education. It wasn’t easy, but we managed to do it. Dan and Julie were only two years apart, so Julie went to the local community college for her first two years. This was a great help to us. She then transferred to Purdue University for her third and fourth year. This would mean she would graduate before Stacey would be off to college. This allowed us to only be paying the big dollars to a major institution for one each year.
Everything was going fine until Julies final semester. She called me on the phone and told me that she was going t be one credit shy of graduating. This was terrible news. I asked her what field of credit she was going to be short. She said it didn’t matter she just needed one more credit. I suggested she take a jock class.
She called back a few days later and said she was enrolled in advanced golf. I ask her what it was worth, and she said, “one credit”. I told her how happy I was and thrilled that she would graduate on time.
The class of advanced golf was filled with guys, most of who had played high school golf. Julie while being very athletic had maybe played golf three times in her entire life. She was the only girl in the class. During one of the early classes, Soupy Campbell the Purdue golf coach, who was teaching this course was going over club selection. He said when people get around the green, they have a problem selecting a short chip on club. Rhetorically he asked, “what do you think they do”? Julie blurted out, “they use a five iron”. Soupy admitted that it was right, but how did she know. She said her dad told her that years ago.
A few weeks later soupy stopped Julie on the course where they were playing. He asked her if she knew they graded on the curve in college. He told her to look around at her competition. She did and admitted that it didn’t look too good. He then pointed down to a green with three balls laying between three and four feet from the hole. He told her if she could sink all three in three putts, he would give her an A in the class.
She said she could do that, so he called the class in to watch. They formed a ring around the green. Julie dropped the first two with no problem. As she got over the third ball, she told me she really felt the pressure. Sweat was running out of her hands and down the shaft of the club. So, she made sure she really hit it. What happened I ask? she said it didn’t move.
Soupy came over and picked up the ball. It was attached to a six-inch nail and pushed into the ground. Everyone got a big laugh out of it. She callled me and ask if I thought the coach was mad at her. I told her he was just getting even for the five iron.
She got an A and graduated on time.
