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Regina
and ended up at the Bumstead Hotel where my mom worked as a
waitress. Mom and Dad were pretty poor before Dad got Grandpa's
trust so when they were first married I guess Mom needed to work. I
don’t remember much since I was only four years old, but I’m told
that this guy got real drunk and started hitting golf balls down
the middle of Main Street. My Mom dragged him back into the Hotel
before the Mounties came and then they ran off together. So my Dad
hates golfers.”
    “But why did he build the course?”
    “Well, if you’ll excuse the language, as my
Dad would say, to piss of every golfer who ever thinks he can play
the game. He went to the Regina public library and studied pictures
of golf courses all over the world and then built the hardest
course he could come up with simply to piss off and embarrass
golfers.”
    “Well it certainly did that for me,” Bob
admitted.
    “Yup. Except, as you have learned, the
problem is, it just might be too difficult, or at least too
unusual. I remember we had some pros come in the early years to try
it out and most left shaking their head and never came back. The
RCGA would never certify it as a real golf course. So now it is
mostly locals and tourists and the odd city hacker who come for the
scenery as much as the golf.”
    “Didn’t you learn anything about golf from
any of these pros?” Helen suggested.
    “Nah, not many of them had any interest in a
skinny kid. Except Moe. He helped me.”
    Bob immediately perked up “Moe who?”
    “I don’t remember his last name. Dad met the
Moe guy when he chased my mother down to Regina to that golf
tournament the pro was looking for. He was the only guy at the
tournament who would talk to Dad and they became sort of friends I
guess. Moe lived in his car and Dad said he didn’t eat very well so
Dad bought him dinner and Moe listened to dad’s story. But that was
1963 and I was very little, so this is all hearsay for me. Dad will
never talk about it.”
    “Yes...Ok, but what did you mean when you
said “all except Moe?”
    “Well, I guess it was there at that
tournament when Dad thought up the idea for his revenge golf
course. Moe told me later that Dad drank way too much Canadian Club
and Dad announced he would build this course. And Moe announced
that he would come and try the course when it was built.”
    Melanie continued to silently clean their
clubs.
    “What happened?” Bob urgently prompted.
    “Moe won the tournament. Dad built the
course. When it was done four years later Moe came and visited for
a week. Even though I was only eight years old, I played with him
every day,” Melanie replied in a curt fashion, suggesting the story
time was over. And she walked towards their car with their clubs on
each shoulder, done with the story and finished for the day with
them.
    Bob was not finished however and started to
ask another question, but Helen pulled him back.
    “Enough, Bob. She’s told us more than I
think she has told anyone for a long time. Let’s leave it there for
another day.”
    So Bob left Melanie with a generous tip and
they drove away. But, for Melanie the story was far from over. Bob
Philips – and soon Clapshorn – had “discovered” Melanie
McDougal.
     

     
     
     
     
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Part 1 - Chapter 3: Melanie Makes the
Team

     
    “Ok. Let’s go,” Rebecca announced. “Coach
says it’s fine.” People around Clapshorn just called him Coach and
most of the players did not even know he had a name. “We can meet
the team there. But he says that you have to drive.”
    It was well known that Rebecca was a terror
on every drivable road within a hundred miles of Clapshorn College.
She had more speeding tickets in her "Beemer" than the whole
student body combined, as well as three accidents, all minor
fortunately, and one DUI. While the erratic driving quirks were
mostly tolerated by Coach, the college officials and her parents,
the DUI was not and she had received a