The Sand Trap (55 page)

Melanie looked at Burt and both of them
laughed as they simultaneously thought about the fights they had,
with each other and others, over the past six months.

“I think I can handle the testing of my
“special” talents as you call them.”

“And we wanted to see if you could still
play before we exposed ourselves, so to speak.”

They all waited while Melanie just stood
there, arms crossed, a sullen angry look on her face as she scanned
each of their eyes. After an uncomfortable moment of silence she
settled her glare on Rebecca.

“And can I still play?”

This time Coach intervened with a snort.
“Melanie, your game looks better than ever. As you might have
noticed, you were starting to draw a crowd, not because you were a
woman but because of your shot making. We were surprised the press
hadn’t found you and even more surprised you hadn’t figured out
something earlier. You might have noticed you were the only caddie
who was playing? But regardless, you can still play Melanie.”

“What happens to you Burt? How do you
explain ‘us’ to the press? What if we end up in the same draw?”

“I’ve withdrawn Melanie. For a number of
reasons. The most important one is that I now know I am simply not
good enough. I entered into this event under false circumstances
and while the real Burt might have had a chance, the real me does
not. I would be embarrassed.”

Melanie looked over at Coach and Rebecca as
Burt referred to his ‘real’ self.

“It’s OK Melanie,” Coach offered. “Burt
explained he was in a witness protection program from Canada. We’re
OK with that and don’t need to know any more.”

“And that’s the second reason Melanie,” Burt
continued. “As some colleagues pointed out to me a few weeks or so
ago, my new identity would not hold up to press scrutiny if I was
to actually make the tour. Someone would be sure to emerge from
Burt’s old life and make things a little dodgy for me. So even
though I’m sure I wouldn’t make it anywhere in this thing, it is
just wise to back out.”

“But the same thing will happen to me Burt.
I won’t even have to win to be a media sensation. I’ll have to
explain the last thirty years.”

“Not really,” Rebecca offered. “You have
escaped the world for over thirty years, but you haven’t done
anything illegal or even extraordinary or press worthy. All you
have to say is that you have not been in the golf world for a
while. Travelling. Living abroad. You can even say you have worked
as a gardener for large estates in Mexico. The press will only care
about your golf now not where you have been.” She paused. “But it
does mean you are stepping back into your life Melanie. That is the
only decision you have to make. Are you ready to step back into the
life of Melanie McDougal? And regardless of golf, you need to know
we won’t ever let you leave our world again.”

Burt stood up and walked over to her. “I’m
sorry to have kept this from you Melanie, but I had to wait until
Rebecca and Horace were here to help explain things. By the way,
you haven’t noticed it, but Helen and Bob have been in your
entourage as well and your Dad is on his way down to watch.
Everyone in the world who loves you will be here to welcome you
back to the world of Melanie McDougal.”

Melanie started to sob quietly and went into
his arms. In a moment they were all laughing and crying. Melanie
gave Burt a brief kiss and turned to Rebecca who was standing as
well with a tentative grin on her face.

“Can I do this Rebecca?”

Rebecca reached over and took both of her
hands. They looked at each other through tear-clouded eyes.

“Let’s go bust their balls girl!”

(Back to Table of Contents)

EPILOGUE

Wikipedia entry:" The Folly."

“
The “Folly” is the nickname for a golf
course located near Bumstead, Saskatchewan, a small farming
community 80 kilometers north west of Regina, the capital of the
province of Saskatchewan, Canada. The registered name of the golf
course is the North Saskatchewan Golf and Country Club. It was
founded and built by a farmer, Dougal McDougal (1921-2012), in the
late 60s as a nine-hole course and was expanded to eighteen holes
in 1990. The course is unique in both its layout and its design.
The regulation length course layout stretches along two sides of
the North Saskatchewan River and at one point players must cross a
bridge between the two sides of the river. The course provides
sensational views over the Canadian prairies and the river.

It was both the effort of the builder and
the design of the course that gave it the nickname the “Folly”.
McDougal did not play golf and knew nothing about golf course
design and apparently built the course in his spare farming time on
a whim as a distraction after his wife left him. As a result the
holes represent the ultimate “target” golf, with no real fairways,
just tee boxes, small landing areas in the middle of wheat or
barley fields. He was a good farmer so he took more care with the
greens than the rest of the course and they were carpet perfect,
annoyingly undulating and well protected with berms and sand traps.
In order to keep golfers from going into his fields to look for the
inevitable errant ball he provided a bucket of balls on every tee
box and landing area. This practice continues today and the green
fee includes access to all the balls you want to hit at every hole.
It is rumoured that Moe Norman once played the course in the early
sixties when he went to Saskatchewan and won the Saskatchewan Open
and the story is he had so much fun he laughed his way around the
course. More recent pros have verified that a good sense of humour
is needed to play the course. Dougal McDougal passed away in 2013
and the course is now run by his daughter Melanie and her partner
Burt Van Royan. He is a certified CPGA golf instructor. In 2013 she
became the only woman to ever qualify for the Champions Tour in the
U.S. ending up fourth in the qualifying tournament in La Quinta
California in May, 2013. She had four top ten finishes in the
2013/14 season and has qualified for the 2014/15 season although
she has indicated she will not be joining the tour, instead
focusing upon teaching with her partner Van Royan. Together they
travel the world giving free golf lessons and demonstrations to
young people who would otherwise not be able to give the game of
golf a try. Their other ‘home’ teaching course is the Puertos Los
Barilles course in San Jose Del Cabo where they have brought
disadvantaged children from all parts of Mexico for an introduction
to the game of golf.”

The screen door slammed behind Burt as he
returned from getting the mail from the box at the end of the
driveway. As he walked into the kitchen he shuffled through the
pile of letters and flyers and was halfway into the pile, throwing
most of it into the growing pile of junk mail by the kitchen door
when he came to a brown manila envelope. He put the rest of the
mail aside and stared at it. They had been back at the Folly for a
couple of years now and life was good. The course was being well
managed by a team that Melanie’s Dad had put together in his last
years, so they had been free in their first year to follow her
career on the Champions Tour. Rebecca had a good year, but after a
sabbatical spent as Melanie’s caddy, she had gone back to her
research and teaching at Harvard and to her husband, children and
grandchildren. Melanie just did not want to compete anymore. Golf
was a wonderful part of her life but she hadn’t found the deep
satisfaction from simply playing again that she had hoped for.
Perhaps most of all, after so many years living a lost life, she
just wanted to be home at the Folly with Burt. Money wasn’t a
problem. The land Maria left to Melanie and the others had been
sold to developers for over $10 million. Burt seemed to have an
unlimited source of funds from an overseas account somewhere.

Melanie had retained the old casita in the
deal. So together they had established a golf school at the “Folly”
and, with Doug’s help, one at Puertos Los Barillas. Neither school
had anything to do with tourists, neither the Saskatchewan type nor
the Mexican type, but rather both schools were free and focused
upon young people who would not normally have the opportunity to
learn the game. In Mexico the school was for the children of
Mexicans who worked at the Cabo golf courses or on construction
around the courses. In Saskatchewan the school was for children
from the farm communities. They had decided they would spend the
winters in San Jose and the summers at the Folly. “Not a bad life
for a retired university VP,” Burt often thought to himself. They
were able to keep in shape after he and Melanie had built a small
gym in an old out-building on the farm where they practiced their
martial arts together. At their ages it was getting harder and
harder to stay in top shape, but it was even more important that
they keep trying. Burt's arthritis was becoming an increasing
burden. They had also put together a little golf show to entertain
the children and their parents where they did things like hit balls
off the top of pop bottles, hit balls backwards and hit fades and
draws at targets designed like clowns with large open mouths. In
one part of the show Burt lies down and puts a tee in his mouth and
Melanie hits shots from the tee. Melanie was very talented at these
games and seemed to like them better than actually playing matches.
She would challenge any golfers in the crowd to games involving
driving accuracy and other shooting challenges. She often made the
famous Moe Norman challenge that she could hit a post two hundred
yards away with her driver before anyone could sink a forty-foot
putt. There was always some arrogant male golfer in the crowd who
she relished embarrassing.

But best of all, they hadn’t heard from the
Agency since they had been dropped off by the boat in San
Carlos.

Until today.

The manila envelope had only a return
address, written in what Burt recognized was Richard’s handwriting
“The Hotel California.”

“Melanie,” Burt called as he ripped the top
off the envelope. “You’d better come in here.”

Melanie was wiping her hands as she came
over to the kitchen table and he dumped the contents of the
envelope on the table.

It contained four items.

Note To The Reader

For advice with your golf game email Melinda
at [email protected]

or twitter at @melindagolf

Thank you for choosing to read The Sand
Trap. I sincerely hope you were entertained! Whatever your
experience with this book, you could entertain me in return with
your feedback. It is only through learning about the experiences of
readers like yourselves that I can improve my efforts at story
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