I guess I have always wanted to play golf. When I look back at my youth it began at a small 9 hole sand greens course in Kimball, NE. My family relocated to Kimball in late summer of 1958 when I was 11 years old. In he fall I began the sixth grade in the Kimball public school system. 

 I don't remember the first time I found my way to the golf course, but the memories I have of it are golden. I seemed a magical place where I could enjoy the outdoors and engage in something very challenging and fun.

By the 7th or 8th grade the school provided kids like me who expressed an interest, a set of clubs, consisting of a 2 wood, a 5 iron, and a putter. These three clubs carried in our hands sans a golf bag were like gifts from heaven. The golf course, while not catering to the youth of the day, allowed us to play when there was nothing else going on at the course.

There was no instruction and very little attention paid to us young devotees.

Even though I had a paper route, carrying the Denver Post and/or the Rocky Mountain News, I became aware of the opportunity to pick up extra money on the weekends by caddying for the local gentry. I received $1 for 9 holes of humping their golf bag around this course. Sometimes I received $2 if I carried double for two gents. There might have even been a 25 cent tip occasionally. My own game never received any attention or improvement for quite some time. But it was the start of a lifetime pursuit of the game I came to know and love.