The Golfer and the Pixie

 The Golfer and the Pixie

Mike Belmont stood at the edge of the field and drilled one golf ball after another. They went straight and long. He worked up a good sweat and was thrilled with the morning effort until he drilled the last one in the small clump of trees way to the left.

He checked his watch and realized that he had to get going. So he trudged out to the field and started to collect the golf balls. He had turned around and was coming back when the guy remembered the one in the woods.

So he went into the woods and looked all over for the ball but couldn’t find it.  A little frustrated, he kicked an old log.

“Hey, what do you think you are doing?” A pixie popped out armed with a club.

“Who said that?”

Mike was taken aback.

“I did. Now, don’t move because the enemy is near.”

“The enemy is near?”

“Shhh, I can hear it. There it is.”

The squirrel bounced up and the little pixie was ready for a battle.  Mike shook his golf club and scared the critter away.

“That was a great move, laddie.”

Balzer was very excited.  

Mike looked at him.

“What are you?”

Balzer looked at him and shook his head.  

“I am a pixie or a brownie in some circles.”

“Okay, and what are you doing here?”

“I live here in the woods. It is my home and you are intruding.”

“I see. I was hitting golf balls and one went in here.”

“Yes, I heard hit my home and bounced away.”

Balzer looked around and then quickly retrieved it.

“Thanks. You ever play golf?”

“Play golf? Laddie, my people invented it. I am of proud Scottish heritage.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I assume that you play?”

“I am an amateur. I could have been on the PGA tour, but…

Balzer nodded his head.

“Perhaps, you need some professional coaching?”

“Do you know anyone?”

Balzer just shook his head.

“Okay, so you aren’t a firestorm in the brain department.  Let me see your swing.”

Mike walked out of the woods and teed the ball. Then he took a couple of practice swings.

“Anytime this millennium would do fine boy.”

Mike gave him a dirty look and then swung.  The ball hooked to the right.

“Your stance is all wrong boy.”

“My stance is not wrong. You were rushing me and my name is Mike, not boy.”

“Fair enough, Mick, take another swing.”

So Mike took a number of swings and some of the shots went straight, while others were all over the place.

“I can fix your problem.”

“It will have to wait for another day because I have to go to work. I am sorry I never caught your name.”

“The name is Balzer.”

“Nice meeting you Balzer.”

“Yes, good luck with your swing, Mick.”

II

It was a week later and Mike was out hitting golf balls in the open field. He took another swing and sliced it.

“You’re gonna slice them all day long when you hit like that, Mike.”

Mike jumped a little.  

“You again.”

“Yes, me again.”

“I would love to watch, but I have to get ready for a tournament.”

“Of course, a tournament.”

Mike turned and kept hitting balls.

“So when and where is this tournament?”

“I am playing this Saturday at the One Stroke Golf Course.”

“Good luck to you mate.”

III

It was Saturday morning and Mike was ready to tee off. His arch rival Tom Morse coughed loudly.

Mike ignored him and hit a decent shot.

“Not bad for an amateur,” chortled Tom.

“I don’t see you on the PGA tour.”

They glared at each other with neither one dropping their eyes. Eventually, Mike walked away and didn’t say anything else.

Tom’s shot went much further than Mike’s.

He smirked towards Mike who completely ignored him.

They were tied and Tom had a very easy putt. It was one he had made many times. The confident, obnoxious and egotistical golfer showboated and then touched the ball that was going straight for the hole when it seemed to hit something and went wide.  

Mike smirked and couldn’t believe it. He was stuck back and had to make the chip of his life. He took his practice swings and then smacked the ball. It arced through the air and then landed on the green and seemed to have eyes.  It went straight for the hole and plopped in.

Mike had a one stroke lead.

One hole after another, Mike outshot his nemesis and increased the lead. Suddenly, everyone started to follow his every shot.

On the next hole, Mike hit a shot that went wildly left. Tom laughed.  

Mike shrugged his shoulders and went to find his ball.  

He was looking in the tall grass and found the ball.

There was an official watching and smiled.

Mike hit the ball and it bounced off a tree and onto the green.

His lead was about to evaporate very quickly as Tom had managed to reach the green in two shots. Mike was already on his third and nowhere near the green.

He moved on and hit a towering shot from the fairway that bounced onto the green and dropped into the hole. It was an incredible hit. The crowd went a little crazy.

Mike jumped up and was a little out of a control.

The success continued until the eighteen hole. He was declared the winner by a large margin and laughed at Tom and the rest of the gang. It had been a long, long time since he had won a tournament.

In high school, Mike Belmont was a shoe-in for golf scholarship.  He and Tom went to the same high school. The latter was jealous and one day, he ‘accidentally,’ hit Mike breaking his right arm.  Although, he made it look like an accident, everyone knew that it wasn’t. The scholarship offers dried up because he could not regain the touch he once possessed.

After the win, Mike went home to his wife and kids. She was so happy and exited for him that she took the out for pizza and beer.  

“I could be a professional golfer.”

His wife, Pamela smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

“I believe you can do it.”

He smiled at her like a lion.

He started to win one amateur tournament after another with incredible shots that he had never been able to do before.  It was like his clubs were magical suddenly. He garnered much attention and soon the PGA tour officials were sniffing around.

After reeling off fifteen wins in a row and garnering headlines all over the country and around the globe, he was invited to a PGA tournament.  

“I can do this, I can do this,” he chanted for weeks before the event.

IV

The event was a total disaster.  He couldn’t hit the ball straight and his chipping and putting was a disaster.  There had been so much hype, so much anticipating and excitement.

The dream ended before it really had a chance to start.

V

A week later, he was hitting balls in the field. One of them landed in the forest.  

He took a walk and went into the forest and saw Balzer sitting on the tree stump.

“Hello, Mick, how are you?”

“I am good, I guess,” Mike was very despondent.

“What seems to be the trouble Mick?”

“Well, the past three months I climbed the highest mountain ever only to go falling down with no safety harness.”

“Not sure if I follow you.”

“I started to hit the ball the way you told me and it was great. I won one tournament after another and was invited to play in a real PGA tournament.”

“Was it fun, Mick?”

“Yes, it was, it was a great ride.”

“You see, I didn’t explain everything to you.  That day when you scared away that nasty squirrel, I was forced to do something nice for you. That is the code of the pixie. I could tell that you wanted to be great at the game of golf, but that you lacked the talent. So I followed you in every place you played and helped you along.”

“What do you mean you helped me along?”

Suddenly, Balzer disappeared.

“Hey where did you go?”

The pixie appeared behind Mike.

“I’m right here, Mick.”

Mike turned around.

“How did you do that?”

“It’s an old family secret.”

“This is how I made all those great shots.”

“That’s right. But, at this PGA tournament you were on your own.”

“That is a real dirty trick.”

“No, Mick, it is the way it works. I paid off my debt and was done.”

“I will pay you and give you anything you want if you can do what you did for me before.”

“Sorry, I can’t do that Mick.”

“What if I scare that squirrel away?”

“Sorry, Mick it was just a one time trick.”

And he disappeared.  

Mike shrugged his shoulders and walked away.  He looked out across the field and envisioned it was the Masters and he had just won the prestigious tournament by the biggest margin in history.

But, then the roar of the crowd and the fantasy disappeared.

He picked up the last ball and trudged back to the car.