Andy the Caddy
By Eileen Zilvetti  

Finally after playing golf for about eight years, I guess my Dad thought that I had earned the privilege of having a caddy. 

My dad was a great golfer and everyone wanted to play with him.  Of course the caddies wanted to carry his bag because they would bet among themselves and say “I am going to win.”  My Dad would win the round and his caddy would be happy.   When I started to use a caddy, they all wanted to carry my bag.  I became very popular with them. I liked them all but, Andy was my caddy.

I was fifteen when Andy became my caddy.  I remember being on the second hole a long narrow par five with thick rough banks on both sides of the fairway from tee to green. I had an errant drive that burroughed half way into the bank.  As I headed toward this dreaded bank, I saw my caddy walking along the bank barefooted with my ball between his toes moving it along the edge of the fairway and then suddenly letting it slip out of his toes slightly into the fairway!  I was shocked.  “Please, Andy” I said “do not do that with my ball.”  He never did that again. 

He was a good golfer and gave me a lot of moral support and I trusted him.  He won a lot a bets when he carried my bag. He became the caddy master. I became an avid golfer.

Shoeless Golf
By Eileen Zilvetti    

I lived my childhood days in Panama on the Pacific side of the Canal Zone.  The country despite its rainy season is beautiful.  Panama has two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season.  It rains nine months of the year and the rest it is dry. The climate is about the same all year round.  In the mountainous areas it is cooler.  

Most of Panama is hot, but a pleasant breeze that comes off the bay makes it comfortable. Most of the time, I would run around outside with shorts and no shoes. I would get hot or dirty and then I would grab the hose and cool off. The heat and rain attribute to the abundant growth of so many nutritional foods.  I grew up eating mangos and avocados right from the trees in my back yard.  They were delicious.  Again, I would grab the hose after making a mess from the ripe, juicy, drippy mangoes.

I started golf at the age of seven.  I would play outside my house that backed up to the ninth hole on the course.  I would watch the men and ladies tee off to the short par three.  Even though I was able to learn golf from watching and mimicking the golfers; my Dad, an accomplished golfer, would give me tips. 

I played in the hot days from sunrise to sunset. Being used to playing and riding bikes outside without shoes, I decided not to wear them playing golf.  Of course as I grew older I did wear golf shoes until the day I got so upset at my game that I took off my golf shoes and threw them in the ocean. I begged my caddy not to retrieve them because I was going back to playing without golf shoes.