Some athletic moments are hard to relate to, like clearing the bar in a pole vault or nailing a triple axel. Others hit home.
The other day, Bates golfer Will Phillips ’25 of Portland, Ore., blasted out from the woods during a practice round at Martindale Country Club in Auburn, the Bates home course for most of the last 100 years.
“Anyone know where it went?” he asks, emerging from the woods. “In the fairway; you’re fine,” answers teammate Freddie Curtis ’25 of Harvard, Mass. The ball is indeed in the fairway, but well behind Phillips, having ricocheted backward off a tree. “Hey, I only said it was in the fairway!” says Curtis, grinning at his joke.
College golf is a beautiful thing, which this quip-filled mic’d up video captures — walking a course on a beautiful fall day in Maine with teammates who are also friends, needling and laughing with each other while working to improve one’s game. (Phillips rides a cart this day to help out the videographer.)
Phillips watches lefthander Charlie Weinman ’27 of Rye, N.Y., crush a tee shot. Golfers enjoy watching a smooth swing, the way a car enthusiast gazes at a 1957 Chevy Bel Air gliding by.
But here, Phillips can’t resist chirping at the sophomore. “I hate watching lefties swing. It just doesn’t look right,” he says, adding with a wry aside: “But that’s no reflection on their character.”
The practice match ends in a tie between the teams, Phillips and Curtis vs. Weinman and Sean Resnick ’28 of Walpole, Mass.
The last zinger belongs to Phillips, who announces “that’s a damn shame” even before an opponent’s putt slides by the hole.
The foursome doff caps, shake hands, and says “good match” all around. Then, they drove back to campus for dinner, studying, and hanging out, the end of another great day to be a Bobcat.
