Another Thanksgiving full of great food, family and peace-a welcome respite from the daily dose of the toxic air that exudes from seemingly every corner of our society.  There’s always the usual Dallas Cowboys victory and Detroit Lions loss offset by scrumptious helpings of turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie.  It’s the one day of the year that is devoid of commercial interruption with a peaceful anticipation that this will be the last day of true comfort as we head into the commercial reality of the Christmas season.

The peace and tranquility of Thanksgiving Day gives way to the resumption of commercial maniacal activities on Black Friday.   I have never been in a commercial establishment on Black Friday for the past 45 years.  It is our golf “Thanksgiving Day” as the tee time is secured weeks in advance.  Many venues have been experienced over the years with rounds at Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Spanish Bay.  In general, weather on the Monterey Peninsula is pretty good in late November, but I can remember one round at Spanish Bay in the pouring rain as two participants, including my son, quit on the 13th hole.  I had to finish the round and literally floated into the bar in survival mode.  My son has been the staple participant throughout the years, as he has played with me every year since he was a teenager.  We lived in the UK from 1990-1994 and as we even celebrated Thanksgiving there, the tradition continued albeit at Mannings Heath Golf Club in West Sussex.  It was a little weird in the UK wihout the Black Friday overhang.  A frequent visitor and mentor, Brian Shirley who lived in the UK, spent many a Black Friday with us in the US.

The Thanksgiving holiday evening was the beginning of the Black Friday golf quest.  The feast with family would be completed followed by dessert and a movie.  At this point the men would  leave for the drive to the Pebble Beach home for an early Black Friday tee time. The women would leave all of the dishes for the next day,  while the men would be exempt for the cleanup and spend Thanksgiving evening in Pebble Beach.  The women would be rewarded for the holiday cleanup and proceed to Pebble Beach for a day in Carmel and lunch at the Pebble Beach Club.  Many years we were able to secure early tee times to be able to join the women for lunch at the Pebble Beach Beach Club with its famous dessert of key lime pie.

Black Friday golf is a commitment to family, friends and tradition.  Originally its purpose was the repudiation of the blind commercial search for shopping bargains but is a reaffirmation of friendships through golf.  Venues and players have come and gone throughout the years, but the thought of playing golf on Black Friday is a must.  We are looking forward to getting grandson Adrian onto the course to join to have the complete generation.  Adrian is about a year away from the 18 hole golf course but we’ll take him to the Pebble Beach Par 3 Hay Course, which he is ready for

This year the once beloved Skins Game returned to television.  The Skins Game was held many years featuring the top players in the game for charity.  Over the years, the event lost interest, probably due to the menu of collegiate football games to entertain the usually frigid populations in most of the country.  This year, the Skins game returned to stimulate the golfing audience probably on the East Coast with kind of a polite revenge competition featuring Ryder Cup players to spice up the event.    We didn’t partake as the contestants just aren’t the same as the days of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson.  The current crop consisted of Keegan Bradley, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry.  While these players are outstanding players on the PGA Tour, they just don’t evoke the feeling of the original Skins with the aforementioned icons.  Bradley cleaned up the money pot evoking feelings that he should have played instead of getting skunked as the Ryder Cup captain.  For me, this version of the Skins Game is equivalent to embracing the Black Friday shopping mall-to be avoided.  It will be interesting to see if this version of the Skins Game survives the ratings game–I think I’d rather watch an Ivy League football game.