Last week I was forwarded a message from the Golf Digest inbox. The caller introduced himself as Jay Feely, an avid golfer and Golf Digest reader who also happens to be the kicker for the New York Jets. Feely explained he was going to liven up the otherwise skin-crawling experience of moving himself from Florida to New Jersey by turning it into a golf trip. He said he was involving his brothers and a family bet, and as they made their way up the coast, they would be stopping for three rounds of golf. Feely wanted to know if Golf Digest would be interested in printing his story and pictures of the courses he hit en route to the start of the football season. My short answer: of course. I called Feely back and told him I’ve been printing reader’s trip reports on my blog and that this might be the perfect outlet for his scores and anecdotes.
So here’s the first of four installments of Jay Feely’s diary:
How many times have you moved and had a good time? That's my goal this week as I depart Miami and move my family’s belongings to New Jersey for the season. That season would be the New York Jets football season. I am Jay Feely, kicker for the Jets, and training camp starts on Thursday morning, July 30th. My wife and I have been married 11 years and we’ve moved seven times. I'm not complaining, I’ve been lucky enough to play in the NFL for nine years, but it has necessitated a lot of moves.
This time I decided to make a golf trip out of the move. I roped my brother John into driving with me based on a promise of free golf and a free flight home. I’m leaving Monday, July 27th, driving to Orlando to pick John up, and stopping at Southern Dunes outside Orlando for one last hurrah with my two younger brothers: John and Ryan. We have an ongoing bet--they have three years to beat me head-to-head (either one of them) on any course and I have to pay for us all to go on a dream trip to Ireland. If they don’t beat me, they pick up the tab.
Three years is almost up and it hasn’t happened, although we had one very close call: all square headed into 18 with Ryan--he made a bogey and I made par. The rub for them is that I carry a 1-handicap and they are both about 14s. I gave them an extension until next June when we depart on our pilgrimage to our ancestor’s homeland. This week John gets three cracks at me on three very tough courses, Southern Dunes, Pinehurst No. 2 and Bayonne. Three awesome courses, one awesome move, and then right to my conditioning test Thursday morning for the Jets.
I’ll keep you posted on our rounds, stories, and if the U-Haul breaks down.
--Jay Feely
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