Member-guest news (part two): men at the outer limits of fashion

By David Owen

The day after the member-guest, Addison and I realized that we were still golf-deprived, so we went out at five in the afternoon for a Two-Hour Eighteen (TM). I played pretty well but felt like a chopper because Addison made five birdies on the front nine alone, even though he was tired from the weekend and from hitting a couple of hundred range balls that morning while getting fitted for new clubs. We had to play through one pair of slowpokes but were otherwise unimpeded, and we finished our round, walking, in just under two hours. Among the topics we discussed was the stuff other people had worn during the member-guest. Some highlights:

Tony and his son, Timo, looked either like members of the Italian Tour de France team or like busboys at Sbarro:

The main issue, possibly, was their socks:

Ferris and his sons -- Matt, Dr. Mike, and Adam -- always dress alike, even though they play in two different flights. This year, no plus-fours or hockey uniforms:

Tim and his son Nick, possibly for strategic reasons, usually dress almost alike but not quite:

Les's regular partner, Duncan, is from England:

Nick P.'s company embroiders stuff on clothes, so he made shirts for himself and his partner:

Reese (Addison's father, right) and Lance (Addison's uncle) wore shorts from (I think) Loudmouth Golf, but they took some grief for wearing them two days in a row:

Mike A. (right) and his brother-in-law, another Dave, are football fans:

On Sunday, Rob was one of several players who wore the green FootJoy golf shirt we'd all been given when we registered:

In the photo below, Jaws is rubbing Rob's head for good luck. (Jaws is called Jaws because when he was a baby he wouldn't stop talking; Rob is called Catbird for reasons I don't fully understand.) Before the member-guest began, I ran into Rob's mother in front of the grocery store, and she told me that she hoped he would behave. He did!

The best-dressed pair, as always, was Fritz (right, in the photo below) and Klinger. They do their member-guest shopping at T. J. Maxx and Kohl's, and if either or both of those companies would offer us a volume discount the Sunday Morning Group would probably make them official suppliers. Klinger is getting married, in Mexico, in October. He is perhaps slightly heavier than he was when he proposed, but I think it's wise to establish a comfortable baseline -- something I should have done before my own wedding, 70 pounds ago:

My brother, John, and I wore the same thing -- khakis and seersucker shirts -- to the stag dinner, on Friday night, but that was an accident. The explanation, according to John, is that we both "work from a limited palate," and he said that it would be interesting to keep track of what we wear on days when we're not together, to see how often we coincide. On Saturday, he dressed almost exactly as I had dressed on Friday (white shirt, reddish shorts), but that was an accident, too. We've talked about wearing the same things on purpose, but I'm not sure that's a good idea. For at least the past six or seven years, no identically-dressed team has won the member-guest shootout -- although he and I did win last year while wearing the same hat. And no one has ever qualified for the putting-contest final with feet that look like these (name withheld):