In the late 80’s I was the Commander of the 12th Student Squadron at Randolph AFB, TX. One day I received a call from a friend of mine who had departed the Air Force. Joe was a broker in San Antonio and we had remained close friends. One of Joe’s classmates from UPT was the ‘horse holder” (aide de camp) for the Air Force Chief of Staff at the time.
Joe’s friend had told him that “the Boss” had given him the day off, and he wanted to play golf. So Joe called me to see if I could get a tee time for all of us. Well, okay…
I called out to the Club House and secured a tee time for us in early afternoon. Then Joe called back to see if I would make sure there were “executive clubs” available for his friend. Well, okay; as a Squadron Commander, I have nothing else to do than leap through my ass for a major who wants to play golf – with executive clubs! Let me get right on that.
When we all met at the course later the day, there was this new, ‘spiffy’ set of executive clubs awaiting ‘the crown prince.’ After we loaded up, we headed out to the first tee. That’s where the fun began!
‘His Excellency’ took the driver out of the bag of Executive Clubs and began to take his practice swings – and about fell on his ass! He knew something was wrong, but he couldn’t quite figure out what it was. I knew… Left-handed golf clubs will screw up a “righty” every time!
Would I have done that had I known this guy was to go on to become a 4-star (general)? Oh, hell yes…