May 7, 2021 - Growing up in deep East Texas during the late 1940s did not allow me to learn much about the sport of golf, or “cow pasture pool” as it was known around these parts. There were no golf courses around the area and no one in my immediate family played golf, so the game was foreign to me until the year 1950. I met a man who introduced me to golf clubs and balls. He was a well-dressed gentleman who owned an insurance agency in town. His name was Bill Polley.
After school one would generally find me hanging around the county courthouse since my father, Cecil, was the county clerk. I would occasionally visit my mother’s beauty shop, The Quality Beauty Shop, in downtown. So, I was rather easy to find. One afternoon Mr. Polley approached me with a proposal. He said that he would pay me to shag golf balls for him for an hour or so at the football field.
Bill Polley was born in 1906, the same year as my father, but he left us rather early in life in 1971, due to leukemia. He was a snappy dresser, always wearing a neat suit with a bow tie. He usually purchased his nice suit, shirt, ties, and shoes at a men’s store in Longview, no where else. His “Clark Gable” mustache accentuated his dark hair. He was a boxer while in the military and sported an ear that had been somewhat disfigured from repeated blows from the gloved hands of his opponents.
I readily accepted his proposal, grabbing my baseball glove, and getting into his car. At the football field, he stood at one goal line and directed me to the opposing goal, being one hundred yards away. The first golf ball came at me on the fly and I threw up my gloved hand and caught it. Wow, did that sting my hand! I never knew that those little balls were so hard. After a few more of those, I decided it best to allow the balls to roll at a stop and protect my hand. After fifteen or so balls had been collected at my end, I would throw them back to Mr. Polley to hit again. I did not realize that he was practicing his swing by teeing off. After an hour of this practice, he gave me a crisp one dollar bill and drove me back to town. That dollar bill was like a hundred dollar bill to me today.
Mr. Polley called upon me to shag golf balls for him several more times. I enjoyed it as it allowed me to practice my catching and throwing skills in preparation for high school baseball.
Bill Polley owned an insurance agency along with Mrs. Young, located in an old service station on the corner of Main and Harrison in downtown. The old building was once a Cities Service station operated by Archie Stewart for a number of years. Edward Clark eventually purchased the building and land and built the new First National Bank on the location. Mr. Polley built a new brick building on Columbia Street which is now occupied by another insurance agency.
Shortly after my experiences with Mr. Polley, a new golf course was built east of town, Fairway Farms, and he did not have to drive over to Lufkin to play golf any longer. As a consequence, I lost my job shaggin’ golf balls at the football field. This ended my early experience with the game of golf. For some reason I never desired to play after I reached adulthood. Now, I am just too old.
