The King...

The King

Uff a meg... If your a golfer and visiting me today please take a few minutes and remember the one and only Mr. Palmer. The King. The man who brought golf to the masses more or less alone. He was a pioneer of golf in so many ways and as the picture above shows forever...was too cool for school. 

Love was his strongest attribute. Really it was. 

I'm from Portland, Oregon and Mr. Palmer played the Fred Meyer Challenge every year, Peter Jacobsens tournament. He was there everytime. One time my father bought tickets to a dinner they were having after the first day and I got to go. Wow. I actually got o rub elbows with him, shake his hand and thank him, I was 19 and was in awe. All the great ones were there but he was the best. 

The best. 

I am not afraid to admit it - rather proud - I've cried tears for the man today - Every tear is respect. 

I love you Mr. Palmer!

Have you ever....?

Always, like an absolute positive. It's gonna happen at some point and you, or me, will be asking the question....have you ever...and the stories that follow those three words are as unique as each one of us and that, will always be so.  Each of us, every person has to fill in the blanks and somehow make heads or tails of the answers. Sometimes the answers will be in accordance with times, while other answers can really make a person wonder about life, the people we meet and the small details of it all that one can almost chalk up to fate. Hmmm. I don't know.  A person can never get away from asking the question from time to time. Have you ever...

I had a friend in the states that was down on his luck, was actually homeless at the time I met him, he was living a few hundred yards from Disney World in a tent city. My friend, who I'll call D was actually living from hand to mouth and was dependent on handouts to survive. I for one never would have thought it when I first met him at a Mac'ern. Nothing could have prepaired me for what was going to happen to us and our friendship during the following 5 or so weeks. Seeing and living that life in a way was a learning experience that I thought I actually would not have enjoyed and I guess at the time I didn't enjoy a lot about it but without a doubt it was an experience that changed me forever, Have you ever lived hand to mouth and slept out under the stars because you had to? Or was it a free choice to put yourself there? Was it a learning experience that continues on to this day? Have you ever leaned something the hard way? Many many have and it's normal,  Knowing how lucky one is might not be that easy for some and if one can't seem to judge the difference than things can and most often do run their course and one learns in the end anyway. Blabbering on here I know.

Have you ever...the weird thing is, I have not talked to D in a long while now, and while writing this post he got in touch with me on the road back to Orlando from Texas. Weird or not? In my life I have experienced a lot of those kinds of things and it just proves to me how much we are interconnected with each other and espescially the people we  l o v e.

Love has to be that one all powerful 'thing' it just has to be... have you ever felt that way?

Have you ever... 

Free Balls....Again

Free Balls.....Again.

Free balls, come and get it! Free balls!! This past friday at Aas Gaard Golfpark and Hakadal GK my son (who is now 9) and I were once again at the driving range giving away free balls to the 'lucky' golfers who seem to find their way to us on a friday evening. This paticular evening we had a grand total of 7 people that received balls between the times of 17 to 19. They were surprised to hear that no, they didn't have to pay for balls, that every friday from 17 to 19 there was free balls here at the golf club. The reaction is always the same, they are happy and the smiles are worth the evt wait. 

It makes me wonder how many people are aware of the offer and if not, why? I know that I have at least twice this season posted on the clubs website and on this blog. The days and times are clearly stated on the clubs website course page and of course I tell every private and group student I have. Free balls! PR and the like is important and it seems like we have to do something different. 

I know that where I come from, that if the local club was giving away balls every single friday for open public that the place would be packed from 17 to 19. The jungle telegraph would have taken care of the most. I just know it. Maybe people here have so much money that paying 5 dollars a bucket is not a big deal and that's just the way it might be. Strange for this golf professional anyway. Here you have a club that is willing to pay the owners who own the range to give away balls to the public and no one comes, no article in the paper...nothing. Weird,. 

I'll continue to show up every friday that I can. I think it's fun at least to see the happy surprised golfers that do get these Free Ball when the come on fridays. Sometimes people are quick to buy befiore they understand but that's life too... 

Have a good weekend all my followers and for those visiting for the first time. Welcome.

Kevin Michael

Head Golf Professional

Aas Gaard Golfpark and Hakadal GK

Face Value...

Face Value: 

We've all heard the phrase taking something or someone at face value.

Most of us who are english speakers by birth have used this expression from time to time and it makes me wonder, is it dangerous to take something or someone at face value and if so what are the risks involved? Is it possible to do this or is the idea outdated and maybe something the majority does not do anymore? It would be nice though, huh? To be able to do that from time to time without having to worry about it turning out to be something else. Would be nice but it's all to rare and for that,  I'll have to be honest and write it makes me sad and a little worried that the answers to my questions will be ones I do not like.

Here's what Websters says about it...

noun

t    the value printed or depicted on a coin, banknote, postage stamp, ticket, etc., 

"    touts offer tickets priced at many times their face value"

•   the apparent worth or implication of something.

    "her lie was unconvincing, but he took it at face value"

'To take something at face value means to believe what is being said without looking for deeper meanings or hidden agendas.'

I guess one could be tempted into saying that taking something or someone at face value is all about trust and not much else.  I for one am leaning twords this way of thinking and I can't seem to break away from the simple idea of it all. Taking something or someone at face value is all about trusting that thing or person without even considering that the inate value is not true. 

To be correct, I have to write that as a rule I have really tried to do this throughout my life, beleive in people and what they are showing me, be it a boat to buy or a possible freindship, taking people and the things they seem to represent at face value has kinda been an idea to live by for me but maybe that's all just bullshit. 

Maybe the world has changed right right before my eyes and I have not seen it, this idea of being able to take things at face value, to trust and believe in the things or people standing in front of you, that you've just seen or met for the very first time. Maybe it's over, maybe we all need to see the proof in the pudding so to say? To see the works before making any kind of value assestment? 

Maybe so, maybe not... like a whole lot of other things here in life.

You know, sitting here at my girlfriends house, with a headache that I've been nursing for days now because I'm stressed out. Why? Because life once again has showed me that yes, one can continue to take things and people at face value but that one then has to accept that people are hunan beings and because of that, well, life is the way it is, right? Things and the people that represent them are often exactly the way we think they are...and some are not. 

Dissapointment is part of life, guarding against it is pointless and finding a good way to deal with it is absolute the best way to learn to recognize the difference between the things and people that are taken at face value and those of which who are not. It's a choice. 

Me, you, the whole ball of wax has to make a choice. I know that for me, even before I started writing this knew, deep down, that trusting things or people is a personal choice based on the individuals life experiences and not much else. BUT that being said does not mean that people can't learn to try or maybe in full accept things at face value but I am completly aware that it's hard. 

To take something or someone at face value is to take a risk, a personal risk that might end up in one being hurt somehow, dissapointed in the result of his or her own choice to trust and beleive. I for one will continue to take things at face value - unless my 'spidey sensors' act up and by nothing else than life experience can see the non value in something right away - because when that happens, well, taking things at face value then is probably not happening what so ever....

Hope all my people are doing great and for those of you who are reading my stuff for the first time... welcome to my world, and yes, if you have not figured it out yet, I am someone you can take at face value. I've never been afraid to stand up for what I beleive is right and will always do so. 

Living my life as Kevin Michael Porn, with the last name and all that, well, there is only one Mr. Porn here in this little country and my name is really all I have, that plus my reputation and character...remember one's reputation is what others think about you, something you can do little or nothing about, but one's character is what you think about yourself and that is of course what's important in the long run...being true to yourself and the core values you have is one of the keys in building a good character. 

Thanks for clicking in... :-)

Best golfing regards,
Kevin Michael Porn
Head Golf Professional
Ass Gaard Golfpark & Hakadal Golfklubb