Thank you, Frank, that was a very enjoyable read! You did a nice job with that one.

Back in '83, I was going to electronics school at a small base there, Cory Station Naval Technical Training Center. Actually all five services send folks there for crypto and electronic warfare training.

Anyway, a bunch of us volunteered to park cars, a few because we loved golf, most because it meant a week off from duty. It was a sweet gig; just flag the cars in, and once the patrons were done arriving, we had the rest of the day to join the gallery.

After a little over a year in the panhandle, I received a duty assignment to Mayport Naval Station, just east of Jacksonville, half hour up the road from Sawgrass. I volunteered at the TPC Stadium Course for three years, working the par 3 8th hole with largely the same group the whole time.

That was a little more hardcore than Pensacola. I had to take a weeks vacation each time, buy my own uniform ($60 TPC golf shirt plus khaki shorts), and work four hour shifts. The upside was free admittance for the remainder of the day, and best of all, a free round after the TPC ended.

We always met as a group (everyone who worked the 8th) to play our round. Only once did I break 40 on either side - I was about a 7 handicap back then. Only time I hit the green on 17, three putted.

Fun times.