A Tribute To Another King

Another King

It’s now time to offer tribute to another King, i.e., the King of Rock ‘n Roll, Elvis Presley.  Elvis, of course, was a legendary performer in the fifties and sixties before his untimely death on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42.   While Arnie is golf’s King, Elvis is an American pop culture icon known round the world.   His name is worth billions 35 years after his death.  Presley’s official website claims that globally, he has sold over one billion records, more than any other artist.  If that is true, it is a staggering number.  There is even a religion based on the King. (Google the Presleyite Disciples; the First Church of Jesus Christ, Elvis; or just Saint Elvis Presley Religion, and you will be amazed at what you find, you old hound dog.)  Spiritual appearances and revelations by Elvis’s followers and fans aside, I have always believed that Elvis was brought from another planet and thus was not of this earth. Whenever culture takes a quantum leap, it has to be an alien visitor, e.g., William Shakespeare, Babe Ruth, Elvis, The Beatles (four at once!) , and there are others.

Love Me Tender, Always

          However, the King died (reputedly on the throne – oh, the irony) at a relatively early age.  He died at his home in Graceland, and remains there in eternal repose in the yard today.  There will be no discussion of the size of the King’s colon at his death here, since that topic has been beaten to death on the Internet. And while Las Vegas was his base of operations during his heyday in the years leading up to his death, not Memphis, by all accounts his excesses did not include gambling (in the traditional sense).   However, his other excesses have been well-chronicled, and most likely contributed to his untimely demise, if the stories about his life in the wake of his death are to be believed. 

As long as we are on the topic of Elvis and excess (clumsy segue I admit), no scholarly tome on golf would be complete without addressing the one aspect of golf that helps to make it the great game that it is, i.e., gambling.  There are almost as many ways to gamble on a golf course as there are, well, golf courses.  (The number of courses in the United States at the current time, (public, private, semi-private and resort)  according to Internet sources, is nearly 17,000. 

Unfortunately, for most golfers, that means there are as many ways to lose money on a golf course as there are minutes in the day.  That means pressure.  Lee Trevino perhaps captured it best by saying that you don't know what pressure is until you've played for $5 a hole with only $2 in your pocket. He obviously didn't lose too many matches like that growing up in Texas before hitting the big time as one of the game's greats.  Not all of us are so blessed however.  And like anything else, you don't want to get in too far over your head, as the following attests.  By the way, The King has left the golf course.

     

Despite all the resources available on the Internet, I have been so far unable to locate
a golf reference story involving the King.   If you have any golf stories involving 
The Pelvis, please forward them with due haste. 

SUSPICIOUS NINES

(Words and music by Mark James (Francis Zambon);

Sony/ATV Songs LLC, Publishers)

(The songwriter, Mark James, not Elvis, did the very first recording of the song in 1968 on the Scepter Label)

I'm caught in a trap; I can't chip out

Because I gambled too much baby

Wait 'til you see what they will do to me

When I go and tell them I can't pay

I can't go on a-playin' these suspicious nines

These low-down and betrayin' suspicious nines

In the rough and the trees, dribbled shots from the tees

I've found every hazard in this pasture

There I go again, put down another ten

I'm losin' more than I made last year

I can't go on a-playin' these suspicious nines

These low-down and betrayin' suspicious nines

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...

                                                     

AMDG


Copyright R.E. Kelly 2012 - 2021