The Sad Tale Of Francesco Molinari And The Baby Elephant

On his tee shot opening his third round in the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last Saturday, Francesco Molinari hit the almost unthinkable shot for a tour professional, but something with which all of us regular duffers are familiar; he topped his drive. (The precise term for his shot apparently is that he “cold topped” his drive, using the terminology of the various golf commentators regarding his shot.)  According to Shotlink, Molinari’s tee shot traveled "70 yards to unknown". As noted in the report in Golfdigest.com, here “Impressively, he would go on to bogey the first hole.”

What jumped out at me, besides the obvious, were the media reports indicating that Molinari hit his second shot from just left of  the “forward tee box”.  Now, the public courses I play these days are starting to recommend that golfers use tee boxes that relate to their distance off the tee; gender no longer plays a primary role in the designation of tee boxes.  However, I am old enough to remember when the “forward tee box” was referred to strictly as “the ladies’ tees”, circumscribed as they were with red tee markers.  Doing a little research online, apparently that terminology has not yet disappeared from the golfing lexicon, despite general encouragement to drop the term and prioritize tee use based on driving capability regardless of a golfer's gender.

Also referring back to the dark ages, the ladies’ tees came into play for the opposite gender when a male golfer, before God and man, cold topped a tee shot, and the ground ball did not make it past the ladies’ tee. Calls for the “baby elephant” would erupt immediately. At that point, the shamed duffer was required to pull out the side pockets of his pants and also unzip his fly and expose the part of the anatomy lurking below the fly. Voila, the “baby elephant” was instantly transported from the savannas of Africa straight to the offending tee box. The shamed duffer was then required to walk the length of the hole with the ears and the “trunk” of the baby elephant on view for all to see.

Use Your Imagination

Sadly, Mr. Molinari is apparently not aware of this quaint American golfing custom, as video of the shot do not reveal any pachyderms strolling the fairway after Molinari's topper. I  suppose hitting his tee shot to “unknown” was mortifying enough for one day.

AMDG

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