Roy Exum: Buy Ping Golf Clubs

  • Sunday, May 24, 2015
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

As we set the charcoal, ice the drinks and prepare for Memorial Day, the first thing on my mind is to ask any golfers within my reach to consider buying and playing with Ping-brand golf clubs. Pings are made in America but there is a little something else you need to know, as told in an email I received earlier this week. I regret I do not know the author:

* * *

“On Monday, I played the Disney, Lake Buena Vista course. As usual, the starter matched me with three other players.

After a few holes we began to get to know each other a bit. One fellow was rather young and had his wife riding along in the golf cart with him. I noticed that his golf bag had his name on it and after closer inspection it also said "Wounded War Veterans".

“When I had my first chance to chat with him I asked him about the bag. His response was simply that it was a gift. I then asked if he was wounded and he said yes. When I asked more about his injury, his response was 'I'd rather not talk about it, sir.'

"Over a few holes I learned that he had spent the last 15 months in an Army rehabilitation hospital in San Antonio, Tex. His wife moved there to be with him and he was released from the hospital in September.

“He was a rather quiet fellow; however, he did say that he wanted to get good at golf. We had a nice round and, as we became a bit more familiar, I asked him about the brand new set of Ping woods and irons he was playing. Some looked like they had never been hit.

“His response was simple. He said that this round was the first full round he had played with these clubs.

“Later in the round he told me the following. As part of the discharge process from the rehabilitation hospital, Ping comes in and provides three days of golf instruction, followed by club fitting. Upon discharge from the hospital, Ping gives each of the discharged veterans, generally about 40 soldiers, a brand new set of custom-fitted clubs along with the impressive golf bags.

“The fellow I met was named Ben Woods and he looked me in the eye and said that being fitted for those clubs was one of the best things that ever happened to him and he was determined to learn to play golf well enough to deserve the gift Ping had given him. Ben is now out of the service, medically discharged just a month ago. He is as fine a young man as you would ever want to meet.”

NOTE: Ping does this quietly and would never advertise or exploit our Wounded Warriors. So it is up to me to tell any golfers I know to please consider Ping, which is a fabulous company based in Arizona.

* * *

SOME FASCINATING WORLD WAR II FACTS

1. The first German serviceman killed in WW II was killed by the Japanese (China, 1937). The first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland, 1940). The highest ranking American killed was Lt. Gen Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps.  

2. The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old: Calvin Graham, USN. He was wounded and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age.  His benefits were later restored by an act of Congress.  

3. At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command was called CINCUS (pronounced 'sink us'). The shoulder patch of the US Army's 45th Infantry division was the swastika. Hitler's private train was named 'Amerika.'  All three were soon changed for PR purposes.  

4. More US servicemen died in the Air Corps than the Marine Corps.  While completing the required 30 missions, an airman's chance of being killed was 71%.  

5. Generally speaking, there was no such thing as an average fighter pilot. You were either an ace or a target.  For instance, Japanese Ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes. He died while a passenger on a cargo plane.  

6. It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every fifth round with a tracer round to aid in aiming. This was a big mistake.  Tracers had different ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were hitting the target 80% of your rounds were missing.  Worse yet tracers instantly told your enemy he was under fire and from which direction.  Worst of all was the practice of loading a string of tracers at the end of the belt to tell you that you were out of ammo. This was definitely not something you wanted to tell the enemy. Units that stopped using tracers saw their success rate nearly double and their loss rate go down.  

7. When allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing men did was pee in it. This was pretty universal from the lowest private to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. Patton (who had himself photographed in the act).  

8. German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City, but they decided it wasn't worth the effort.  

9. German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.

10. Among the first 'Germans' captured at Normandy were several Koreans.  They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until they were captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German Army until they were captured by the US Army.  

11. Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 United States and Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands.  21 men were killed during the assault on the island … It could have been worse if there had actually been any Japanese on the island.  

12. The last marine killed in WW2 was killed by a can of Spam.  He was on the ground as a POW in Japan when rescue flights dropping food and supplies came over, the package came apart in the air and a stray can of Spam hit him on the head and killed him.

To see video of the Delta Honor Guard receiving soldiers' remains, click here.

DULY NOTED

-- A woman in Antioch, Tenn., Juliette Vincent, who was obviously upset over a new abortion law, has knitted a uterus out of pink yarn she will mail to Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam. It is not known what the Governor will do with a hand-knitted uterus.

-- A number of restaurants, fast-food markets and other business in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama are clearly discriminatory and in wanton violation of society’s new standards when they openly post signs that say, “No shirt, No shoes, No service.” These businesses discriminate against poor people, those with skin afflictions, some with a hang-nail, children in the summertime, blind people with service dogs and all types of other pets with the exception of horses. These and other special-interest groups are considering a lawsuit, and very well may seek government intervention. An investigation by the Department of Justice is not out of the question and a carefully-selected task force, with no regard to sexual orientation, gender, race or political persuasion, could also be formed as a federal body, since several states are involved.

royexum@aol.com

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