The only way to be in Maui is to be in Maui, which I’ve been lucky enough to cross off the list…trust me when I tell you the HDTV doesn’t get it , no matter how big.

I live in a place where we catch a lot of fish.  We’re lucky that way.  If  it’s one of your passions, come and stay with us and I’ll show you.  But David, a.k.a. El Stupendo, a.k.a. Stupendous D had a problem. 

He was about to turn 13 and , according to him, had never caught a “real” fish.  That is to say he never baited the hook, held the rod, hooked up, and landed a really good fish…until now.

What’s this have to do with golf?  Nothing…and everything.

Here are a couple life rules I try to adhere to…one, never wear velvet after February 1st, and second stick to the rule the golf season is over from December 1 to April 1 depending on where you live.  Put the golf clubs on a nail these months, everybody wins! 

Back to S.D.

He tells me  I catch all the fish, I have all the the luck.  Truth is he doesn’t “wait ‘em out” as we used to say down in my hometown, Indian Rocks Beach (IRB) Florida…the fish will come, you just have to wait and, most important of all you have to use the ancient fish call, ” Culla Culla.”  What does it mean?  Who really knows but to us it means C’mon fish.

Say it with me …don’t  be emabarrased…Culla Culla…c’mon fish!  Pretty good, but not loud enough…if you’re not smiling you need to go put on some velvet and try again.  Feel better already don’t you?

Golf at my level,  I won’t speak for you, is about small victories.  A crisp 7-iron, a wedge from the fringe that stops an inch short, a high draw back to the middle makes the game fun and in a weird way serious.

But want to have a real old-time-balata smile?  Take your kid fishing. I’ts magic, I promise.

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So while it’s 95 degrees across most of the east, I find myself back in winter (at least southern winter) for a few days of nature, family time, and best of all, fly-fishing.
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I know this isn’t about golf but in a way it is. My dad and I were bonded by golf and baseball. As Kevin Costner put it so well in Field of Dreams, and I paraphrase, “baseball was the only thing my dad and I could talk about without killing each other”.
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It’s not like that with my kids…in fact I don’t think teenagers are anywhere near as difficult or prone to bad or dangerous behavior than my generation.
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Maybe I’m naive, but I don’t think so.
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We hiked a mile and a half uphill that felt more like 36 lugging your own to a true mountain stream. Our trusty Sherpas Joe, Ben, and Connor were nice enough to wait for the old man as he huffed his way up the hill.
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We were chasing the Greenback Cutthroat Trout, a species thought to be extinct just a few years ago.
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This fish runs between 6 and 10 inches long so, needless to say, you aren’t here for the fight or the food. It would take 20 of these little buggers to make a decent sandwich…Rodney Dangerfield might say “I’ve seen Anchovies bigger than that.”

But, most importantly, you’re here to watch your kids experience something new and unique, and just maybe life altering…before they get away from you forever.
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Yes this was the best Father’s Day ever…and it’s not even here yet.