Royal Mougins Golf Club: January 2015

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Monday, January 5, 2015

Isn’t it amazing how we race thru time? In 1989 Back to the Future II was being released into theaters, and the plot centered around Michael J. Fox jumping 26 years into the future that would place him right in 2015. And here we are.

Today I am not going to tell you how your Royal Mougins team will work hard to provide you with a great golf course in 2015. Neither am I going to tell you about some of the plans we have. We will inform you all throughout the New Year about happenings, events, new menus, etc, etc. But don’t worry, the team is highly motivated and there will be excitement enough!

I am however in the mood to congratulate you because we are living in a funny world.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL BORN IN 1930's, 1940's, 50's, 60's, 70's and even Early 80’s!!!

First, you survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, your baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. You had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when you rode your bikes, you had no helmets, not to mention, the risks you took hitchhiking ..

As children, you would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun. You drank water from the garden hosepipe and NOT from a bottle. You shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

You ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but you weren't overweight because...... YOU WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

You would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach you all day.

And you were OK.

You would spend hours building your go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out you forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, you learned to solve the problem.

You did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........

YOU HAD FRIENDS and you went outside and found them! You fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

You played with worms (well most boys did) and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although you were told it would happen, you did not poke out any eyes. You rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Local teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing you out if you broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. You had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and you learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

So in 2015 Please keep on playing outside. That’s what golf is all about.

Cheers to a New Year and another change for us to get it right!

Jurgen Wondergem