As Parker edged toward retirement he took up golf. The Zimmermans, who have played many long years together give him heck every chance they get.

“I’ve got a friend Bill Parker. We were playing for money and we were working a five ball carry over,” Don Zimmerman said, interrupting his swing at the driving range. “He dropped in the ball a foot and a half from the hole and he asked if he could pick it up. He stood to win $40. I made him putt it and it slipped right past the hole. And when he went to tap it in he missed again. He’s a dynamite putter, but he went from winning $40 to losing 20

All his stories start the same way.

“I’ve got a friend Bill Parker who has a very athletic wife,” he said, with Maxine standing within earshot. “He decided he needed to learn form a pro to beat his wife and $2,000 later he still can’t.”

“You tell that story again, I’ll deny it,” Parker said.

“I don’t mention that I can’t beat her either,” Zimmerman said.

As they walk to the first tee, Maxine Parker looks over at the two and smiles.

“The funniest thing is playing with your spouse,” she said.

The spouse in question says he loves the game because it gets personal. He takes it in stride.

Moments later, Johnny Hulbert, 17, gets called to the pro shop. The practice ball bin is empty. Hulbert looks out at the driving range, where the balls lay like a thousand hailstones. He’s reluctant to head out.

“I don’t want to get hit,” he said. “They’ll be aiming for me. The balls bounce in the back of the cart and they’ll be high-fiving each other.”

He gets a reprieve but it won’t be for long.

The best humor comes out of the darkest times. People have to laugh or cry. A lot of both happen out on the golf course. It’s no accident that with an average foursome round of about four hours, there’s plenty of time for something to go wrong. And a lifetime to reminisce.

Horseshoe Lake assistant pro Jeremy Sagle said he was once playing in a men’s tournament and a person ahead was playing at his own pace and doing well.

“There’s always people who are very particular and take their time taking their shots,” Sagle said. “The group behind Travis was really getting worked up. When Martin teed off at the 17th it went off into the bushes.”

He hacked and missed, hacked and missed. “I’d gone over to talk to the pro who had just walked up and as we talked, Martin picked up his clubs and threw them,” Sagle said. “He ended up taking an 11 at the hole.

“Then he played the entire 18th hole with his putter. He’d had a complete meltdown. I think he took a seven at that hole.”

Sagle said it’s the small things that can set someone off, “especially if they’re not playing well.”

“It took awhile for him to come back and play, he was kind of embarrassed,” he said. “Once on the golf course people’s personalities take a little twist.”.