Sun SafeTee Rock

I’d be quite embarrassed to publish my official USGA handicap index on the ‘net, although it served me and my teammates well last week during a couple of best-ball competitions that included a net double eagle, which just ain’t right. So suffice it to say that on most of my days out on the links at 7000-plus feet in elevation, just about all I do well is to protect my hide from the high UV index we experience in Colorado by wearing both SPF-50 golf duds and some sunscreen on what little flesh I expose out there. And my sunglasses are so darkly-tinted that I have to remove them to find my sliced tee shots in the woods.

As a Stage 3c melanoma survivor who got his tail kicked by radical chemotherapy, I’m often distressed that not many of the other players I see out on the links take similar precautions. And I’m also disappointed that too few of the PGA and LPGA tour players I see on high-definition TV appear to be good sun safety role models. So I was pleased to recently learn about the Sun SafeTee Program, a nonprofit organization that teaches sun protection and skin cancer prevention specifically to the golf community and to junior golfers in particular. Please check it out at Sun SafeTee Program. If I’d started practicing ‘safe sun’ much earlier in life, perhaps I wouldn’t look today like a scarred and worn-out old leather golf grip?

To the tune of “Rockin’ Down The Highway” from The Doobie Brothers…



Got those slice day blues, can't you hear my bogeys comin'
Slicin' down the hole with my good balls no more
All the players brown they can fear C comin’
Mel’s just got to stop, C won't do no more
And I smell my moles ‘r burnin'
Underneath the hood is smoke
Can't stop, and I can't stop
Got to keep on usin' or I'll lose my hide

Oh, blockin' out the fry rays
Oh, blockin' out the fry rays
Oh, blockin' out the fry rays
Oh, blockin' out the fry rays

The high-paid ‘Doc Mole’ got his eyes on me
I know what he's thinkin' and it ain't good
It’s movin' so fast he can barely see C
Gonna lose that tan, I know I should
I gotta hitch in my puttin’
Make my roll move a little bit faster
Can't stop, and I can't stop
Got to keep on usin' or I'll lose my hide

Oh, blockin' out the fry rays
Oh, blockin' out the fry rays
Oh, blockin' out the fry rays
Oh, blockin’ out the fry rays