Minnesota Golfer - Directory 2021 - 48

BACK
BACKSPIN
Paradise Lost
* BY MARK CRAIG *
As author Joe Bissen surely knows, most lifelong
golfers have a " lost course " in their memories.
A
dollar bill for Mr. Vinkovich and a pocketful of golf
balls were all the pre-teen from the summer of 1977
needed to play nine holes at one memorable tiny
course. Though it died long ago, it lives forever large in the
minds of those who grew up playing it morning, noon and
night.
Vink's Motel Golf Course was a lighted par-3 shoebox
plopped on roughly 10-15 acres at 7085 Mentor Ave. in Willoughby,
Ohio, about 20 miles east of Cleveland. Technically,
the place called itself a " resort motel " because it put in a pool
back in the '50s to attract road-weary
families traveling by on two-lane Route
20 before the country's interstate system
was completed.
The newspaper ads featuring palm
trees were, well, fake news. But Vink's
certainly felt like a piece of paradise in
1977, at least to a sixth-grader who grew
up long before cell phones and helicopter
parents.
When mom dropped you off at Vink's,
she didn't need to pop the trunk. Mr.
Vinkovich handed you all the clubs you'd
need when you got to the motel lobby/
first tee box.
You got a wedge, a putter and a 7-iron
for No. 2-the 128-yard monster. And
the shafts were painted bright yellow lest someone had any
thoughts of walking off with old man Vinkovich's property.
The first hole was a downhill 60-yarder. The idea was to
land the ball somewhere between the pool patrons on the
right and the foursomes waiting by the ninth tee on the left.
They say a well-struck ball into the desert backdrop of an
Arizona resort is a thing of beauty. So was a 60-yard chip shot
that disappeared into the night sky before reappearing on the
green under Mr. Vinkovich's not-so-elaborate lighting system.
The second hole is where you pulled out the big stick. The
target wasn't always the green either. Talk to any Baby Boomer
or Gen Xer who played Vink's and you'll hear stories of striking
balls off the trains that seemed to run constantly back and
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MINNESOTAGOLFER Directory 2021
forth behind No. 2.
The third hole wasn't played until you slipped through the
woods to shag some free golf balls off the train tracks.
Friends have said there was a Porsche dealership beyond
the third hole near the back of the property. I have my doubts.
I would have remembered the stress of trying not to hit a
Porsche after swinging out of my Converses to clobber a moving
train.
An ad from 1969 says Vink's was 1,000 yards. I have no
scorecard souvenir to confirm. Frankly, at age 12, I probably
thought keeping score would just ruin the
fun.
After No. 3, the holes basically started
to overlap. The close proximity taught
one how to tell the subtle differences in
the tones people use when yelling the
word " Fore! "
Hearing a simple " Fore! "
at Vink's
meant you were OK. Hearing a frantic,
" FORE!!! " meant hit the dirt or you'll be
calling mom and getting stitches over at
Lake County West Memorial.
The seventh hole had a large net behind
it. The ideal target was over the net
and onto the roof of the News-Herald
newspaper building. At that point, as a
first-year golfer, a " home run " onto the
News-Herald's upper deck trumped the pipe dream of a holein-one.
Two
holes later, another 50 cents would let Mr. Vinkovich
wave you through for another nine.
Unfortunately, in the early 1990s, the News-Herald bought
out Mr. Vinkovich and moved next door. It tore down the
motel and put up a shiny new building.
That new building needed a place to put everyone's cars.
And, sadly, just as the song says, " they paved paradise and put
up a parking lot. "
Mark Craig is the NFL/Vikings columnist and a golf writer for
the Star Tribune.
mngolf.org
http://www.mngolf.org
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