Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2022 - 4

EDITOR'S
L E T T ER
Golf is Not a
Zero-Sum Game
I
trust you're reading this issue of the Minnesota Golfer
magazine, the official publication of the MGA, after
finding a link in your email inbox. I scratched my original
opening sentence, " Hopefully, you're reading, " because,
as some wit in the office remarked, " hope is not a strategy. "
Here is the situation: given the supply chain problem, and
the abrupt rise in paper costs, the MGA Board approved a
modified print/digital plan to delivering the magazine to
our more than 80,000 members. Going forward, we'll print
and mail the directory and year-end issues, and email two
or three digital editions during the summer. Once the paper
situation resets, we'll revisit this strategy. If you would
like to share an opinion about the print or digital edition
of Minnesota Golfer, or anything related to the magazine,
please email me at editor@mngolf.org.
We've lost several MGA family members in 2022: Bill
Mosso and Ernie McHale, former board members, Bruce
Bromen and Paul Bussman, tournament volunteers, and
more recently, Mark Brettingen, photojournalist (see
related story, p. 28). While we mourn them all, none was
more unexpected than Mark's passing, which proved very
much a shock to myself and the rest of the MGA staff. He
was a fixture at MGA championships for more than three
decades, and the earliest photo credit I found attributed to
Mark was of Tom Lehman on the cover of the '91 fall issue.
Mark's repertoire included shooting the Vikings for the
NFL (try a Google search and you'll find images dating to
the Jerry Burns era), as well as a portrait of the Vike's Purple
People Eater and newly appointed Minnesota Supreme
Court judge, Alan Page. I always found him to be the consummate
professional, the photojournalist who always got
the shots we needed for the magazine and website. The only
thing that got his blood up was when the PGA of America
or the PGA Tour would refuse him the necessary credentials
to shoot inside the ropes. He was an irreplaceable member
of the MGA editorial team, and I will miss him dearly.
And while hope is not a strategy, I think most golfers will
admit that they hope that what comes next will be better
than whatever preceded it-that's the game's essential attraction,
isn't it? We may be deluding ourselves, but hope is at
the core of the game's promise: we hope the next shot is
better than the last, the next bunker shot will spin closer to
" Golf has never been a
zero-sum game to its
participants, it always gives
more than it takes. "
the hole and the next putt will roll into it. In short, the next
round is better than the last. Sure, practice, skill and talent
may make some golf hope's more of a reality than a dream,
but regardless of the handicap index, we all chase after it.
Golf has never been a zero-sum game to its participants, it
always gives more than it takes.
See you on the tee.
W.P. Ryan, Editor-in-Chief
page 28
Remembering
Mark Brettingen
1954-2022
4
MINNESOTAGOLFER Summer 2022
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Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2022

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