In the company of others, a strange yet welcomed change

By Dom Cioffi

My company held an event at its corporate headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, this past week. We flew in select customers from all over the country to join us in our first in-person get-together in over a year.

That strange sense of pandemic uneasiness loomed as folks arrived, but with all the necessary precautions in place, most people relaxed almost immediately.

In a year where the world became ensconced in Zoom calls and online meetings, it felt really good to actually engage with other humans on a person-to-person level. And I think the majority of our customers agreed.

The big draw of our event was the Wells Fargo PGA Golf Championship, which was held at the luxurious Quail Hollow Country Club. While the true intent of our gathering was to foster business relationships, everyone was most excited about seeing some of the greatest golfers in the world compete on one of the country’s most pristine courses.

Quail Hollow Country Club is about as exclusive as you can get, right up there with Augusta National and Pebble Beach. It is set on a beautiful circular stretch of land just south of Charlotte. The course itself is magnificent in countless respects, but just as impressive are the homes that outline the perimeter of the track. These are mostly brilliant mansions with epic landscaping that undoubtedly have most spectators drowning with envy.

Walking around the fairways is a treat, but being able to see golfers like Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Rory McIlroy (who ended up winning this year’s event) dissect the course with their piercing drives and precise approach shots, was a wonder to behold.

I’m a middle-of-the-road golfer (some days I can be pretty impressive, other days I can appear completely inept). But I know enough about the game and the strategy involved that I can appreciate when someone is playing at an advanced level. And I have to tell you, these guys were really, really advanced.

Being able to pull off the shots I saw requires an immense amount of precision, full-body control. And then taking into account the wind, undulation of the greens, the way in which the grass is growing, the gradation of the ground you are hitting from — all of these factors have to be analyzed before deciding on the correct approach. 

Of course, I also take these things into consideration before I hit a shot. I may not analyze them quite as deeply as the pros, but I do think about them. But, alas, there are two major differences between me hitting shots and Rory McIlroy hitting shots: he does it much better, and he does it while thousands of people are standing there watching him.

I am always impressed with that facet of the game since I generally golf alone on weeknights when no one is around.

Forget people being distracting with cell phones or their movements around the greens and fairways, I couldn’t take the pressure of that many people actually staring at me. Hell, I can barely eat comfortably in front of other people, much less hit a golf ball when they’re around.

In fact, one of the other activities we did with our visiting guests was take them to a nearby country club to play a round. I was matched up with two individuals from Atlanta and another from Minneapolis.

Like I said, I almost always play golf alone so the idea of having three more people around didn’t necessarily sit well with me. It’s not that I mind being around other people, it’s simply that my golf game is never the sharpest with the added distractions.

Drop me into a round with three other people and I’ll get to talking and lose focus on the task at hand. And if all three players happen to be really good, then I embody the anxiety of trying to compete at their level.

Thankfully, two of the three customers I played with were fairly unskilled, which took the competitive pressure down several notches. In the end, it was a great event. But more than anything, it was another step in getting life back to normal.

This week’s film, “Wonder Wheel,” set in 1950s Coney Island, is the story of a group of individuals who desperately want life to be normal, even though they all put themselves into scenarios that completely upend their lives.

Written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Kate Winslet and Justin Timberlake, “Wonder Wheel” embodies a classic Allen neurotic love triangle wrapped up in the seedy, low-brow confines of an early American amusement park.

Check this one out if you love the way Woody makes movies. The dialogue, acting, and cinematography all reflect his unique and quirky style of filmmaking.

An anxious “B+” for “Wonder Wheel,” available for streaming from Amazon Prime.

Got a question or comment for Dom? You can email him at moviediary@att.net.