Jerilyn Britz - Part 1 (The Early Years)

Mike Gonzalez  00:15

Welcome to another edition of FORE the Good of the Game and Bruce Devlin, we've got a major champion with us from Patty Berg country.

Devlin, Bruce  00:23

That's right. Yeah. That's right. And, you know, this lady just had a birthday. And she's kind of interesting history as far as golf is concerned, she didn't start playing until she was about 15 or 17, something like that. Got into the physical education, teaching business and then decided when she was 31 years old to turn pro. And as Mike said, she is a major Winner winner of the Women's U.S. Open Championship and it is indeed a pleasure to have Jerilyn Britz with us today. Thank you for joining us. Jerilyn.

Britz, Jerilyn  01:01

Well, thank you, gentlemen, so much for asking me to be a part of this. This is a unique thing that you're doing. And I'm so proud of you for thinking about doing it. I mean, this is great.

Mike Gonzalez  01:10

Well, we're looking forward to this Jerilyn and thanks for joining us. And as we both said, you know your story. I don't think it quite goes along with most of the lady interviews we've done just because you got started late relative to a lot of the others, right? You got started late, certainly professionally, much like JoAnne Carner did. So it wasn't kind of the typical career was it?

Britz, Jerilyn  01:35

Now I was spirit everything every step was an accident. No, I actually, when I was real little, I say seven, eight, somewhere in there. My dad would take us on Sunday afternoon rides, you know, in the car. And I don't I don't know how I even knew where the Golf Cours e was. But we go out the Golf Course area. And the Golf Course was flanked on two sides by either a cornfield or beanfield. So when the corn fields close to the road, we'd stopped there on Sunday afternoon, and we go up and down the rows of the corn and look for golf balls. I don't know why we had nothing to do with golf. We that was just a Sunday afternoon thing as it was competitive, really, who could could find the most golf balls in this cornfields. And then a couple, three years later, my brother who was like 18 months older than I was started going out the Golf Course to caddy. I didn't know he was doing that. But he would take these balls that we found, and try to sell them. Sure, good for him. If he'd get a white one, you know, pretty round. Yeah. And, and the ones that weren't looking very good, we painted

Mike Gonzalez  02:45

entrepreneur at a young age,

Britz, Jerilyn  02:49

but that was that's all I didn't know anything about golf, my brother. My brother actually played a couple of times he went on, and he would sneak out onto the course basically ride our bikes out there. And when I was five, we I had an uncle in Minneapolis who played golf. And he had a set of the wooden shafted clubs at the time and then and he gave those to my dad and I didn't know anything about that. But my brother took those clubs out when he was like, 910. I snuck out on the course he hated playing with those clubs. So I went out with him once. And I tried to hit the ball couldn't do it. So that was it for my golf experience. And now Yeah, so and then I was a lifeguard at the local swimming pool. I was 15, 16, 17 right around there. And my boss would come to the pool every day and tell about all these stories of all these funny things that happened to him on the Golf Course. And so I started getting kind of interested in this golf thing. And he's he dumped me out on the pool yard. And there were dandelions out there. And he has clubs and he showed me how to hold the club. And we'd swing at dandelions. Then after then he finally took me out on the Golf Course. Again, I use his clubs, which I could hardly lift. I hit one good shot. And that was it. That was it. years I tried to

Devlin, Bruce  04:13

Trapped. I was trapped.

Britz, Jerilyn  04:17

I got started now. That was that was my that's my year after graduation from high school. I was like 17, 18 right in there.

Mike Gonzalez  04:25

So a couple of questions. I mean, on the dandelion front, I remember swinging golf clubs, when they got all white and puffy.

Britz, Jerilyn  04:32

Oh, yeah. Slow down for you.

Mike Gonzalez  04:36

But the other question relates to the golf balls, because we've had a lot of people talk about finding golf balls as a kid, but I want to know, did your brother share the revenue with you?

Britz, Jerilyn  04:46

Oh, no, no, no. We used to fight about everything. So we just that's how I started getting competitive because we did that, you know, played with my brother and he's bigger than I am. So we'd play football and it'd be, it'd be tackle. And well, I actually was, well, yeah, I was tackle. He let me wear the helmet. He had shoulder pads are going back and forth. And the day that he ran over me instead of around me, I knew, but playing football with my brother.

Devlin, Bruce  05:21

That's the end of that.

Mike Gonzalez  05:23

That's when golf seems a lot better, doesn't it?

Britz, Jerilyn  05:25

Yeah. But that was when you're 789 10, something like that. But, yeah, you played

Mike Gonzalez  05:30

a lot of sports growing up, didn't you?

Britz, Jerilyn  05:33

Yeah. In fact, centrally interesting, you mentioned that because I think I was really fortunate that I did do that because I think I developed good eye hand coordination, which of course is helpful and go off that, but I don't think I would have had that had I not done all this different sports. There weren't no sports for girls. When I was in high school, they were da girls athletic association after school, we get an hour in the gym. Because the boys weren't using it that day. But so I didn't get to do any sports other than what I was just doing on my own, like the neighborhood. When I was young 678 1012 My brother was into baseball. So I'd be playing catch with him. And my dad would come out and we'd play catch my dad, my brother. And there was a vacant lot in the neighborhood. And all the kids in the neighborhood get over there and we'd play baseball. So I got I got to do that. And then as we got older, we had a little town team a softball, so I got to do that. And so I learned some some real good stuff with the with a baseball softball stuff. And the problem was later in college, I was playing on a team in Minneapolis and softball, and I was playing golf also. So I starting to hit over the golf ball and under the softball work, I'm gonna have to pick one here. So you know, but so that was that was very good. And I got into volleyball. And I got to play on I'm taller volleyball team, there was a group of Latvian women in Minneapolis. And they conducted a one day clinic for all the colleges in the state anyone who wanted to come. And they posted that that notice is posted on a bulletin board in college where I was going to school in Mankato, Minnesota. And so we got to five, six of us went to this clinic, and we learn how to play Powerball I thought I didn't like volleyball, because you know, you could pick the ball up and throw it over the net kinda. I just did not like that. But this Power volleyball. Boy, that was fantastic. There's a gal about my size, she would hit that ball over the net, she knocked people down on the other side. Yeah, I mean, it's just unbelievable game. And then that next year, I was teaching school and she contacted me and asked me to come and play on their team. So we got a got to play on a team and others, at least the other cities were getting teams together after that clinic. So in the next four years or so I got to play a lot of power volleyball. So then I got this boredom. So yeah, it's been fun. And then and then I was playing Judo is a Do you want to hear all this? Can you play judo? It's called Play. Can you believe it? But yeah, I took my GA when I'm wanting to have my dear girls to a camp. And one of the things activities was a guy from Hopkins, Minnesota, who was really good at judo, came and put on a self defense demonstration. And he asked volunteers course I raise my hand and he threw me around a little bit, you know, and held me down. And so it all gets do self defense moves and things and and then when I went back, so their physical education teacher and I got together and we we developed junior and senior in physical education program and we wanted all these different sports and activities that they didn't normally get. We had fencing, sporting the springboard diving, snow skiing, and I taught personal finance and scuba diving, things like that. And so I played for I went to steal this guy to get some instruction. So I could come back and teach the high school kids first of all the fans. And while I was doing that, he got talked me into competing and judo. But I was practicing after about playing for about one month or so. And a gal throw me threw me incorrectly and I dislocated my left elbow. So now this was I'm gonna have I'm gonna play golf. I couldn't straighten my arm out. And of course, we're supposed to have a straight left arm right. That's debunked, because I couldn't I could hardly even I couldn't bend my elbow and touch my nose and I couldn't straighten it. And I put two boards together into a V up under my armpit. But Omar and put an Ace bandage wrap it around so that my arm was being pulled all the time. Right now to straighten it out, though about three months later, like I calls this this come on down we're gonna practice there's there's a doodle match coming up I said, I can't, I can't slap like you're supposed to you know when you land you slap and he says Come on, I'll teach you how to do it without slapping so I go down there and I'm scared to death to get thrown so I get thrown into this competition I think I think I won the fastest throw I think the nine seconds I threw the person I knew three throws, but so that was kind of the start of my Judo experience but so yeah, I got into a lot of different sports and I think the difference

Mike Gonzalez  10:38

it sounds like you weren't want for opportunities relative to competing in sports but as you said, because you and many of the ladies we've talked to were sort of pre Title Nine Absolutely you didn't have the competitive at a high level opportunities in college and even in high school that the kids have today. Now we

Britz, Jerilyn  10:57

had we had no organized anything it was just all play days stuff and that was true always through my college years we've had no no chance to be any do an income competition. So I'm sitting down in Luverne Minnesota which is in the southwest corner of the state and from the art mines tee box so you can see South Dakota Iowa, Minnesota the whole thing and yeah, Iowa at the time head girl softball basketball is half court, take two three dribbles and have to pass it kind of thing. But it was competitive. And I couldn't get my parents to move. They would not move. That was my sport. was most basketball and basketball. Yeah. Love.

Devlin, Bruce  11:36

It begs the question for me with all of this other sport business, how you learn how to play golf with such a busy life doing all the rest of it PE and judo and this and then Goodness me. Yeah, it

Britz, Jerilyn  11:54

was only in the summer, you know, get you get. You get six months to play. But watch TV. I watched you Bruce.

Devlin, Bruce  12:05

I hope you didn't get any bad thing by watching very

Britz, Jerilyn  12:08

impressed with you now. And also watched it on TV and started to the drugstore in town, had the golf make golf magazine and find out and just went out on the yard hit Danny Lyons and went out and just tried, you know, just hit.

Devlin, Bruce  12:26

Did you have somebody that you tried to emulate? Swing wise, just

Britz, Jerilyn  12:30

my my boss was trying to show me how to how to swing it. But I didn't even know there was a lady store. I had no idea. There was a ladies tour.

Devlin, Bruce  12:43

That's amazing.

Mike Gonzalez  12:44

So pretty much self taught in early America

Britz, Jerilyn  12:47

much. Yeah. I played in the little ladies League. They I was I was the youngest one there. Most of them are pretty old when they looked old to me. And you know when you're 17 it's always 50 looks old, right? So but I would play with them and the ladies day events and then they'd have invitationals from town to town, we'd have little day for ladies to play. So I did that my neighbor lady played, she took me a couple of invitationals and I really liked them. And I got I think I got a motorcycle about the time I got out of high school there. And so I would ride my motorcycle to the different towns and play golf. And

Mike Gonzalez  13:29

so I mentioned Patty Berg at the top of the show. Did you even know who Patty Berg was at a young age I didn't

Britz, Jerilyn  13:35

until I started reading in the paper, you know the results of the tournaments in Minneapolis area that was a world away from Luverne 200 miles that was so I got to know the names of some of the really good players in the state. And I think my second year of playing golf, I decided I was gonna play a state tournament. And, you know, it's kind of ignorance is bliss. I think the entry fee was $10 and I was going around town in Luverne and trying to get someone to give me $10 To enter this tournament, you know, and nobody was interested but I think they saw that, you know, the burn I didn't. I couldn't really play very well. But I finally got it and I went up to Minneapolis and I got to the Golf Course and I was sitting watching the practice the or the first tee and it's raining or it has rain so it's kind of advanced. And I didn't dare go out there. I was just intimidated. So by the tee box was clear. It stopped raining. So I've worked I've walked over to the tea box had to go to practice round. Yeah. And this one lady comes walking out from the clubhouse to the tee box. And she asked if she could play with me so I absolutely and She introduced herself while she was the top player in the state of Minnesota. She's won on all these tournaments. i Oh, my goodness. So I tee it up and I take this big old swing and it's mud flies everywhere. And I look, I said, Did you see that when she said, yeah, it's right there. I hadn't even I mean, I'd knocked off the tee box. I was in tournament play. But she was wonderful. She was very encouraging. I think I finished fourth from the bottom and I was just elated, ecstatic.

Mike Gonzalez  15:34

Well, so you really didn't have an opportunity then to compete on a woman's team in college? Was there a men's team that you were able to compete compete on?

Britz, Jerilyn  15:42

Now? They had a men's team, but in those days, you don't? didn't want any? No, no, no, no, no. You guys, you have male frail egos. You know, I mean, you got a girl beaten yet?

Mike Gonzalez  15:56

four hour drive. And

Britz, Jerilyn  15:59

there wasn't any worry that was gonna do that at that time. But no, no.

Mike Gonzalez  16:03

Well, at what age? Did you really start taking golf? Seriously, you really thought I think I can play this game. And

Britz, Jerilyn  16:09

yeah, you know, and, and Bruce, you can relate to this. I think there's nothing like the feel of a salad that seriously. I mean, it's and it's extremely difficult to do. Even though you play for years and your practice and practice, you're still looking for that field, everything.

Devlin, Bruce  16:25

Well, I can tell you one, one man who played some pretty fancy golf over his career, and I got to play a little bit of golf with him. And you may remember the comment that he said, but he said if he hits six shots, the way he tried to hit them in around a golf, he was very happy. Of course, that was Mr. Ben Hogan So you think about your point is very well taken because as we all know, golf sir. Pretty difficult game.

Britz, Jerilyn  16:59

credible. I mean, you know, your your, your, your arena is different every day. The grass was growing different heights. You know, the wind is coming in different directions. You know, it could be raining, could be snowing.

Devlin, Bruce  17:17

I mean, it's it's, there's no sport like it, then you got to beat yourself.

Britz, Jerilyn  17:21

And then you got yourself to fight.

Mike Gonzalez  17:24

And then you get another factor which you hadn't mentioned, which is your body feels different every day.

Britz, Jerilyn  17:29

Absolutely. And your brain. I mean, you can talk yourself into a good day or you can talk yourself into a bad day. It's your choice, you know, and every shot if you get into every shot and it's gone crooked. I mean, it can ruin your day, just first to first I have to tell Foxconn can ruin your day if you let it. No, I just I just just No, no sport like, no, no sport like it. And that's I just love it. And you can do it yourself. Yeah, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez  17:55

What was that an attraction? Was that an attraction for you? Because we have had some guests who they were they were sort of they would describe themselves as loners growing up and they really appreciated the solitude of the game.

Britz, Jerilyn  18:07

Yes. I don't think it was a loner so much but but I tell you what, there is no place like being on a Golf Course. As far as I'm concerned. It's the little course back in Luverne is nine halls it's out in the country. There's no from there, no buildings around it. And you walk right as soon as you get there. The birds are singing, you know, the squirrels are running around. Just unbelievable. The beauty of and then if you listen, you can hear the the wind blowing through the leaves and the trees. And I love going out like Well, five o'clock in the afternoon the shadows start to come out and the shadows are going across. Just absolutely gorgeous. I just nothing like and then the spring the wind blows pretty hard there. And as I've taken a couple of videos of of the the flagstick wind like this, you know, the winds blowing. And I think it's fantastic. I love finite kind of wind just for the fun of it, you know? Well, I think there's nothing like being on a Golf Course and playing by yourself or you can just relax. Just be with nature, you know, being like that. That's it now people are coming out with radios on their golf carts. What are you doing?

Devlin, Bruce  19:21

I know, don't get me.

Britz, Jerilyn  19:23

Don't get you started.

Mike Gonzalez  19:26

So as we've said, unlike many of our guests, you experience college a little bit differently. I mean, I know some of the some of the guests we've had weren't able to compete on a women's team they might have been able to play on a men's team but you know they were quite active in golf amateur career by the time they got college age for you. It was I guess a regular university sort of experience you went to school you studied you got your degree. And then instead of turning pro because you were you're a ways away from turning pro or being discovered which we'll talk about you went on and started a career in education. That's correct. Yeah.

Britz, Jerilyn  20:03

Yeah, it's, you know, for women, when I was growing up, there was an opportunity to be a school teacher, a nurse, or a stenographer of some kind, you know, and Mike, don't want to be a nurse. If I look at any law profane, practically, you know, and teaching teaching, I didn't, you know, I was good in school. I got good grades. But I didn't really like school because it kept me off and kept me from being out and playing. Playing golf. So, my choices were not that good. I mean, you could be a clerk and ladies good part of the store. That was it. We didn't have any. We didn't really have any other choice. Because you got the summer off.

Mike Gonzalez  20:57

Right. That's, that's That's exactly right. But you were able to to be in education in a high school, I guess for about five years and then on to university at University of was it Northern Minnesota? New Mexico, I guess. And then, New Mexico State,

Britz, Jerilyn  21:14

right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's. Yeah, in fact, my first set of golf clubs. I had started playing I played for one year with rosewood and shafted ones. And then I was in a department store in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which is 30 miles from Luverne. A pretty good sized city. And I was walking through the store I bought and I don't know what I bought, but I just caught on camera. My I looked over, there's a little set of golf clubs sitting over there. So when I looked at it was a set of Patty Bergs 3, 5, 7, 9 and putter? Yeah, that was my first set of clubs for four or five years. Something like that. Really, through college. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I didn't know anything about golf clubs. I just knew that I could get a set for $25 including the bat.

Mike Gonzalez  22:05

You didn't really need any more clubs, any more clubs

Britz, Jerilyn  22:08

in that, you know? But yeah, so while I was teaching, I played in a league in Minneapolis, that it was for public golf courses. And so I got some good, good, good play on big courses, you know, 18 hole courses them. They even have some sand traps. I didn't even know what a sand trap look like. Funny,

Mike Gonzalez  22:31

our little nine hole course as a kid, same thing we had, we had no sprinkler system. There was a nine hole course. No bunkers. A maybe a 200 yard range that you'd take your shag bag out to. That's about it.

Britz, Jerilyn  22:43

Yeah, I got in trouble in the barn because we didn't have a range. And I wanted to hit practice ball. So I'm hitting across the fairways. I'm trying to do it early in the morning. So they're not gonna Sure enough somebody comes through and I'd have to go out find their health. Pick them out if two balls there you know. So then I go out on the fairway where the drives land then I back towards the tee thinking that nobody will dumb enough to just be 10, 20 yards off the tee. But oh, yeah. So I got a lot of trouble that way. But yeah, didn't we all it was fun. But hitting golf balls. You didn't have to. You didn't have to count it if one cricket.

Mike Gonzalez  23:24

So tell us about being discovered.

Britz, Jerilyn  23:27

Oh my yeah. I had met a couple of people who had done graduate work at the University of New Mexico. And they sent me out, you know, you gotta go. You gotta go to New Mexico. So I said, Okay, well, where's it that said elbow? Albe what? Albe, I said, How do you spell Al Be Quer qe and I didn't. So I looked on the map where it was and everything and they got me gave me a name of a person to get in touch with down there to get a graduate assistantship. And I thought, you know, I think it's warm there all year, I might be able to get better golf if I go there. So I got went there for the golf. So and then they had a city tournament, and I won that. That was a match play tournament, and I never played match play before. So that was that was fun. But But I was able to win that. And then the back home in Minnesota in the summers, I go to all the different little Invitational ism before I leave, but then I was getting pretty confident in my game. And I was long because I was young, and I could I just, yeah, I could hit it. And I asked my mother as I'm leaving the house, is there anything you really want now? Because I'll probably you know, I got a good chance of winning this tournament and do you need an umbrella you know, you know so. So I did a lot of that in the summers when I got there. But but in Albuquerque, I was. I think it's my second year there. They needed a women's golf coach or to start a team so I did that. And now Joanne Winter was 1969 LPGA, Teacher of the Year from work. She is in Scottsdale, Arizona, and she came over and gave a clinic. So I was I heard she was coming. So made sure it was out there for the clinic. And after was over, I went down on the range, it was like three tiered range. And I was down when the lower tiers hidden Golf was trying to do with the things that she was talking about. And I turned around, wants to grab, grab a wall, and she was sitting on one of those top tiers. And we just chatted for a minute, and she says, Have you ever considered joining the tour? I said, What's the tour? She said, Well, I'll see I'll go watch LPGA Tour and, and she had played on, I don't know, one or two years, whatever it was. And she says, so we chatted about that a little bit. And that, of course, I had no opportunity to do something like that it cost too much and, and I was teaching at the university and getting my degree. So the next year, I was hired to teach full time down at Las Cruces, New Mexico State University. And probably about October, November, JoAnne called me. And before that actually went my when I was in Albuquerque still JoAnne after I'd met her, she said, you know if you'd like to come over to Phoenix, I'll work with you some. I'll give you some free lessons. But one of my students, one of my team members haven't a grandmother lived over there. And so Joanne said I could bring another person with me. So I asked this gal, she want to go over there. So well. Yeah, I'm over there. And I said, you get some free lessons from Joanne, she's, you know, and so we had, I didn't have a car, but I had my motorcycle because I couldn't afford to drive a car and Albuquerque. So the two of us to pack sacks of clothes and two sets of golf clubs, got on my little 350 Honda. And we drove over from Albuquerque to the Phoenix. And that thing, and we spent three, four days working with Joanne drove back, finished up the year teaching or getting my degree and then went to Las Cruces and then last in Las Cruces to add calls like in October, November, December, something like that, that there was going to be an LPGA qualifying school. This is going to be their first ever qualifying school in Florida. Do you want to go? I'm going in Florida, they're going to Florida. And she says well fly it down there. I've never flown before that would be kind of fun. She had a student who was wealthy, and he was kind of guy that would come out like Christmas on the driving range where she teach and he would peel off dollar bills or $5 bills and give to people is there any so she said she said that she had talked to him and he was willing to sponsor me to go to qualifying school. Well, it happened during my winter break from school from teaching. So I said okay, so I go to Florida. I've never had a part on under par around a golf before. The first round I shoot under par and the qualifying school. And the next couple rounds, I've played well enough to get through the qualifying school. I said Oh, okay.

Devlin, Bruce  28:20

No, yeah. So

Britz, Jerilyn  28:23

I can't, you know, I gotta go back and finish the Euro teaching, right? So I go back finish off the year of teaching. And then then I get a I get a leave of absence. So I can come back to my job. If I go out what's the worst that can happen? Right? I go out I play some golf and I don't get my card. Then I come back and go go to work again, right? That's so if I fail, no big deal. So okay, so I go out and I play on the tour and and at that time, you had to finish in the top 80% In three out of four consecutive tournaments. I think this out was so I get my second and I couldn't ever get my third one. I just could never get my third one. But I finished up this summer don't go through that. And then I went back to the qualifying school again and finished and then they didn't have that anymore. So from that point on I just stayed out there I said this is pretty cool. You know this is fun. I love you get to travel. I just I almost feel sorry for people who don't get to travel around this country. This is something did you enjoy Did you enjoy the travel?

Devlin, Bruce  29:29

I did yeah I did. It was was weird because I was in a car all the time. Not quite like the boys flying around in jets but but you know we got to see a lot of that's for sure. Made a lot of great people and I think that's that's the other joy about the game is you meet a lot of wonderful people in the in the game.

Britz, Jerilyn  29:52

I think so too. And this contract is love driving Cross Country. It's a chance to see the changes in the topography just increase of all this is just an amazing, amazing country. And you can't see it from here, you know? So it'd be, yeah, to be able to drive across country is just fantastic. But yeah, so when I was after I'd gotten after I'd gotten my card, when I went back to Phoenix to practice, and I spent four months, I hit 400 balls in the morning doing work to this court course little par three course and the owner there would let me practice balls in Scottsdale. And Tom Lambie was the owner and he let me practice here. I've hit 400 balls in the morning, he would take me out to all his different golf courses in Phoenix in the afternoon, we play 18 holes, I come back to the little nine. Well, of course, they're driving range and I chip and putt for two hours, get something to eat and come back and hit 400 Golf 100 more balls every day, seven days a week for four months. That's, that's when I got better.

Devlin, Bruce  31:01

Hi, yes.

Mike Gonzalez  31:03

Let me ask both of you this question. At what age or at what stage in your career? Did you really learn to practice efficiently and with purpose?

Britz, Jerilyn  31:13

I still haven't

Devlin, Bruce  31:16

know me. I've never could get hold of it. Actually.

Britz, Jerilyn  31:22

No one's ever asked me that question. And by golly, I don't have an answer for

Devlin, Bruce  31:26

Yeah, I agree with you. It's I always enjoyed playing more than I did hitting golf balls any you

Britz, Jerilyn  31:32

know, I just I love to do either one. I just I have no idea how to do a short game though. Right? Putting is like mystery to me. And I was on the tour. I was scared to death trap. I didn't want to get out of it.

Devlin, Bruce  31:45

You didn't get in? Yeah. So I

Britz, Jerilyn  31:48

totally. I get in one trap. A month maybe. You know, it's just just never.

Mike Gonzalez  31:55

That's that's the answer. Just stay out of them. Just

Britz, Jerilyn  31:59

you know, if I missed the green, it would be just some apron. So I was really fortunate. I did 14 days and greens every day. I mean, I just but I couldn't get in the hole. struggle getting in the hole. I did. I did go one summer. I think it was it was the year that JoAnne Carner won the Open in Erie, Pennsylvania at Kakwa Country Club A friend of mine who enjoyed golf too had a van. So I said if I if I enter the Open tournament at Kakwa in Erie, Pennsylvania so you want to go she says Yeah. So we pick up we stayed we find a field around that area. To park her van and then stay in that. And I go I play I played I lied on my handicap spot to get in the tournament and went to play in the U.S. Open at Kakwa Country Club. I played golf for like four years, I think something like that. 1971 Now, and oh, that was exciting, because I had heard of Kathy Whitworth, you know, and I was in the locker room. Oh, there you go. This is Kathy, where are they? Oh, there's Donna Caponi, you know. You know, that kind of thing. So that was pretty cool. And, and I met I played with Shelly Hamlin and Jasmine brasa. And they were really nice people. And I enjoyed that. And they've treated me really nice. I mean, I know what scores I said it's probably way over par. But no, that was a really, really good fun experience. And this Pete, I was practicing, putting in the evening, nobody else around. And this. This guy was watching and first thing when I started chatting with him. He was a putting professional from Buffalo, New York, and he had played on the putting funding tour. And he obviously saw that I wasn't funny. So he gave me some lessons on flooding there that I took away and they really helped me a lot to improve a little bit on scoring. people you'll meet is just incredible. And he was his. He was a great guy. I just doesn't love him to death. He was perfect. I went out to Buffalo one time a few years later, worked with him and his his course that he had there in Buffalo. Yeah,

Mike Gonzalez  34:12

you mentioned travel Of course, we've had an opportunity to talk a lot about traveling, as you mentioned, it's so much different than it is today because you have to sort of define what travel is and as you say it was by car or by van or trailer and I think Weren't you one of the earlier ones to start going around in a in a in a trailer of a van or something

Britz, Jerilyn  34:32

that JoAnne Carner and her husband traveled by trailer. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez  34:38

The Bernings we weren't around in a camper or trailer ban or something to me.

Britz, Jerilyn  34:43

I think that was before I got out there. Gotcha. Okay, Bonnie Bryant traveled in a trailer that a couple of caddies traveled in a trailer or town type thing and and then I got a van. Actually, we were one of the other players I was riding with her to the Golf Course in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1976 was pretty early in the year I believe. And it was a two lane road and the car is coming towards us. And they must have just looked to his left to see where he's going to turn off or some turned right in front of us. And we just banged into them to smashed into him. But I was sitting on the back seat with my knees up against the seat because I was sitting on luggage and things. And there was a caddy in this passenger seat. So when we when we hit, I didn't know we were gonna hit because I was I couldn't see anything anyway, I was thrown real hard forward, and just rip the devil out of my back. The caddy went up into the windshield, Kathy hit her face against the thing that was smashed up the car. And so people get golfers have gone by saying I'm not who isn't an accident, you know. And here, here, we were getting smashed up. So I had to I had to quit, I had to go home for for VA for support six weeks, something like that. Well, just before that happened, I had ordered a new van from the dealer back in Luverne. And that was coming in. And so my my mom and dad would go out and drive it to break a car. And at the time, you know. And by the time that had come in, I came home, I started customizing the inside of that van while I was home. getting repaired my back, it was just awful. I mean, that's a lot of pain. I couldn't move. But I could sit there and build on this van, you know, my dad could build and fix anything. And I told him, I would like to have him help me. So now I said I don't want to do any of that. It says you you want to do there you go do it. So I'm down in the basement in the winter. I'm putting these things together cupboards and stuff, and he'll come down he'll look I says, Well, why don't you do this? Or why don't you do that? I said, Well, I didn't do that. But yeah, it'd be better. So then you go back up. There to later come down. Why don't you do that? I said, I don't know. I said, Why don't you just help me?

Devlin, Bruce  37:09

Yeah. All this advice? Yeah.

Britz, Jerilyn  37:12

He started helping me and we came out of pretty pretty well. So So I've traveled that van. I could live in that band really. But I would camp in it. And I thought well, maybe I maybe I'd like to do this camping thing. So I got a tent. Big Tent. camped in that tent for about eight weeks. I like this. And that's when I went and got a travel trailer. And yeah,

Mike Gonzalez  37:35

got a couple things I'd heard about your van one is somewhere along you. You describing it as a rolling sporting goods store.

Britz, Jerilyn  37:44

Oh, yeah, we got to have we got to have a racquetball racquets in there and basketball and tennis rackets and golf clubs and

Mike Gonzalez  37:57

the other the other good line. I think I remember reading from somewhere I don't know if it was was it Sharon Miller? Sure. A group that Yeah. Yeah, a group of you that would get together these campgrounds or whatever, then you organize games and I guess at one point to some guests were invited. You guys organized a chipping contest? Which you chipped for the leftovers for dinner? Absolutely. And she said Jerilyn Britz won the beans.

Britz, Jerilyn  38:23

I want things we have a lot of fun. Yeah, it was good. We did we just some get togethers. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez  38:34

Yeah, I mean just you know motor in town to town. No GPS, hand signals have to stop and you know,

Britz, Jerilyn  38:42

a little bit of caravan going on. Yeah. Yeah, I think I mentioned once before the van for me for that I was riding with someone and we stopped in a little town between tournaments. Let's say we were going east and had some lunch or something we came out we started ahead and we thought east again. Some other girls were heading west and we stopped roll down the window. Hey, how you don't where you where you going? Well, we're going there to we're going opposite directions. turned around? Probably. Thank goodness. All those people are how far we've gone.

Mike Gonzalez  39:18

Thank you for listening to another episode of for the good of the game. Please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify. If you like what you hear, please subscribe. Spread the word. Tell your friends until we tee it up again. With the good of the game. So long, everybody

Music playing  39:39