A bedtime story...
He was very popular with lots of pros. He had heard I was very good at what I did, and he talked about working with me one day.
So, we eventually worked together, even though quite a few friends/pros told me it was a bad idea.
We worked together OK, but really he thought he was right about everything and I thought I was. He asked me to "change my tune" a bit and join his team. I declined.
At some point, knowing he couldn't control me, I became Persona non grata. He was always taking me down, albiet slickly behind closed doors. It would always get back to me—it was supposed to—and, of course, I would always react. That was exactly what he wanted. It became "self fulfilling prophecy" to the ninth degree. That Brian, so much talent, but too much mouth.
He and his followers met and talked often about how to "keep me down."
His name?
Frank Mackel II, the late "Gawdfather" of golf in the New Olreans area and points beyond.
How did it all end?
Frank fell from grace after it was learned of some illegal activity he and his staff were involved in at City Park. He kept most of his power and took another far less lucrative postion at a smaller facility. Frank passed away at 56, about 6 years ago. Too me, he worried himself to death, fretting over every little thing in his empire.
The funny thing about was how he got "busted" so-to-speak. He really couldn't handle the fact that the "independent contractor teachers" at the City Park Driving Range—which included me—could comment on his "effectiveness" as a pro with impunity. So he tried in vain to "run us all off." One day, two of the teachers that he wanted gone, David Smith and Jimmy Self, were talking to a customer about how "crooked" the whole regime and operation was. That man was best friends with the inspector general of the State of Louisiana, who looked into the operation and found plenty of illegal activity. Mackel was lucky just to be forced to resign.
The Morals of the Story:
1. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
2. Never anger those who "have the goods" on you.
3. Life is short.
