The MisHit Mafia

The MisHit Mafia aka The Farley Foundation. What is it? Basically an eclectic group of old bastards that enjoy each other’s company enough to spend 4 ½ hours, on a good day, golfing together and then spend another 5 hours, on a good day, discussing said round. Oh yeah, there’s beer. My God is there beer. It’s the kind of group that if you are not careful, or in my case if you get to talking more than you are drinking, you can look down and see that you have 4 full beers sitting in front of you. AND at least two of the guys are tapping their bottles on the bar letting you know to reach through the dust in your wallet and buy another FREAKING ROUND.

For the last ten years, as the winter is taking its last big gasp, this band of merry men make their way to Orlando for a drinking…smoking…farting….golf trip. The only thing more fun than the trip is all of the meetings that are required to plan the thing. I mean, it takes a lot of cold Coors Lights to plan how you are going to imbibe 125 Coors Lights in 5 days. Want to really know what the trip is? Imagine seven really old men and one young, virile, handsome guy lying around all morning, golfing all day, drinking and playing poker all evening. You’ve pretty much got the gist.

Oh yeah, and there are teams. The first year of the trip we decided to have a match play competition and came up with two teams. The Airheads and The Groundhogs. Teams were determined by your method of travel to our destination. The Groundhogs probably wish they would have flown that first year because they have been treated like an Augusta stripper following a Tiger victory in the Masters. They have been pounded into submission!!! Four grown men with Bud Light breath and chicken wing sauce dripped on their shirts having to explain each night how they again blew a 2 up with three- to- go scenario. Priceless. These guys have golf swings that are made for the short bus, and I’m not talking about the one the golf team rides around in. Ok, I’ll be nice; they are really solid golfers, kind of like Jay Leno was a really solid choice to take over a prime time slot. Dammit, I can’t help it.

I’ll get more into these characters in future blogs. But I want to leave you with this essay that I turned in to Golf Digest a few years ago in a “golf buddy” contest they had. We didn’t make the final cut (complete bullshit!). To ensure victory I probably should have just talked about the Airheads, but I love the rodents despite the black cloud above their heads.


The Airheads versus the Groundhogs. While it’s not Phil versus Tiger and certainly not Jack versus Arnie, to eight southern Indiana guys, it’s our major.
Each January we make our way to Orlando to have our much talked about showdown. While the golf is the real competition, it is the friendship and the laughter we share that makes the trip so special.
The first trip drew near and the travel plans were made, four guys were driving and four guys were flying. The Groundhogs and Airheads were born. Orlando will never be the same.
With a snowy Indiana behind us and some very rusty golf swings, match play is our format. Our scoreboard, or condo refrigerator, shows match winners with rodent or airplane “flags” the Ryder Cup would be proud of. After four days of golf “Farley” is presented to the winners. This trophy is kind of a microcosm of us all. A bronze statue of a frustrated golfer, stogie in hand, leaning on his trusty sticks.
So if you are in Orlando at the end of January and see a group of guys laughing over a few cold ones, know that old Farley is up for grabs again.

Until next time……Swing Hard!
The Shot Taker