Malcolm Gauld“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?” – Satchel Paige
On the one hand, I vividly remember my very first lacrosse goal: Spring, 1968 (age 14, 8th grade)… overcast conditions… an away game at Roxbury Latin School (MA)… I was centering the 3rd midfield line for Fessenden School (the only undefeated lacrosse team I ever played on)… the pipes of the goal were black (rather than orange) and the goal was actually a flat-netted screen resembling a giant square tennis racquet… it resulted from a set play we called “Mabu!” (named after our coach’s cat)… the first time I had executed that play in a real game… it was a bounce shot, the goalie never touched it.
On the other, these days I routinely find myself walking, with deliberate purpose, to a specific room in my house only to arrive with no memory of why.
Perhaps I remember that lacrosse goal because of “The Tingle” that immediately followed. How to explain?… Hmm… To use a contemporary social media acronym, it falls into the category of IYKYK. (If You Know, You Know.) I have felt it, with varying intensity, after every goal since that first one, including those I scored just this month — 57 years after that initial one — at Lake Placid (NY) while playing for the Gray Eagles in the 70-and-over division of the Summit Lacrosse Tournament.
Looking back, my athletic self has been blessed by more than its share of Tingles:
- 1963: Making the all-star team as a 9-year-old second-baseman for the Bristol (NH) Yankees Little League team. (Full Disclosure: I never made it again!)
- 1964: Winning the Lakes Region (NH) — 10-and-under division — Tennis Tournament (age 10).
- 1965: First bucket, a lay-up, in an “official” hoops game with actual refs: South Berwick (ME) Central School.
- 1966: First ice hockey goal: Brunswick (ME) Youth Hockey at Bowdoin’s Dayton Arena (RIP).
- 1968: Catching/riding/stoking! that first wave: Higgins Beach, Scarborough, ME.
- 1970: First touchdown… Wait, that never happened, but I do remember my first tackle in a varsity game (1969 up at MCI), my first (and only) interception (1970, junior year), and my perfect pass reception percentage as a senior: one attempt, one completion. (Although I played center, I begged Coach Legg to let me play one snap at tight end before the season ended. Once when we held a big lead, he called my number and Harold Wingood threw me a perfect spiral which I caught and turned into a first down. Alas, my moment of glory was short-lived as I spent the rest of the season hiking the ball to Matt Libby, our quarterback.)
- 1971: Scoring in Double-“Sudden Death” (Yeah, I know, it’s now called “Golden Goal.”) to beat rival Hinckley School, ensuring Hyde’s first winning lacrosse season (age 17).
- 1974: First college varsity lacrosse goal (age 20) vs. Lehigh University (PA)
- 1987: Crossing the finish line at the NYC Marathon (age 33) after having had to drop out the year before with a knee injury.
- 2016: SEA Paddle NYC (age 62) – a 26-mile circumnavigation of Manhattan via stand-up paddleboard — The “Marathon on the Water” — for the cause of autism.
And that brings me to yesterday (8/15/25): First hole-in-one!… Belgrade Lakes (ME) Golf Club.
At 71, did I still feel the tingle? Absolutely!
But it was a different kind, more than a bit surreal. I have been playing a lot of golf during the last couple of years. (This spring it was really the only post-surgery athletic activity I could do with any regularity.) My game has, er, “improved,” he says, cautiously/guardedly, to a 17 handicap (basic bogey golf) where it has remained pretty much riveted for over a year. This summer, I broke 90 for the first time (86 just last week). So, Yeah, I would say I’m getting better in an endeavor where I have never before experienced such a slow — make that, glacial! — rate of improvement.
However, it’s hard to overstate just how lucky this shot was!…
… No sooner had my #1 Calloway Supersoft ball (yellow, for easier visibility in the rough and woods!) left my #5 hybrid club, assuming a way-too-leftward upward trajectory, before I found myself muttering obscenities under my breath, my disgust increasing as I watched it hit a banked rough maybe 10 yards from the left apron of the green. (Damn!) Then my spirits lifted somewhat as it caromed right, landed on the edge of the green, and commenced to roll slowly in the direction of the cup… Hmm, I optimistically whispered to myself, intrigued as it kept rolling… and rolling… until… it vanished from sight!
Wait!… Did it just drop into a hole?… I mean, T.H.E. Hole?!? My 3 partners certainly thought so. The only way to find out was to walk up there and see…
And, yes, as you can hear, I did have witnesses. And if you’re still not convinced:
It was also a different kind of tingle than any of the aforemenioned. All those tingles occurred in athletic realms where one might reasonably think, If I do this long enough, I will eventually score a basket, a run, a goal, etc. Not only did I never give much thought to ever getting a hole-in-one, none of my three playing partners had ever gotten or witnessed one. That said, the golf gods must have been looking out for me by having these three players with me for vouching puposes! (I play most of my golf alone, enabling me to walk 9 in under 90 minutes.)
If I’ve learned anything from The Tingle, its that it’s not just for kids. And I feel more than a bit sorry for those in my generation who don’t understand that. The Tingle helps keep you young. Maybe that’s what Satchel Paige meant by the opening quote. Maybe Nietsche was right: “The struggle of maturity is to recover the seriousness of a child at play.” At 71, that’s one thing I can get serious about. May it always be so.
Onward, Malcolm Gauld
