The 19th hole in the Grill Room at the Country Club of Waterbury has been dutifully served by bartender Charley Mulholland for over 35 years. Over the years, Charley has seen and heard it all . . . and certainly has a bottomless well of stories.

There was the time, for instance, when he was walking through the locker room and noticed a member taking a shower with his golf clothes and spikes on.  As he continued to walk, Charley pieced the probable scenario together: It was a rainy day.  The member had lied and told his wife that he'd be playing golf.  When he showed up at home, he'd better be wearing wet golf clothes.

One member frequents the club in spurts and may disappear before your eyes in the middle of a conversation. He arrived one time just before Christmas and was wishing everyone well and hugging all the waitresses while dispensing seasonal tips. A young waitress spoke to Charley, the bartender "why I never even met him before and he gave me twenty dollars. Make sure you don't miss him before he leaves." Another young waitress commented to Charley the same way. When a third waitress talked to Charley, all he could say was, "I'll be fine" since Charley had earlier loaned the member $400.

Each year someone fails to perform well in a tournament playoff because of the drink. Back in the 70's the member-guest was played as 18-hole matches and a playoff was often necessary to determine the top 16 qualifying teams. A local banker and his guest were fairly assured they were either in or out of the championship flight until the call from the pro shop required their competitive presence on the first tee. Unfortunately, they had finished quite early this hot humid day and had relaxed for about five hours in the grill room, relieving the thirst. Not especially interested in additional play, the guest wandered to the tee box, swayed considerably and "nubbed" his ball off the toe of the club directly over the right ball marker into the very top of a large pine tree. Without even looking where it went and before the ball could reach ground, he teed another and hit an identical shot. Both balls were concurrently rattling through the branches as he whispered to his partner, "It's your hole and I'll meet you back in the grill room."

A foursome was on the 15th tee one Sunday morning at about 11:30 when a well-known member wandered over the crest of the hill at 200 yards, his head turning left and right, clearly searching for something, expectedly a golf ball. Well, it became clear that he was not part of a group and had no clubs. As he approached the men walking from the tee, the wandering member's eyes darted and he mumbled, "Did you see it ?" "See what ?" asked one golfer. "My Cadillac - I know I left it somewhere last night."

Charley is often asked to help members with quite a few things - a car won't start, someone lost his glasses, and so forth. Occasionally, he discreetly sells stag tickets and uses good judgment is marketing the event. One member even provided a list of his best friends and asked Charley's help in mentioning the date and place to only those members. The first member listed walked to the bar and Charley knew that this man owned the first dollar he ever possessed, but since a challenge is a challenge, Charley was game. "Joe's son is being married in three weeks and Joe is having a stag dinner." The member stared at him, squinted in pain and promptly responded, "Sorry, I will be out of town that night. When is the stag?"

Eddie and Mike were good friends and played together a few years in the Arnold Cup, the multiple-week, match play spring member-member. It is common that someone will have a wedding or graduation and priorities change, especially if a team has won more matches than anticipated. Eddie had that scheduling problem and knew that he could not make the start of the match next Saturday. Friend and partner, Mike passed it off as insignificant and told him he would go it alone until Eddie showed up. Eddie was quite pleased when he found the group on the tenth tee and even more delighted when told that Mike had alone battled the opposition with great success - the match was even. Never underestimate the value of being the underdog. With Eddie's arrival and eagerness to complete the team of two, Eddie and Mike were closed out by the 16th.

Dr. Joe was an avid golfer and often visited the grill room. As Charley started Doc' usual Scotch drink, Joe stated that he would change drinks this visit, that he wanted rum. Charley gave him a quizzical look and Joe whispered, "I saw it on TV - inhabitants of the hills of Peru consistently live to be over 100 years of age and the only alcohol they drink is rum." So, he had a few and walked home, since he lived close by. The next day when Doc entered the grill room, Charley asked, "Want some rum ?". "No, no, no" was the response. "Who would ever want to live that long feeling like this ?"

Ed worked the locker room for a number of years. When a member finished shaving (poorly), he asked Ed if he had a styptic pencil. Ed, pre-occupied with some task, mentioned that one might be on the cigar box at the shoe counter. Five minutes later, the member came around the corner with multiple pieces of toilet paper stuck to his face and a strange aroma. He handed Ed the "zipper glide" and headed for home.

Leon and Pappy played cards for years, despite Leon's knowing that Pappy cheated.  We guess that the stakes were not that high or they just enjoyed the card game together.  One day Pappy won every hand.  Leon stood up, disgusted, and proclaimed, "I don't know why I play against you — you are a better card player, you are always lucky and you cheat!".