A Look Back on 2020-

Why review a year many want to forget

The year 2020 will be forever marked as the year of COVID-19.

We are seeing a lot of “year in review” stories now as writers, news media, and the entertainment industry try to sum up the past year.

We are also hearing a lot of comments about why 2020 was a terrible year and how we might be better off to just forget about looking back.

There’s no doubt COVID and a divisive election made 2020 seem like the worst year in our lives.

But ask any family member who has been around long enough, and they might offer some alternative bad years.

Take 1968 for example. There were the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, the violent protests at the Chicago Democratic National Convention, and the ever worsening story of American involvement in the Vietnam War.

We get annual memories around December 7th of what the end of 1941 was like in America. In the closing days of that year, the nation was reeling from the Pearl Harbor attack, the President had declared war on Japan, and men were enlisting by the thousands.

There’s no doubt many families feared the worst as that year came to a close.

My parents along with others who grew up in the 1930s and 1940s, faced difficult times. But they endured and left us with a sense of ingenuity and independence. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

Anyone around when the stock market crashed in October 1929 would find out what a rough year or a string of bad years might be like.

My parents were born in the early 1930s, and from hearing their stories of growing up in the shadow of the Great Depression, I knew they endured true impoverishment.

This concern over where the next paycheck might come from influenced their lives, and the lives of the next generation.

Even in what could arguably be described as terrible years, there was still optimism. Both my parents were born in the early 1930s, so I expect that while their respective families worried about tough times, there must have been a sense of hope that better days might be around the corner.

The World War II years were trying, but as an allied front, people knew that we had to win in order to save democracy and enjoy freedom.
In 1968 with assassinations, violence in the streets, and Vietnam, we had Earthrise.

Earthrise, the photograph taken by the Apollo 9 crew that was the first to orbit the moon. The photo remains a symbol of hope and optimism. Photo: NASA

Earthrise was the name given to the photograph from Apollo 8. It’s that “bright blue marble” photograph taken by the crew as the spacecraft emerged from the dark side of the moon.

Looking back on the earth, the photo became symbolic with hope and optimism.

Times will improve. What COVID took from all of us may be partially restored by the vaccine, human immunity, and safer protocols.

While politics may continue to divide and separate, we will give our new government leaders a little time to try to make a difference.
We can still be looking for a few rays of sunshine. We must have hope.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He will discuss his new book Can Do Californians with Roger Wood on the Community Conversations program on January 2 at 7:00 AM.

KYOS is at 1480 on AM radio, and also available at www.1480kyos.com

The book Can Do Californians is available now at Lulu.com and at BN.com.

A Little Voice Urging a Final Round-

Playing a Sentimental Golf Favorite One Last Time

The curved pine on hole nine at Modesto Muni Golf Course. Photo: Steve Newvine

When City leaders made the final decision to close Modesto Muni Golf Course, the timeline had the final days coming in December. COVID 19 restrictions moved up the closing date to the spring of 2020.

The course shutdown as part of the health department’s ruling in March. When other venues began to reopen in May, Muni remained closed.

“The City knew the end was coming, so it made little sense to reopen just for a few months,” John Griston of First Tee of the Central Valley told me in August.

The closed sign was displayed at the beginning of the COVID crisis at Modesto Muni Golf Course and the facility never reopened. Photo: Steve Newvine.

Fortunately, a little voice spoke to me in January telling me in effect, “You better get out there now.”

I discovered Modesto Muni in 2007 on my way back to my home in Merced from a meeting in the Bay Area. It was late afternoon, and traffic was jammed on Highway 99 at Modesto in Stanislaus County.

I pulled off the highway to get gas, and practically stumbled into the nine-hole course. As it was late in the afternoon so I reasoned with myself to play a round of golf and maybe the traffic would be easier in another hour or so.

That routine would be repeated many times as I would head back from the Bay Area from my twice-monthly meetings, reach Modesto around four o’clock, and head into the pro shop to pay for another round. Up until recent years, the course offered a six-hole rate at a slightly reduced price.

I could usually get a round done in about an hour. Also throughout this period of time, I’d hear from the regulars that once again, the City was “trying to close the place”. From the City of Modesto perspective, the economics were simple. The number of paid rounds never penciled-out in those final years.

Ideas were tried to increase efficiency, and maintain Modesto’s once proud statement that it had three City-owned golf courses. The other two are Dryden and Creekside Golf Courses. Near the end, a strategic alliance with the non-profit First Tee of Central Valley was formed.

On paper, it seemed like a win-win with the non-profit running the course and the City reducing some of the overhead.

It wasn’t enough. In January 2020, the City Council made the unanimous final decision.

The City of Modesto proudly stated on the scorecard at Modesto Muni that the course was the birthplace of public golf in the City.

There are a lot of ideas on what should be done with the property. Someday, we’ll likely see some housing, maybe a park, or maybe something no one has even thought of yet.

The land was originally the City’s first airport Coffee Field. The land now adjoins Thurman Stadium, home of the Modesto Nuts baseball stadium.

A scorecard from my early days playing there included a statement that read, “The birthplace of public golf in Modesto.” Modesto Muni played a key role in my adapting to the region north of Merced. I played there with a couple of golf buddies over the years, but most of my rounds were solo.

This allowed me to try different clubs, experiment with my short game, and find the solace I have enjoyed every time I play the game. That final round for me in January was like the dozens that preceded it. There were two holes with dogleg turns that I always looked forward to taking on.

Writing about the course in 9 From 99, Experiences in California’s Central Valley in 2009, I called attention to a small convenience store across the street from the flag on number three.

It was always amusing to watch a group finishing up at that flag by dispatching one member to cross the street and pick up a snack. There were good memories from Modesto Muni, as there were good reflections from Stevenson Ranch when it closed in 2015 or the French Camp RV Park and Golf Course that dropped the last two words from its name a few years ago when it closed the course.

Here in Merced County, many golfers still remember the former Merced Hills course that closed in the early 2000s.

That closing brought about the greater good. The land became the site of the University of California at Merced. Great memories remain. New traditions begin.

As I look back to that late January day when I played what would be my last outing at Modesto Muni, I’m glad I listened to that little voice. I enjoyed the final round.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

In 2019, he wrote Course Corrections, My Golf Truth, Fiction, and Philosophy.

His new book Can Do Californians, is available now at Lulu.com