My Friend Charlie...

On January 18th, my best friend, golf partner and brother Charlie unexpectedly passed away at the young age of 79.

To say that Charlie was a really good person only says the words without giving meaning and content. Charlie could get along with a “Rattle Snake” and make friends under any condition…. Always turning a negative into a positive with ease.

For over 25 years of friendship, Charlie and I made many memories. From golf road trips, shows and tournaments, to daily outings and dinners, we were always together. Among hundreds of memories, here is a short story that will show his true personality. I remember the time that Charlie and I were at the Sugarloaf Golf Course filming a short video on how to correctly use a golf club that we invented called the Hybrid Wedge. Club owner, Wayne Knelly, gave us permission to film on Hole #11. It wasn’t a busy afternoon, so we let players play though. As we were filming, we noticed up the fairway a golf cart with two players. We motioned for them to come on through and just kept filming our project. A short time passed, and the two players come on up. The driver seemed irritated that we were holding him up… All the while smoking a big cigar with smoke coming out of his ears! We tried explaining what we were doing but he wasn’t interested in hearing it.

Charlie quietly said to me “go on with the filming and I’ll handle this.” When it was all said and done, Charlie not only calmed the gentleman down, but also sold him one of our Hybrid Wedges! This was typical of Charlie; he could always make lemonade out of lemons.

As I’m writing this column, I am certain that Charlie Lazun is teeing off for a round of golf with another one of our good friends, Dale Grow. To them I say, “play on and I will catch up with you both when the time is right.”

Quote from Charlie “It’s Just Another Day In Paradise.”

I’ll kiss everyone on the “Nose” for you Charlie.

—Larry Collum, CEO/Publisher