CityView Magazine

62 | July/August 2016 sports I n golf, the word "mulligan" is used to describe when a player is given a second-chance, or a "do-over." Aer an unsatisfactory swing, a player can ask his fellow golfers for another crack at the ball and even though it is technically against the rules, in a friend- ly game, a golfer might just get that chance. In life, mulligans are far less common. But that didn't stop former Fayetteville VA Medical Center's Chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Dr. Chris Chambers, from heading out of the office aer 32 years, and picking up a bag of golf clubs instead. At an age when most people are looking to put their feet up and relax, Chambers sought to begin anew, as pos- sibly the world's most overqualified golf caddy. At 55, Chambers got his mulligan, in the form of a new career, serving as a golf caddy for Pinehurst's Golf Course. "I knew I needed to stay active," said Chambers, who is now 63, even if he doesn't look it. "All my years in rehabilitation, I knew that if you slowed down and stopped moving, that's a bad thing." e Buffalo, New York native has been living in Fayetteville since 1977, and always had a keen interest in golf. It didn't occur to him, however, to make working in golf a second career until he spotted an ad in the newspaper aer he retired. "e Fayetteville Observer had an advertise- ment in the paper for caddies at Pinehurst, and I had played Pinehurst many times. I had always thought that it was a great iconic American golf facil- ity, so I answered the ad," Chambers said. "I didn't know that there would be such a vetting process. You have to go through a phone interview to verify your knowledge of golf. If you pass that, you have to go to BY JAMES JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATTHEW WONDERLY PHYSICAL THERAPIST TURNED #1 CADDY AT PINEHURST GOLF COURSE Mulligan Man

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