A Look Inside The Works of Poet & Author RidgeMagee
A Flawed Man
Am I the best that I can be?
Am I doing the best that I can?
Do my actions betray my words?
Am I a flawed man?
With words, I wooed you.
You became my biggest fan.
But my words mirrored my actions.
I was a flawed man.
It is not enough to want to be better.
Redemption requires more than a principled plan.
Your love for me is beyond reason.
Thoug
Am I the best that I can be?
Am I doing the best that I can?
Do my actions betray my words?
Am I a flawed man?
With words, I wooed you.
You became my biggest fan.
But my words mirrored my actions.
I was a flawed man.
It is not enough to want to be better.
Redemption requires more than a principled plan.
Your love for me is beyond reason.
Though I am a flawed man.
History can’t be erased or rewritten,
and a bell rung can not be unrung.
Nevertheless, each day I pray
that this is the day
when your faith and trust in me
is perceived closer at hand
for this blessed, but flawed man.
The After Party
Hello? Where is it that I am, and when?
Last I knew, I was there, and it was then.
You are neither here, nor there,
nor anywhere, my friend.
You’re but an id in the ether now,
the mere essence of who you were.
Telepathy is your sole means to confer.
And the psyche, being only a psyche,
Can only demur, concur, or defer.
Eons have passed without
Hello? Where is it that I am, and when?
Last I knew, I was there, and it was then.
You are neither here, nor there,
nor anywhere, my friend.
You’re but an id in the ether now,
the mere essence of who you were.
Telepathy is your sole means to confer.
And the psyche, being only a psyche,
Can only demur, concur, or defer.
Eons have passed without physicality.
Wars are waged inconsequentially.
Cerebral aggression evolved
into a pseudo-civility.
We’re here at life’s after-party,
equals all, with no hierarchy,
ascended beyond the physical,
we while away eternity
in metaphysical anarchy.
This vacuity is our forevermore.
We’re merely echoes of an ethos,
with no way back to our livelihood.
The hell where we were
is looking pretty damn good.
Angry Man
I never thought of myself an angry man.
But if it means I’ll have my way one day,
well, I reckon I am.
A patient man by most estimations.
Karma’s my remedy for most situations.
I am a patient man, it’s true,
but I concede to holding a grudge.
Revenge served cold
is the very best kind I adjudge.
Without a doubt, an eye for an eye
wou
I never thought of myself an angry man.
But if it means I’ll have my way one day,
well, I reckon I am.
A patient man by most estimations.
Karma’s my remedy for most situations.
I am a patient man, it’s true,
but I concede to holding a grudge.
Revenge served cold
is the very best kind I adjudge.
Without a doubt, an eye for an eye
would more swiftly my soul to satisfy.
But my sense is I’d abhor even more,
the consequences of evening the score.
So I let the universe do its thing,
without any help from me.
Let divine balance be achieved
by time, and karmic poetry.
The Many And The Few
Coping With A Cerebral Existence
Being old is a condition no one’s ever outgrown.
That my body would someday betray,
I knew.
That my intellect was in neglect,
I’ve known.
That I have any left to resurrect,
yahoo!
The enigmas of existence entice,
But dare we enter the psyche’s lair?
Only a few are able to penetrate,
Fewer still will lay i
Coping With A Cerebral Existence
Being old is a condition no one’s ever outgrown.
That my body would someday betray,
I knew.
That my intellect was in neglect,
I’ve known.
That I have any left to resurrect,
yahoo!
The enigmas of existence entice,
But dare we enter the psyche’s lair?
Only a few are able to penetrate,
Fewer still will lay it bare.
Dare we engage our inner guru,
Lest reckonings of id and ego ensue?
Dare we dissect the essence of vice and virtue,
Lest we derail all hope of an existential breakthrough?
But before enlightenment is achieved,
Revelations must be perceived,
Postulations conceived,
Alternative points of view pursue,
And original thoughts to woo.
This is just some of the stuff
that separates the many and the few.
Awakening
A poem of enlightenment
He felt nothing,
his life of hate in disarray.
He felt nothing,
his festering soul in slow decay.
A dark sadness
was blocking his way.
Then one wondrous,
marvelous, miraculous day,
an epiphany wandered his way.
“Could the opposite
of what I thought I knew…
also be true?”
And just by the asking,
his heart grew,
his burden
A poem of enlightenment
He felt nothing,
his life of hate in disarray.
He felt nothing,
his festering soul in slow decay.
A dark sadness
was blocking his way.
Then one wondrous,
marvelous, miraculous day,
an epiphany wandered his way.
“Could the opposite
of what I thought I knew…
also be true?”
And just by the asking,
his heart grew,
his burden of bigotry
was giving way.
Where black and white
had been in endless mêlée,
shades of gray began to play.
He saw the same things
he used to see.
But not the same way
they used to be.
Black is not so bad,
white is not so good.
He is not so proud
of where he once stood.
As his darkness retreated,
he saw the falsehoods.
Ashamed he was played
like a babe in the woods.
Now his soul is conscious again,
his heart is filled to the brim.
All his synapses are firing,
the force is strong inside him.
This one thinks for himself now.
There is much good left to be done,
more souls to save from the dark.
Go forth, my son,
it is a better life on which you embark.
Like most things in life, the least complicated solution is often the best one. Golf is no different, especially for senior and weekend golfers, for whom the solution is so simple it's usually ignored.
Ridge was in the golf business for a long time, as a student, player, pro shop owner, master club maker, club fitter, and teacher. Ridge's
Like most things in life, the least complicated solution is often the best one. Golf is no different, especially for senior and weekend golfers, for whom the solution is so simple it's usually ignored.
Ridge was in the golf business for a long time, as a student, player, pro shop owner, master club maker, club fitter, and teacher. Ridge's dad was also a lifetime PGA member, so golf was a dominating influence since his formative years.
Ridge owned Magee Golf Company, a golf retail, repair, and PGA-accredited teaching facility for nearly 25 years. Believing his customers were his best advertising, he offered free lessons to all his “new" club buyers, averaging 15 lessons a week, 45 weeks a year for the last 16 years before he retired.
During those years Ridge isolated and applied 3 key elements that effortlessly and instantly improved everyone's ball striking.
Ridge shares a career's worth of wisdom to help you defeat your toughest opponent, yourself.
7Windows Publishing
Audiobook On Amazon
“Gimmes, Mulligans & Preferred Lies“ is a pragmatic idealist's perspective on people, piety, and politics.
Or more precisely, a compilation of educational, inspirational, motivational, and thought-provoking essays I've published over the years in various publications.
Topics range from God’s plan to being self-employed, with a lot of how-to
“Gimmes, Mulligans & Preferred Lies“ is a pragmatic idealist's perspective on people, piety, and politics.
Or more precisely, a compilation of educational, inspirational, motivational, and thought-provoking essays I've published over the years in various publications.
Topics range from God’s plan to being self-employed, with a lot of how-tos in between.
My counsel has always been to “Seek Enlightenment by Engaging and Exploring Alternative Points of View.” Because when you scrutinize and ponder viewpoints other than your own, new insights and perceptions emerge, and the collateral effects are revised perceptions and enlightened points of view. You will never stop growing, intellectually!
These acorns of enlightenment grow into the strong personal convictions that define us. Doing our due diligence gives us the confidence to express our opinions and be an influential part of the greater discussion.
I ask that while you’re reading, you accept that the opinions expressed are merely my point of view, based on what I believed to be true at a given point in time and nothing for anyone to get their panties in a knot over.
Ridge
What You Do Will Follow You
Nobody thinks ahead anymore,
beyond their unprincipled behavior,
beyond their causes and their battles
to when they will meet their savior.
The apprehension, distrust, and doubt
that their words of guile inflict,
are compounded by their actions,
which continually contradict.
The oaths they make to God
are persistently and consistently dereli
Nobody thinks ahead anymore,
beyond their unprincipled behavior,
beyond their causes and their battles
to when they will meet their savior.
The apprehension, distrust, and doubt
that their words of guile inflict,
are compounded by their actions,
which continually contradict.
The oaths they make to God
are persistently and consistently derelict.
Henchmen along for the ride
are branded by their predation.
And after their master falls,
they will suffer that association.
If they dare to think otherwise,
they’ve an unrealistic expectation.
It is not our job to cast judgment,
or to speak softly and carry big sticks.
Rather, we’ll speak loudly and proudly,
and keep our eyes open for their tricks.
All these amoral power junkies
will have their face-to-face one day.
Karma and kismet have no master,
and the universe doesn’t fucking play.
Author's BIO:
In the 1980s, while working for the Defense Department, Ridge wrote a weekly column for an Arizona paper called “Golf Straight Talk”, but it wasn't until the mid 1990s, when he owned Magee Golf Company, a golf retail, repair, and PGA-accredited teaching facility in central Florida, that he was compelled to write a book.
Golf was in Ridge’s blood. As a second-generation teaching pro, he wrote about what he knew best: how to help golfers improve their ball striking. That first book was titled “Golf’s Brutal Truth: If You Suck At It Now, You Probably Always Will”. Later on, in a more mellow mood, Ridge reworked the book and retitled it, “Golf's Simple Truths: Guaranteed Better Ball Striking,”. Much better, don’t you think?
Ridge is known for his distinctive writing style, characterized by an economy of words and a dry, understated humor. Many of his inspirational, educational, and motivational essays, published previously on various international platforms, have been collected and published in “Gimmes, Mulligans & Preferred Lies, One Bloke’s Biased Opinions On Damn Near Everything.” A pragmatic, humorous, and sometimes pontifical look at life, piety and politics.
In early 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, Ridge developed a taste for poetry as a more enlightened way to express himself and went on to compile a series of poetry books he refers to as his “Frank, Relevant, and Relatable Rhymes, Depictions of Our Conditions, In the Raw, Artless Tenor of The Times.”
Ridge’s op-eds, poetry, and essays that were too politically biased for Gimmes, Mulligans & Preferred Lies were assembled and published chronologically in “When The Plundering Is Done,” a freethinker’s perspective on the reigns of the 45th and 47th president of the United States.
Ridge’s books are available for purchase on Amazon, Apple Books, and Barnes & Noble.
Managing Editor,
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Author's Note:
I believe enlightenment is best achieved by exploring and engaging alternative points of view, that opinions and convictions are best formed empirically and independently, and that we should feel free to tender informed perspectives without apology. They are merely what we believe to be true at a given point in time, and subject to change as we evolve. That’s how it works if we continue to grow.
Early in 2016, as the Trump-era shenanigans were unfolding, long-dormant emotions and sensibilities awakened in me, and I felt compelled to engage. But I lacked the confidence to voice my opinions, afraid of asserting my ignorance, I guess. I needed to figure out exactly what and where my give-a-shit factor was on stuff.
Writing forced me to scrutinize my "stuff" and get better insight into myself. I found I have broad empathy and abiding regard for embracing diversity and inclusion, the importance of the phrase “you do you”, and a practical appreciation for the premise “I’m Ok, You’re Ok”, and the precepts “Do No Harm” and “Leave No Trace”.
My poems are profoundly personal expressions, as are all forms of art, and only ask to be perceived with an open mind. I have no illusions about my significance or the impact of my work. Nor do I apologize for its tenor or fret over how others might judge it, or me for it. To do otherwise would inhibit free expression, and a reticent, self-conscious poet is doomed to an uncreative and unproductive melancholy.
I don’t pigeon-hole myself as Democrat or Republican, but merely as a free-thinking 60s-era poet who realizes that health is fundamental to both life and the pursuit of happiness, that liberty should be color-blind, and that big business can never be trusted to put their country’s best interest ahead of their bottom line.
My poetry is frank, relevant, and relatable, and depicts the condition of our condition. Naively, my inner liberal hopes it will foster just an iota of awareness for the innocent, an ounce of enlightenment for the ignorant, and a wee clarity of conscience for the culpable.
Ridge
