Didi Starts School

This is a sequel to "Golfing with Mom", "Ladies Invitational," and “Junior Golf.” Didi is a perky 11-year-old that used to be known as “Danny.”
Danny became Didi just a short while ago and acquired a BFF, her neighbor Sandy. After spending the summer getting girl lessons from her mom Joanne, and BFF Sandy, Didi was moved ahead one grade and began school in classes with Sandy and her next oldest sister Kat. Didi’s favorite class quickly became Design 101 with Mrs. Esecre. Didi designed and is now completing the sewing of the golf outfits for the last Junior Golf tournament of the season. With her mom and Mrs. Esecre’s guidance she is making complete outfits for herself, her BFF Sandy, both of Didi’s sisters Kat and Debbie, as well as their golf coach Brooke.

Friday Night at the Art Gala…
"My, my, your brain is in overdrive tonight Didi.” Mrs. Esecre, Didi’s fashion design teacher was commenting on Didi’s newest ideas to enhance her golf outfit designs. “We could certainly incorporate some beading or sequins, but you're running out of time to get the outfits done and that would require more hand stitching. Our sewing machines could do some simple embroidery, but you would need to create a pattern for your custom logo first so that we could copy it into the memory. Would you like to work on them tomorrow? We could meet at the fabric store tomorrow morning to get the supplies to finish them."

"Thank you, Mrs. Esecre! I'll talk to my mom to make sure we can meet you. Thank you again, you've been a great help to me. Would you be
able to come to our house afterwards? I can get my sisters and Sandy to help complete the hand stitching but your expertise would be needed."

Didi went to find her mom and sisters and Sandy to tell them about her ideas. Her mom was excited and told Didi she would take her to the
fabric store tomorrow morning to meet Ms. Esecre. Sandy, Deb and Kat were excited that Didi was going to put some special designs on their outfits, too. Didi organized a sewing session for Saturday afternoon to do the hand sewing of the beading as well as the embroidery.

As the evening drew to a close, Didi found Brooke and her escort, one of the country club members. Brooke told Didi she wanted to get the girls together Sunday for a practice session on the range then have a 9-hole tune-up to prepare for next weekend’s event. Brooke said she would get Greg and Tom to meet the girls at 9am.

When Didi told Sandy about the Sunday session, Sandy was excited. “We need to keep those boys on edge, Didi. We need to put some pressure on them to keep control.”

“Sandy, we need to ramp up our cuteness factor. These boys will do our bidding!”

Didi was up early on Saturday because she was so excited about her sewing project. She decided to put together a breakfast with French toast and bacon. First, she got the bacon started. Then she started the coffee, and she knew between the coffee and bacon smells, everyone would be joining her soon.

Her mother was first to arrive. “Good morning Didi. What great smells for a mother to wake up to!” “Good morning, mom. We have a lot to do today, and I wanted to make sure we stayed on schedule. I’m starting the French toast; would you get the syrup out of the pantry?” “I’m glad to help sweetie, and I hear your dad and sisters coming, too.”

The breakfast table got quiet as everyone was busy finishing off the cinnamon French toast with warm maple syrup topped off by a dusting of powdered sugar. Didi laid out the day’s plans. “First, we are going to do the dishes, then we’re off to the fabric store. Kat and Debbie, in addition to doing the color-block tops that you helped select, you can additionally customize your own top with micro-beading along the diagonal stripe across the front and back. Mrs. Esecre is going to come over after we get the supplies to teach us how to professionally hand sew them in! She’s also going to show me how use the sewing machine to embroider my own brand into the back golf pocket of the shorts.”

Kat spoke first. “Wow, Didi, we’ll be wearing your “DD” brand designer label clothing to our last tournament next weekend. We’ll be our own fashion show!” Everyone chuckled but they all silently prayed that the finished products turned out fantastic for Didi’s sake.

Didi’s father had been quietly supportive of Didi’s change but now he was the next to speak. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of you Didi. You are a very talented and determined young lady!”

In return, Didi walked over to her dad with a very sweet hug. “Thank you, daddy, that means a lot to me. Daddy, I have been thinking of some designs for boy’s golf, too. Would you help me by trying on some of my designs for boys?”

Didi had several sketches of close-fitting designs for boys and men. “I really like JY Yee’s outfits she wears on the LPGA tour.” The LPGA tour had several women that wore long sleeves and longer pants or capri’s that many of the Asian players preferred. Didi wanted to incorporate these for the boys they played with. She liked the stretch design that would be comfortable, if somewhat feminine looking. She also liked the thin arm coverings that would block out the sun for golfers that they could pair with close fitting tops. She was looking forward to seeing Greg and Tom in her designs.

Joanne continued to marvel at the dramatic changes to their family that took place over the last several weeks. Didi’s emergence from his “Danny cocoon” had been nothing short of amazing. That seemed to be the impetus that Joanne needed to take control of the direction of the family. Now that she had resumed her nursing career, responsibility for the cooking and cleaning of the house had shifted to a shared service for her husband and daughters. John took his responsibility seriously for the home and family and even took the initiative to learn how to cook complete meals for the family.

Joanne had begun giving Didi girl lessons that summer that she should have learned in the first 10 years of her life had she been a cis girl. And unbelievably enough, Didi was absorbing the information like it was a chocolate ice cream cone. She was like a big sponge soaking in everything Joanne said, and Jo never had to tell her anything more than once.

The one area that Didi was not decided on was whether she was attracted to boys or girls or both. Didi had a crush on her neighbor and BFF Sandy. There were times that Didi really wanted to kiss her, but most of the time they were like sisters. There had also been some contact with boys for Didi. But for the most part Didi just observed Sandy and her sisters keeping the boys at bay. Didi knew there were situations coming up where she would be expected to attend mixed social events and perhaps even be escorted by a boy. She really didn’t know how she would react, but she tried not to worry about that now.

John put on an apron and volunteered to clean up after breakfast so that Joanne and the girls could head over to the fabric store. There they met Sandy and her mom Carol and Mrs. Esecre. There were rows and rows of micro bead choices. Didi showed the group some sketches she made that highlighted different possible beading designs. Sandy’s outfit was a powder blue and navy-blue combination, and she chose an emerald-colored beading which they paired with a matching-colored thread. Deb’s outfit was a mauve and sunflower yellow combination for she selected a darker mustard yellow bead that really highlighted the contrast well. Kat’s color scheme was a zebra inspired white and black contrast. Her choice of navy beading would add depth to the design.

Didi had selected a pink and white lace combination for herself which she highlighted with tiny hot-pink beading. Didi had designed a slightly different design for Brooke because of her curvier figure than the pre-teens had. Didi had wanted to create something special for Brooke because of all the time she had spent with the girls’ junior golf program. Didi’s color scheme for her was inspired by a creamsicle. She used a sweet pale orange color paired with an off white in successively larger stripes in a repeating pattern of 4. Didi used a gold beading on the alternating stripes. Because of Brooke’s curvier body, Didi used an elastic material for the narrowest of the stripes that did an excellent job of highlighting Brooke’s body shape.

Didi made matching culottes for all the girls’ outfits because they all agreed that it was the most comfortable to golf in. Brooke suggested a sturdy back pocket to keep their scorecard and yardage book in was essential. Tastefully located at the top outside corner of that pocket was the distinctive “DD” script logo embroidered in pink.

Didi had decided on a white capri design for the boys with a contrasting insert at the bottom of the leg. She though a larger “DD” logo in the contrasting panel would highlight her design. Didi had picked out a stretchy white cotton and lycra fabric for the boys with a contrasting green insert with a subtle pink “DD Designs” logo on the outside of each leg. Didi had recruited Sandy to help her convince the boys to wear her designs. Sandy had plenty of ideas to make sure they were on board.

Joanne and Carol, Sandy’s mom, along with Sylvia Esecre helped the four girls finish each of their golf outfits with the beading and then they carefully cool-ironed them. Midge at the beauty emporium offered to display the outfits in her store during the week. The girls hated to part with them as their excitement was building for next weekend’s tournament. They took several pictures when they delivered them to Midge that afternoon. Brooks was thrilled to get the pictures texted to her and in turn sent them off to her agent. Sylvia Esecre texted the pictures to her friend, Debbie Wilson, who was a buyer at Bloomingales. Debbie was delighted with the outfits and replied she was looking forward to getting a closer look when she got her hair done this week by Midge.

Didi didn’t realize the scope of what was going to happen when her designs exploded on the scene across the country at the high-end Bloomingale Stores. Sylvia Esecre had a serious conversation with Joanne and John about how a new and exclusive designer could quite literally launch a career with an opportunity like this. She said between her and Debbie Wilson, they would also put them in contact with high quality cut and sew shops here domestically that would also ensure quality control.

Debbie painted the following picture. She said to think about the numbers: sizes 2-4-6-8-10-12-14 as well as plus sizes in multiple quantities in the 4 distinct styles sold in dozens of stores nationally. Outfits like this sold in the $250-$500 range and they would be right at the beginning of the resort and cruise line season. Didi’s cost of manufacturing would be around $15 per outfit. That’s conservatively well over $500 thousand in profit after subtracting the store markup. Yikes!

But first things first and Sunday was the practice session with Brooke. Brooke Hastings was a recent college grad with a finance degree from prestigious Northwestern University near Chicago. She had a distinguished four-year collegiate career. The highlight of her career was when she actually won the Monday morning qualifier which got her into the Marathon Bar Open LPGA event in Ohio and she ended up finishing just outside the top ten.

Unfortunately, Brooke was unable to line up enough sponsors to go full time on either the LPGA or Symetra tour. Fortunately, Brooke was smart enough to realize she had a golden opportunity to hone her short game as she was employed to help the pro at the Golden Oaks Country Club by giving private lessons and also ran the junior golf program. Her star pupils, Didi and Sandy were constantly pushing Brooke to help them fine tune their short games, too. This meant Brooke was rapidly becoming a wedge and putting wizard. That’s how you win tournaments! The brutally honest golf rule: Drive for show, but putt for dough!

Brooke had recently been in touch with her agent about her significant game improvement and her agent had lined up a few of the large sponsors, but they wouldn’t amount to much unless she showed some success. She needed someone to back her so that she could show she belonged. But it was expensive to be out on any of the tours, with six-digit expenses as the normal. First year players are lucky if they break even when you think of constant travel, hotel lodging, meals, and a top-notch teaching pro to advise you. Then you had clothing and equipment expenses. Sponsor’s dollars would flow if you had success. But teeing it up every week against the best 150-women golfers in the world is a longshot for even the best of the best. Brooke’s confidence was high, and she was hoping for a second chance to prove she belonged. Brooke had no idea that her little protégé Didi was about to become her benefactor. If Brooke could break the top ten in a tournament, Didi’s sponsorship would turn into a lucrative deal for both of them as she would wear exclusive clothing from “DD” couture. Brooke’s exposure on national TV would lead to numerous opportunities that would propel little Didi into the lucrative world of women’s athletic high-end sportswear. But we are getting a little ahead of ourselves here.

The Sunday practice session included the four girls along with four boys including Tom and Greg. Brooke was amazed at how far the whole group had progressed in under two months. Didi was her star, but Sandy, Kat, and Deb were all shooting in the low to mid 40’s as well. They were thrilled to have this LPGA future star tutoring them on an almost daily basis. And this group of girls could putt lights out. They seldom three putted, were deadly from within 10 feet and felt right at home in the sand traps. After an extensive short game primer, all the golfers warmed up for their 9-hole mini tournament.

Brooke paired up Didi and Sandy with Tom and Greg. Kat and Deb played with Dave and Ted, a couple of thirteen-year-olds that were quite skilled. Brooke felt that the girls would benefit by being pushed by the boys and the boys would benefit by observing the short game expertise of the girls. Tom and Greg were enamored by Didi and Sandy but felt a little intimidated and hadn’t tried to ask them out yet.

Brooke announced that there would be an end of season banquet at the conclusion of the tournament next weekend, and they would all be invited. A light went on with the boys and they immediately began hatching plans to get these amazing girls to accompany them. Dave and Ted took the direct approach and immediately asked Kat and Deb to let them escort the girls to the banquet, which they accepted. Didi pre-empted Tom and Greg by challenging them to see who would win today’s 9-hole event. “If you boys win, Sandy and I will graciously attend the banquet with you. But if we win, we will all go separately and take our chances.”

“We agree,” said Tom with Greg nodding. “But you two are too good for us to give you the advantage to start with. So, we will all play from the white tees.”

The girls were disappointed to lose their edge in distance that the tees gave them, but they felt they would prevail anyway. Sandy couldn’t care less if they won or lost the match, because her and Didi would win either way by conceding to a date regardless of who won. But they weren’t telling the boys that yet. They were going to make the boys sweat to the very end. Brooke heard the girls whispering and knew they had something up their sleeves. She expected this was going to be an extremely even and competitive match.

“Sandy, there is no pressure on us, but it’s all on the boys as they expect to win. Let’s play our best and see what happens.”

A coin was tossed, the girls won, and proceeded to tee off first. Didi went first and hit a great drive up the left side of the fairway on the straight away par 5. Sandy also hit a great drive and then the two girls sexily sauntered over to the side of the tee to touch up their lipstick. Tom and Greg were suitably distracted but managed to find the fairway with their shots, too. Sandy was up first and nailed a piercing three wood that ended up rolling within 15’ of the green. Didi had just over 200 yards to reach the green and pulled out her hybrid. This was probably Didi’s favorite club besides her putter. She hit a high arcing fade which landed softly on the green within 20’ of the hole. A very impressive shot indeed with a solid chance for eagle.

Tom and Greg had a distance advantage on these longer holes as they were able to hit irons into the greens with a higher chance of finding the green with their shots. They knew they had better hit them close because Didi was deadly with her putter.

Tom’s shot ended up just short of the green, but Greg hit a low liner that ended up in the greenside bunker. Advantage girls.

Tom and Kat chipped on, and both ended up about 10’ from the hole for their birdie putts. Greg blasted out of the trap but was still furthest away with about a 25’ putt for his par. He three putted from there and ended up with a bogey.

Didi hit a big breaking putt that looked like it was going in but ultimately lipped out. She had an easy tap-in for her birdie. Tom and Sandy both hit good putts, but the severe slope prevented either putt from having a realistic chance to go in and both ended up with pars. The girls were up two strokes after one hole and the boys were feeling the pressure. Brooke was walking with the group and marveled at these two spunky girls.

The match seesawed back and forth until they came to the ninth tee. The score was all tied up as they walked up to the signature hole for the course. It was a mid-length par 4. It had water that ran all the way down the right side of the fairway with a large pond guarding the front of the green. If you didn’t hit a very good drive down the fairway you would have to lay up on your second shot or risk a watery finish.

Didi teed off first and hit an excellent drive down the left side of the fairway. Sandy hit a good drive well short of Didi and knew she was going to have to lay up. The pressure was squarely on Tom and Greg. Tom hit a wild shot that went towards the water on the right but went so far right that it ended up in an adjoining fairway. He just missed disaster! Greg wanted to play it safe and pulled out his three wood and hit his tee shot safely between Didi and Sandy.

Sandy hit a 7 iron just short of the pond. She would have a short chip across the pond to try and get close for her par putt. Greg decided to go for the green, but his shot screamed over the green and left him with a difficult downhill chip that could easily end up in the pond. His comeback chip stayed out of the pond, but he had a difficult putt for his par. He eventually missed the par putt and bogied the hole.

Didi pulled out her trusty hybrid and choked down on the club so she could hit a higher but slightly shorter approach shot to the green. Her shot sailed true and landed softly about 15’ away from the pin.

Tom was so far to the right he wasn’t even sure of the yardage to the green. He actually hit a great shot that somehow ended up only 20’ away. Sandy hit an excellent chip that took one hop and skidded to a halt within 5’ of the pin.

Tom was up first and hit a terrific putt that found the bottom of the cup. You would have thought he had just won the Masters. He was running around and shouting and fist pumping and high fiving Greg.

Brooke was grinning as Didi calmly walked up and made her 15’ birdie like it was nothing. Tom and Greg were once again sweating bullets. Sandy had a straight 5’ putt she could make in her sleep to win the match. Brooke knew what was going to happen next, but it took Didi by complete surprise as Sandy left her putt just short. Didi took this opportunity knowing the boys just missed a beat down by suggesting that they also wear “DD” designs. The boys were excited about being including in the “DD” couture. Didi said she needed some measurements to finish the designs.

Sandy looked dejected, but just for just a fleeting moment. The boys quickly congratulated the girls on their outstanding play and the girls accepted their invitation to the banquet.

Sandy had given Brooke a little wink as she was lining up her putt. She gave the boys the dignity of not losing to the girls just a week before the big tournament. The group had become friends, but Didi wondered how her first “date with a boy” was going to turn out. But Didi, Sandy, Kat and Deb all knew what this meant. Dress shopping!!

The upcoming tournament would become a pivotal situation for Didi and Sandy. They were looking to make their mark on the junior golf world. Didi would finally introduce her clothing line at the final tournament of the season.

Joanne was making quite an impression her colleagues at work with her work ethic, knowledge, and personal approach and was being groomed for the next managerial position at St. Helens Hospital.

John was now proving to be an asset to the running of the family home. Joanne had suggested a new diet and exercise routine for John to get a more fit shape to his body that would help him to keep up with the girls.

Even though Tom and Greg were good golfers, their fashion sense was comprised of khaki shorts and coordinating polo’s. Didi knew her designs would also help them to distinguish high-end boy’s fashions from their competitors.

That week, Didi and Elaine had more bonding in their classes. Didi was more enthusiastic of her relationships and Elaine became a trusted ally.

Next week will bring the conclusion of the junior golf season in the Midwest and the girls will also find out about the upcoming Sadie Hawkins dance at school.