I love Holiday Cards.  Holiday Cards are the one time in the year to take breathe from the day to day rat race of compiling data, writing reports, and putting together a presentation on the industry and just say “Thank You”.  Thank you for your support, thank you for being there, thank you for you continued kindness, and looking forward to another year together.  Holiday Cards are special.  How many other times in the year do you take out a pen, sign your name (not type it) and say “Happy New Year to you and your family”?

I actually enjoy the feeling of a cramped hand after writing several hundred cards.

As a tradition, gap intelligence makes the most of our Holiday Cards.  While the Hallmark crafted cards we receive are certainly appreciated, we make it an annual event to craft a truly special card for all to see.  In 2007 our staff of nine replicated the Brady Bunch.  We celebrated our San Diego Padres baseball team in 2008, even though the team gave us little reason to celebrate.  In 2009 we paid tribute to The Beatles’ Abbey Road and last year we were Top Gun.

For 2011, the team elected to recreate the hysterically funny movie “Caddy Shack.”  While its surprising that we opted to make the theme of a Holiday Card based on a comedy about golf, the biggest surprise to me was how few of our folks have actually seen the movie.

How is that possible?  Are the generations that far apart?  Not seeing Caddy Shack is the same as a generation missing The Wizard of Oz!  Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase!!  I can’t play a hole of golf without reciting every line from the movie.

Ty Webb: I like you, Betty.
Danny Noonan: It’s Danny, sir.
Ty Webb: Danny. Danny, I’m going to give you a little advice. There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen; all you have to do is get in touch with it. Stop thinking…let things happen…and be…the ball.

Despite their gross naïveté, the troops put on their best Caddy Shack costumes and marched over to Sail Ho, a local golf course here in Liberty Station.  We had caddies (orange t-shirts) and golfers.  We had Carl Speckler (Chris Barnes) the course superintendent and an actual gopher (Katie Hess).

Tony D’Annunzio: [carrying Czervik’s golf bag] What do you got in here, rocks?
Al Czervik: Are you kiddin’? When I was your age, I would lug fifty pounds of ice up five, six flights of stairs!
Tony D’Annunzio: [puts down Czervik’s bag, exasperated] So what?
Al Czervik: So what?
[opens compartment in golf bag, revealing radio]
Al Czervik: So let’s dance!

We recreated the “So let’s dance!!” scene with Rodney Dangerfield, said “Miss it Noonan!  Miss it!!” 13,000 times, made the putt to win the final match, and chased a bigger than life gopher around the course.  It should be noted that Chris’ Carl Speckler performance was Oscar worthy as he perfectly recreated the “Gunga galunga” scene with Keenan (with “Night Rider” t-shirt) and the “It’s in the hole!!!” bit, complete with a pile of destroyed lilies.

Carl Spackler: So I jump ship in Hong Kong and I make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas.
Angie D’Annunzio: A looper?
Carl Spackler: A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I’m a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald… striking. So, I’m on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one – big hitter, the Lama – long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga… gunga, gunga-lagunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he’s gonna stiff me. And I say, “Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.” And he says, “Oh, uh, there won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.” So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.

gap intelligence’s 2011 Holiday Card is set for delivery the first week of December.  To ensure your own autographed copy, feel free to email me at gary@gapintelligence.com.