Barring anything bananas tonight, I will be elected as a Class A PGA member and Head Golf Professional tomorrow. The golf journey started in earnest on April 17, 2019, and the next iteration of the journey will begin September 1, 2026. If my math serves me correctly, that’s 2,693 days.
During that period, my family built a new home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We added a daughter. A couple of our dogs passed. We have a new one. Somehow a mean black cat entered our life. My brain broke, and I put it back together. My body broke, and it’s almost back and better than ever. My wife is currently beating breast cancer. My 11 year old son is taller than most 15 year olds.
Throughout all of the above and more, for 2,693 days, I tended to golf every day in some way, shape, or form. I guess that’s how you go from a 14 handicap that literally knew jack squat about golf to a PGA member and head golf professional. Lots of things in my life have come easily. This was not one of them.
For 2,693 days, I observed, experimented, researched, and went miles outside of my comfort zone. For long stretches of time, I was low man on the totum pole in every room I was in. No longer.
On the playing side, I’ve shot every score from 103 to 67 (except 68) as I progressed. On the teaching side, I focus on the mental/emotional side of the game. On the coaching side, I’ve found a real passion. On the business side, my past serves me well.
The golf course where I work is absolutely beautiful and a championship test. I arrived there 6 years ago and haven’t left. I walk outside in nature every day. My family joins me for Sunday lunch. My son loves the Cajun chicken pasta. My daughter and I look for alligators.
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On Easter Sunday 2019, I went to this random local golf course in Hattiesburg, MS. I was literally the only one there. I chipped and putted on their practice green for hours in the silence. I was terrible. I had no idea what I was doing. But I remember telling myself that I was going to do this.
…and I’ll be damned if I did. Well, as long as nothing bananas happens tonight.
anything but khakis 