Golf- From the Beginning
Warming up!
I’m back to playing golf after an almost twenty-year hiatus. It feels incredible to be back to doing something I love that is just for me.
I started playing golf when I was 13. My dad signed me up for group lessons that I took with my friend Danielle. I met her in Mr. Lee’s history class in 7th grade; she is still in my life. You’ll hear more about Danielle later. Our Dads played a lot of golf together over the years.
At the time, my sports were soccer and skiing, I was super unsure of golf but thought why not? I grew up in Spokane, Washington, which is home to some of the best municipal courses around. My home course for lessons, high school, and my first job was Indian Canyon. It’s one of the best deals in golf, $50 for an adult and $15 for juniors under 18. I had no idea at the time that the caliber of the course was so fantastic or that my pros were really incredible as well, because I was a teenager.
As most athletically inclined kids do, I picked up the basics pretty quickly. I was able to mimic the swing of my head pro, Gary Lindeblad , and spent hours with him on the range and on the course. Since I had one of my best friends with me we spent a significant amount of time at Indian Canyon spring-fall. As I spent more time at the course I grew more confident in my game. When I wasn’t on a soccer field, I had a golf club in my hand.
By the time I was a freshman in high school, I was playing Washington Junior Golf Association (WJGA) golf with Danielle. We were traveling all over the state playing at incredible courses. Our high school home course was Indian Canyon, so golf was free every day! Danielle and I decided we wanted to work there for our first jobs. We were range girls; we drove the cart to get the range balls, washed them, refilled the ball bin, and if we were closing at night we had to ensure all the golf carts were back, cleaned and locked up.
This is where it became even more fun. By now, we had been spending time here for a few years, knew all the pros, the restaurant people, and the maintenance crew. We had free golf, free lessons, and free beer thanks to the concession cart gals who left a case for us in the cart at the end of the night. It was the best job I’ve ever had. All the while, we were becoming really good golfers.
This is the time I learned that being a good female golfer was not always something people appreciated, especially by men. Every day I would hit a jumbo bucket of balls and spend at least an hour, usually more, on the putting green. Grown men became very upset that a 15 year old girl could outdrive them easily, many times with my irons. When I would drive the range cart to pick up balls guys would aim for me (because golf has moving targets!). So, I started carrying a few clubs in the back of the cart. I would park at the back of the range and hit balls back at them. Because I could place the ball where I wanted it typically landed right at their feet, but I could see them jumping and covering their heads from 200 yards out. I never hit anyone, but I had a lot of fun messing with these guys!
Eventually, I’d had enough of the comments and stares and did something about it. With my pro’s blessing, I started to ask these guys if they wanted to go out to the course with me and put money on our game. I never lost. I made extra money because these guys just kept betting and betting against me. In some cases, I would play with only my 7 iron or only my putter and I still never lost.
One man stands out the most; Evel Knievel. In the 90’s he wasn’t in the greatest of health but he spent time on the range at Indian Canyon. Evel was always incredibly nice to me but it drove him nuts that I could play better than he could. We spent a lot of time hitting balls together.
I also had the opportunity to play with Craig T. Nelson (he’s from Spokane and had a hit show called “Coach” in the 90’s) and Phil Mikelson. Spending so much time at the golf course helped me become a competitive golfer. I was disciplined in my game and took it quite seriously. I think if I pursued golf in a more serious way, I could have done something bigger but I had other things I wanted to accomplish.
I went to college on the East Coast for hotel/restaurant management. They didn’t have a women’s golf team so I tried out for the men’s. I made the team and played number three of seven players. The egos of the opposing players and coaches were often maddening. I played so many matches where the opposing players didn’t acknowledge me. The coaches asked if I needed to tee off from the ladies tees instead of the men’s in the far back. I had great teammates who were always supportive but it was such a bummer.
After college, I continued to play for a little while longer. But, I was making very little money and could not afford (and I didn’t have the time) to play golf any longer. Once we had the kids it seemed like a distant memory and a thing I used to do.
My son turned 16 last week. This is the first thing I’ve done solely for me since he was born. It’s a long time to go without something for myself. As mothers, I think we tend to pour ourselves into everyone else. In hindsight, I wish I had done this sooner. But, I’m looking forward to spending more time on the course and improving my game. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get back to the caliber of game I used to play but I’m going to take it one swing at a time.