One of the greatest things about golf is how the game brings people together. Whether it’s spending four-plus hours in pursuit of a common goal or the fact that most golfers share personality traits such as honesty, patience and respect for others, golf can act as a conduit that turns strangers into friends.
Last year, we brought you three stories that showed how Golf’s Inherent Bond connected people in unexpected and inspiring ways. Dave and Jan met as strangers at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, then fell in love and got married. Christine and Jane were randomly paired together in a club tournament. They hit it off, started a friendship and ultimately became business allies. Finally, 30 years after Gilbert spent his teenage summers learning to play golf with his parents at a remote course in the Mexican jungle, strangers helped him find it again so he could spread his father’s ashes there.
In each case, golf was the link that brought people together. Last month, we asked TGA Members for their stories of how the game helped them make special connections. The response was overwhelming, in the best possible sense! We received many amazing stories – too many for one issue – and we’re proud and honored to share some of them with you. Below, you’ll find three of our favorites to kick off the storytelling series. Throughout the year, we’ll continue to highlight more of your stories here, as well as on our social media platforms. We hope you enjoy them.
By Pete League
In early 1992, I took early retirement at age 55. I worked at two universities and retired again in 1999, and moved to Austin.
In late 1994, I had the opportunity to play Shinnecock Hills and while there, I met Peter Smith, the golf course superintendent. Peter invited me to return in 1995 for the U.S. Open and work on the golf course maintenance team. That did it!! I became a golf volunteer junkie of sorts.
By the end of this year, since that first taste of raking bunkers and doing any other job asked of me at Shinnecock Hills, I will have worked 17 Masters Tournaments, 15 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tournaments, a Walker Cup, a Ryder Cup, six U.S. Opens, an Open Championship and one U.S. Amateur. During 2010, I worked all four major championships (someone called it a “Pete Slamâ€). Locally, I served as President of the men's Golf Association at Onion Creek Country Club in Austin (home of the original Legends of Golf), a TGA Course Rater, a gallery hole captain at the Austin Champions Tour event every year, a First Tee mentor, a handicap committee member and a green committee chairman at Onion Creek.
In 2011, I completed a successful three-year effort resulting in Onion Creek gaining Audubon International Certified Cooperative Sanctuary status. Since 2013, I have directed the Onion Creek Hickory Classic, which last year attracted 80 players from 13 states and Canada (Kathy Whitworth will be our 2019 guest speaker). Lastly, I was recently honored at Onion Creek by being inducted into the Onion Creek Legends fraternity.
This volunteer activity has generated many cherished relationships around the country. But there are two of which I am especially proud. Noted turfgrass scientist Dr. Micah Woods, of the Asian Turfgrass Center in Thailand, and I have shared a townhome in Augusta since 2005. Micah is a first-class person, as well as a highly respected scientist.
At Pebble Beach, Jack Holt is a key player in keeping that gorgeous property looking world-class 365 days a year. Jack has been there for many years as the second-in-command. He has seen gifted superintendents come and go, but he is the steady rock with the many years of local knowledge under his belt. I compare Jack Holt to the Chief Boatswains Mate on a U.S. Navy destroyer. Captains come and go, but the Chief keeps the ship running and looking great. Jack Holt is a gem and I always look forward to working for him.
By Karen Jones
My husband and I met a gentleman from Georgia that we were paired with during a round of golf. We asked him, “What are you doing in Houston?â€
His wife was here getting treatments at MD Anderson for tongue cancer. She was being flown home after the treatment, and he was here by himself for the last night. We invited him to dinner. We offered our home for them to stay at when she has her treatments.
Since then they have been staying at our home when she is in Houston getting treatments. We speak every day now & become life friends.
By Dave Meier
My dad and I didn’t have a great relationship. My school friend Jeff and I chatted here and there, but that was it. Then in 2018, I played golf with two guys in Jamaica, and my life would never be the same. I was hooked, and got my old friend Jeff involved.
Then I got my dad to dust off his old clubs, too. Since then, the three of us have taken five weeklong trips to Cancun and Florida. Jeff asked my dad to officiate his wedding. The three of us have played golf together more than 100 times and now have an unbreakable bond. Golf changed our lives!
Do you have a story of how golf helped you make a unique connection? Please share it with us.
