A Reader’s Digest version of this wall of text is available on the About page, but I thought I’d take a moment to use this first post to share my story and tell a bit of who I am and my relationship with golf.
I started playing golf in the summer of 1991. My best brought over an old set of clubs, and we hit golf balls in the cow pasture behind my house. Shortly after this, I found “Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf” by Ben Hogan. I guess that’s also when I started my obsession with all things Ben Hogan.
There weren’t a lot of golf courses I could access in my area. A municipal course about 15 minutes away, a semi-private course just a little further away, and this old cornfield converted into a nine-hole “executive” course. The cornfield was owned by a gentleman who inherited it from his family shortly after retiring from the Navy. He had decided he didn’t want to be a farmer, plowed the whole place under, and made a 9 hole golf course.
I can’t remember the man’s name for the life of me, but I owe him an outstanding debt. There’s only so much I could learn from a book, and he gave me the hands-on feedback I needed to understand what was in the books. He taught me the basics of a golf grip, stance and he gave me occasional feedback on my swing. It was never anything approaching a lesson, but it helped me not feel like a complete fool when I did take lessons years later.
It wouldn’t be until the summer of 1994 when I would finally save up enough money to fly to Austin, Texas, for the Harvey Penick Golf Academy. I am honored that I could briefly meet Mr. Penick during this time. Despite not feeling well, he still took time to come out to the range and speak to us. He would pass away the following April, just before the Masters.
I would miss the news of Mr. Penick’s passing and watching the 1995 Masters on TV because I was away at Navy boot camp during this time. I had this great plan. I knew the best golfers all had a head start on me. I was 25 and had only been golfing for about four years. I needed more practice. That’s where the Navy came into play. I would spend twenty years in the Navy, during which time I would work on my golf game, take more lessons over the years, and save up money. Then, after twenty years, I would retire from the Navy and live on my savings for the next five years. I would use this time to intensely focus on golf and get ready to start on the Senior Tour when I turned 50. What could possibly go wrong?
My first duty station was on an Air Force base in Okinawa, Japan. As luck would have it, my barracks were just down the street from the on-base golf course. A few of the other bases had golf courses, but since this was the Air Force, well, you know what they say about the Air Force, right? When they get funding to build an airbase, they build the barracks, the base clubs, and the golf course. Then they go back to Congress to get money for the runways. The first thing our commander told us was that we’re Navy and “we’re living with the rich folks, so don’t get used to it.”
I played pretty regularly in Japan, as did most of the guys from my command. Some of the courses were amazing in Japan, South Korea, and Guam. It was always great to hear, “Hey, McCormick, grab your sticks; we have a tee time.” I got pretty good during this time and was shooting in the mid-to-low 80s somewhat consistently.
So what happened? I got married, had kids, and came back to the States. Things were a bit tight living on E-5 pay, and when the choice was groceries for the kids or greens fees, the kids were always going to win. Eventually, the clubs got put out in the shed. Work and family took up all my time, and I just didn’t play anymore. I had a couple of car accidents that messed up my knee for a while. Before I knew what had happened, almost twenty years had passed.
So now I’m here. I was invited to play by a couple of co-workers. The course was nice, but I shot double par and didn’t have the best attitude. It would be almost a year before I tried to play again. In the meantime, I dug out all of my old golf stuff and started watching it on TV again. I even started recording some videos with the idea of starting a YouTube channel (which is still a thing).
Side note, it’s good to see that Tiger Woods kid did okay.
Then in April of 2021, I met up with an old friend of mine from my webcomics days, and we played a round of golf. I still picked up on double par more than I’d like, but I wanted to play regularly. I got invited by my co-workers again, and here we are. I played almost every weekend in 2021. I’ve broken 100 a few times but not as much as I should. I’m 51, overweight, and out of shape. But I still love golf, and I want to get back to the 80s again.
So I’ll be using this page as a journal of sorts. I really should have started it last year when I began to play again. Woulda, coulda, shoulda, right? There will be several posts about old golf equipment, how things have changed, and I’m sure more than one about my confusion at some new rule or tradition that started while I was gone.