(the first time i played a real golf course was at age 11)
(warrenbrook golf course in warren NJ)
i prayed to jesus to help me succeed as i practiced with my 9-iron in the front yard. the course was right down the street from my childhood home.
i was terrible. i couldn’t even break 120. the lauermans and kenwells made me nervous and self-conscious as i teed off. maybe that’s the point of the game. to overcome self-consciousness. a “test of manhood”.
(around age 13, he became interested in golf)
for his shop class, he made a printing press t-shirt with a “golf” logo. his mother’s younger brother james crowley was a championship golfer @ florida state university. he began to idolize tiger woods, writing an extensive report on his ascendancy for his eighth grade english class.
(that summer, he attended a week-long nike golf camp in virginia)
i tend to lie on scorecards
(because what’s the point of honesty?)
ray kenwell is the best golfer of the bunch
(he gave me his old golf clubs)
jim crowley is the best golfer I know
(but he didn’t make the PGA Tour)
he gave my brother and I some pointers once
his friend john turnbull gave me a few golf lessons
tiger woods is the best golfer there will ever be
I went to NIKE golf camps in summer between eighth grade + high school
(with the kenwells + brad lubeck)
i could par holes by the end of the week
(i finally broke 100)
vote:
water park or more golf?
(i wanted water park)
(the rest of the campers wanted to play more golf)
(brad and i rode a small plane back from virginia)
Tiger Woods
(8th grade hero)
Sports Illustrated profile
Then he won the Masters and I couldn’t be more thrilled
I went to Nike Golf Camp in the summer of eighth grade with Kenwell as my guide
(‘ray kenwell’ gave me his old golf clubs)