I don’t come from a golfing family. My dad played briefly in the mid-80’s but quickly gave the game up when rounds became 5-6 hours long. I can pin point when I really fell for the game and that was during the 1991 US Open at Hazletine. I knew who Payne Stewart was because he wore the NFL logos. He was my guy that weekend and when he beat Scott Simpson, I was born a golf tragic.
It took a few months but I picked up my dad’s clubs and convinced two friends who lived in my neighborhood and played the game to take me golfing. We went to Warnimont, the par-3 course along Lake Michigan in Cudahy. I was hooked.
Warnimont and Grant Park in South Milwaukee became my home courses until I felt comfortable enough to tackle the big boys of Oakwood and Whitnall in the Milwaukee County parks system. Unfortunately, I had a wicked temper on the course and hated losing. The pond on the 2nd hole at Grant Park may have a club or two from me.
I played on the freshman team in high school but didn’t make JV but kept playing anyway. I played fairly regularly through high school but when I went to college, I never played and went nearly a decade between hitting shots. In late summer of 2003, I decided I needed an outdoor hobby beside bike riding with the ex-wife and settled on golf. It went from a hobby to a passion in a matter of a year.
Fast forward to October of 2021 and here we are. The purpose of this blog and other forthcoming ventures is to tout and shout about golf in the state of Wisconsin and maybe some other spots, but mostly here since this is where I reside. We’re blessed with world class courses and great public tracks. We have some hidden gems and some overrun, less hidden adventures. As the winter grinds along, I’ll be sharing my thoughts about the courses I’ve played over the past year and in many instances, the last 15.
I’m a 14 handicap and hardly an expert on golf course design or maintenance or management. However, I feel I’ve played enough places to understand the good, bad and ugly. I have strong opinions on certain things and am certainly blind to some realities. I look forward to sharing my thoughts and experiences. Thanks for reading.
