A Thank You Note

A visit to Annbriar Golf Course in metro St. Louis with my father-in-law. (Annbriar Golf Course, 2019)

I should start off by saying I’m not from around here. Not just not from Chicago, but not from a golfing family. I married into that. I started late-ish: in my mid-20s, when I started dating my future wife. Sure, I’d go out for the occasional round with my grandfather when I was a kid—that guy definitely had the bug and the regret I feel now not being able to play with him is monumental—but I swam competitively and played water polo through college, and if you know what a swimmer’s life is like, there’s not much time for anything else.

Driving to Indiana during the early days of the pandemic to play at any cost. Photo credit: NCGS member Jon Kaplan

Some quick context here: I like I said, I started golfing when I started dating my wife—who was once an incredible player in her own right but barely touches a club any more—while living in Washington, DC. To survive in her family, especially during visits to St. Louis, you’d better play golf. And I quickly learned that if I wanted to play in the Saturday and Sunday morning groups with my father-in-law, I’d better be ready to show up for prime time and play fast. I had my work cut out for me in the beginning, since I couldn’t find the planet with any club in the bag.

So I made a goal to figure this game out, in order to endear myself to my girlfriend’s father. Most days I’d stop at the East Potomac driving range on my way home from work, hitting bucket after bucket. This was before I had kids (and before Uber), so on the weekends I had the flexibility to play both Saturday and Sunday on the weekends, but that meant taking a train to a bus to the Langston golf course: a historical DC muni with a tree named after Joe Louis, because he hit the thing all the time. (Langston is being revamped and becoming the home to Howard golf…see NewClub member Brian McKeon for more details.)

I was on the grind. I was searching for a regular game and playing partners just to be able to keep up with the in-laws, basically an addict without knowing I was addicted yet.

My addiction to this game is all her fault but she’s the most supportive wife anybody could have (Pacific Grove Golf Links, 2021)

When we moved back to Chicago, I realized that even though the seasons were shorter, we were spoiled by affordable public golf. So my addiction grew, but one thing was always missing: whether it was in DC or Chicago, I didn’t really have anyone to play with. That’s not to say I’m a loner; it’s that my friends are casual players. No one wanted to get up before the sun on the weekends to get a round in, and the few that could get out to play on the weekend were (still are) alright with the six-hour rounds that occur when you tee off after 10am. Sorry, not sorry—I didn’t have the patience for that then, and my wife certainly doesn’t now when she’s home alone with two kids under the age of 6.

As you know, golf is cliquey. It’s hard to find that regular game unless you’re at a private club. It’s insular when it comes to meeting playing partners. It’s a tough nut to crack.

But this isn’t our grandfather’s or father’s or game anymore. In 1997 The Irish Times published an article “Geography is irrelevant in golf’s internet age,” and nothing more can be true. While the article itself is geared toward connecting distant fans to the professional game, the title couldn’t be anymore prescient. Whether it’s through social media, web forms, whatever it might be for you, the digital age has connected us to this game and has helped expand our network in a way our grandparents could never have imagined.

Almost 12 years after I picked up the game, it’s become a family affair - especially during visits to St. Louis. (Greenbriar Hills CC, 2021)

Think about how much the internet has unlocked for us and this game. We have photos of courses and clubhouses jamming our social media feeds. I’ve DM-ed caddies for trips this year to Kiawah and Pinehurst and built new, lasting friendships. We have awesome podcast and video content coming out on a near daily basis from the likes of No Laying Up and The Fried Egg. And obviously we all have NewClub bringing us together from literally from all over the world.

While the internet is filled with a lot of crap, it’s feeding our appetite for our addiction and bringing together us like-minded individuals – allowing us to build our own personal golf networks with people we would have never met before. Through NCGS, I can literally find a game at any time during the week. It’s broken down walls and brought us together. We can play on the app or off. We can explore new courses, talk golf architecture, and build professional networks. 

We all come from different walks of life, have differing political views, identify as blue collar or white collar or no collar. But we’ve all found golf, and this game is enough to put all the other bullshit aside and enjoy each other’s company.

I went from being a double-digit handicapper to the guy whose index my father-in-law’s group plays off of, because I’ve found a way to build and foster great relationships over the last two years to feed this addiction. So for that, from me to all of you: thanks.