We sat down with John at Swinomish Golf Links before one of his golf lessons, and he shared why he took up golfing. Check out what John had to say below!

Name: John

Hometown: Franklin, PA

Height: 6’

What’s your favorite club?

I don’t have any clubs. The only club I have is the one Swinomish Golf Links has given me to practice with. I tried different ones and the golf instructor decided,”OK, I want you to use that one.”

Had you played golf before taking lessons?

Well when I was about 14, I think my mother sent me to a golf lesson. We got as far as the grip, I think (laughs). I played — I had like one lesson.  But as kids, we would take golf clubs out and skip school to play golf. All we were doing was hitting the ball.

What inspired you to start playing golf again?

A misconception inspired me. I thought golf was easy and for old people.  No, I just wanted something new to do that didn’t involve high-impact sports. Running, gunning, the high-speed, low-drag stuff that I’ve done all my life is not something I need to be doing anymore. I’ve pretty well wrecked my body. I was looking for something, and I have a close friend who lives to go from one golf course to another, so I thought, “All right. I’ll take some lessons and then I can play golf with 12-foot John when he comes to visit.” No way! I can hit balls, but I’m not going to be able to play for a while.

What have you improved on the most?

Well, everything. Instead of, “Alright, adjust your head, don’t do this …” we started with getting the lineup, posture, learning to just let things fall, work from the ground up. And then, put it together. So it’s not like some specific thing, it was just putting the package together properly.

How do practice outside of lessons?
I’m getting coins [for the driving range]. I’ll come out and just practice swinging and hitting the ball. You don’t hit the ball, you swing, and the ball gets clobbered during the swing, but you don’t think about hitting it. These are the types of things I’m learning.  When you’re a kid, when you’re 15, 16, 17 years old, you’re just hitting the ball as hard as you can. God knows where it goes. Then you go find it, and you hit it again. This is different.

What have you improved on the most?

Everything from the word “go.” I’m a total beginner, for all practical purposes. The fact that when you’re a kid, you went out with your mother’s golf clubs and beat a ball around the course is not playing golf. Everything is improving each time.

Do you have any long-term goals?

I’d like to be able to play golf with my friends on an un-embarrassing level, but that’s a long way away.

What do you enjoy most about the sport?

Just being outside — physical activity outside.

Is there anything about golf that surprised you?

What surprised me is that a lot of things, you realize in life, I don’t care whether you’re shooting, playing golf, sailing, flying an airplane, or racing a car, you can just do it, or there’s a technique to doing it better and getting more out of it. There’s more to golf than I ever thought. I just thought you go out and hit the ball around. Well, you don’t hit the ball around. It’s not that simple. So it’s more challenging, but it’s also more rewarding.

What would you say to someone who’s thinking about playing golf?

Do it. But I’d say don’t just do it, go and get lessons from somebody who knows what to teach and how to teach, or else you’re just wasting your time.

To book a lesson with one of the Swinomish Golf Links golf pros, call the front desk at 360-293-3444 today!