Where college students go for golf

#GOLFIS a challenge because if you don’t play for an extended period of time, your game gets rusty and you make mistakes that you wouldn’t make in midseason form.

This is part 6 of a series of articles written by the GOLF 20/20 Ambassadors highlighting ways for the golf industry to engage with 18 to 34-year-olds and promote the game to millennial golfers. Read the rest of the series.

There is something about the game of golf that no one will ever understand until they actually step out onto the course and hit that little ball into a tiny hole. It seems silly, but there is nothing like it. I grew up swinging the golf club out in the front yard with clubs that were taller than me at the time. I never really showed interest into golf until my Grandfather and eighth grade history teacher Mr. Theis told me I should play. I am an athlete that has played sports since the young age of three, and nothing has ever fascinated me, angered me and taught me so much about myself and life like the game of golf has.

This is part 2 of a series of articles written by the GOLF 20/20 Ambassadors highlighting ways for the golf industry to engage with 18 to 34-year-olds and promote the game to millennial golfers. Read the rest of the series.

I am really grateful that my Dad introduced both my little sister and I to The First Tee program, which brought golf into our lives.

What the sport of golf means to people is extremely difficult to put into only 140 characters on Twitter, since at any one moment golf can be any number of things. It can be a moment of triumph as you break 80 for the first time or crushing defeat as you 3-putt your last hole to lose a match. It can hold moments of pure joy and jubilation after you hole out for eagle and disbelief and heartbreak on the next as you pump two tee shots right out of bounds. The emotional rollercoaster that is the game of golf is unique in that unlike most other sports, there is no one to share in your victories or your failures. There’s no team to pick you back up after you just 3-putted to lose the biggest tournament of your life. There’s no one to blame when we play poorly or practice for hours without improvement. We’re often fighting ourselves out there as much as we are competing against other players, playing an exhausting game of mental chess to keep our confidence up in high-pressure situations.

#GOLFIS not only a sport but it is a lifestyle.

Coming from a lifetime of participation in team sports, college was a rough transition due to the difficulties of free time. It seemed that whenever I had some time aside to get a pickup game of soccer or basketball going, everyone was busy. That’s where the golf course and range came in.

To me, you need something in your life that defines you as a person, as an individual. If you do not have anything that makes you stand out from the crowd, then how can you live an interesting life? Golf defines me. I am known as “the kid who plays golf” by all of my friends. Ever since my dad taught me how to play when I was 11-years-old, I have been addicted. From middle school golf, to high school tournaments, and now on to club golf in college, my passion continues. I will never be perfect at this sport, and I think that is what I love about golf the most. Even after a horrible day, all you need is to pure a 7 iron from the middle of the fairway and everything suddenly becomes ok. Golf has taught me how to handle life more than anyone or anything else ever could. To me, that is what #GOLFIS.

To me, golf is life, a continuing struggle to better oneself to a level that not even the best players in the world can achieve. Golf is the hardest sport in the world to play on the professional circuit as only 125 players worldwide hold PGA Tour cards. Golf is a way to meet new people, reconnect with old friends, and truly prove who has the patience, short memory, and skill necessary to outlast everyone else. Golf is a way to enjoy nature while playing in the same places that your childhood idols played. Golf is a game that challenges players at least as much mentally as it does physically, unlike any other sport. Golf is the only sport where one shot out of 280 over a four day period can be the difference between winning and losing. Golf is my past, my present, and hopefully my future. Golf is the only sport where everyone from ages 3 to 103 is on the same playing field with the same goal. Golf is the most frustrating and satisfying form of relaxation. Only in golf can you have 100 bad shots, yet you keep coming back for that one good shot you had.

What #GOLFIS to someone dating a golf-oholic:

To me, #GOLFIS many things, ranging from the Good, to the Bad and even to the Ugly. And since golf is uniquely individual, each individual’s Good, Bad, and Ugly differs as well. One person’s Ugly could be another person’s Good. One person sees a gap in the trees and another sees a pitch out to the fairway. Each person brings something new to the table, but there is the one great equalizer: Old Man Par. The best golfers in the world focus on nothing but beating Old Man Par. And that is what makes golf special: it is the only game that can pit you against an inanimate object, against something that exists only in our minds. That is what makes golf so difficult, but also so beautiful. It is the only game played in complete solitude. You’re not playing against the course, or your playing partner. You’re simply playing against Old Man Par. If only it was that easy, right?

#GOLFIS a chance to escape.

When you’re dating Chase Russell (president of the National Collegiate Club Golf Association, public relations chair of the Iowa State University Golf Club and intern at the World Golf Foundation), golf is hard to avoid.

For me #GOLFIS...