Join the Club: Golf has provided me many blessings
Join the Club by John Patrick
Powered by Bonaventure Discount Golf
When I was thinking about a topic for this week’s column, the first thing that popped into my head was a year-end review. You know, Scottie Scheffler, Nelly Korda, and such. Then something happened. Jimmy Carter passed away. So did Greg Gumbel. A new year is on the horizon – so is my 67th birthday – and I began to think of blessings.
I began to think just how blessed I’ve been in certain aspects of my life. I’m blessed to be able to continue to work in the only industry I ever wanted to be part of. I’m blessed to have the relationship I have with my daughter. I’m blessed to have found the love of my life, the second time around. And when it comes to the game of golf, a game I’ve loved since childhood, I’m truly blessed by the relationships it has afforded me. I’m blessed by the things I’ve gotten to see and do in the game.
I was blessed to be at Augusta National on that Sunday afternoon in April, back in 1986, when my childhood hero Jack Nicklaus had what was arguably the most memorable day of his historic career.
I’ve been blessed to be on hand for each of Tiger Woods’s five Masters victories. Being there each time Tiger won was a goal of mine, and it was a goal I thought I’d achieved in 2005. Then, like my hero before him, he miraculously summoned up his game one more time in 2019 to stun the world. I was there. A blessing.
Now, like being there at the end of Jack’s reign, I’ve been around for the start of Scottie Scheffler’s run. I doubt that I’ll be here to see it all the way through, but it’s been a huge blessing to be able to document what could be another historic accomplishment.
I don’t know if it’s age or the start of a new year – perhaps both – but I’m finding myself taking the time to appreciate what has come before. We’ve all been blessed by many things; many we don’t recognize in the moment. My wish for you, as we enter a new year, is that you take the time to recognize the blessings in your own life, in real time. When there are people involved, tell them, because none of us know when the opportunity to do so will pass.
Please be well. Please be safe. Here’s to new beginnings in 2025. Here’s to being blessed and grateful.
And here’s to, perhaps, watching a 49-year-old Tiger Woods make magic just one more time in April.
That would be a blessing.