My first set of clubs were cut downs from my dad. If you are reading this, I suspect yours might have been the same… I was about 8 years old then. He taught me the basics – grip, ball position, the takeaway along with all the “feels” I still lean on today when the game goes sideways – spaghetti arms, light grip, finish down the line and keeping my head in the box. I didn’t really get into playing until 7th grade, but it didn’t take long for me to get hooked. Looking back now I realize what a wonderful gift he gave me. It was, and still is, the way we connect. Like many of you I’ve passed it along to my boy too, but that’s a story for another post…
When I got to ninth grade in 1988, I made the high school team and started reading my dad’s golf digest religiously. I remember reading an article about golf in Ireland. Seeing pictures of those towering dunes and churning seas planted a seed that would take years sprout. You see, in southwestern PA, golf didn’t look like that and traveling an hour to play golf was uncommon. Crossing the ocean to play was unheard of. Stubborn as I was, I knew someday I’d get there.
Fast forward to 2004. I was working for Xerox Corporation when I found out the President’s Club trip the coming year was set for Dublin. Needless to say, I worked my ass off and made it there. Some of the guys decided to arrange a round at Portmarnock the day after we were to arrive. To say I was looking forward to it is an epic understatement.
The day of arrival into Dublin was special. It was everything I imagined it would be. My wife, Meghan and I must have walked 10 miles along the Liffey, around Trinity college and Temple Bar then up and down Grafton Street. In between pints and pubs, I was daydreaming about what tomorrow would be like.
No alarms needed the next morning as I hopped out of bed as the sun rose (albeit with a serious case of plantar fasciitis kicking in). We had a 9:30 tee time, so I laced up tight, grabbed the sticks, kissed my wife and set off to see if reality could match 17 years of daydreams.
I still remember driving into the peninsula where Portmarnock sits and seeing that low slung red roof over the wispy fescue. The sun was shining and it was warm, even for early June. Within 15 minutes we were on the tee. I was super nervous, but remembered to have spaghetti arms and to keep my head in the box just like when I was 8. Ripped a little cut right down the pipe. The rest of the day is a bit of a blur, but the feeling I had during and after the round is crystal clear. Just like that I was a hooked. I talked to my dad for an hour about the round the next time I saw him.
Since then I’ve got nearly 150 rounds under my belt on the links of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. I’ve made so many friends through golf and have traveled the world with them. Got to play in Ireland with my wife and son a few times along the way, and I look forward to a lot more of that in the coming years. Dreams do come true It seems…
That first trip around the links set me on a different path. It changed my outlook on what it meant to play golf and created a new pursuit that I’m still chasing today.
May the wind be always at your back,
Joe
Joe Petrucci, a lifelong golfer, started playing overseas more than 15 years ago. He loved it so much that he started a small tour company to share the experience with his friends. He has been running trips watching his friends wish they had ways to recreate key memories for more than a decade. He also runs a digital marketing agency that excels at finding niche, high value audiences and delivering high performing marketing to them through a number of digital marketing channels.