Member-only story
An Unlikely Golf Groupie: Fangirling My Way Through A Year of Pandemic Anxiety
As many stories do, this one starts with a cute guy.
But this story isn’t actually about the cute guy. It’s about the sport he is passionate about and introduced me to.
The sport that did what little else could — it calmed the overwhelming anxiety I started experiencing about six months into the pandemic. Anxiety that I have never experienced before in my life and that has kept me isolated and — as I like to joke — almost feral.
Golf soothed that anxiety…and my soul.
Almost a year ago, I made a new friend. As is the case with a good lot of my Facebook friends, we had been virtual friends for a few years before that, simply because we had written and edited for the same publication. I admired his eloquent writing and the vulnerable stories he so openly shared before I even knew him.
Words are my thing, and his made an impression on me. But he didn’t just write words…he wrote words that matter. He wanted to make a difference.
I had mad respect for how he showed up and made a difference in the world. Not only did he serve his country and deploy several times to Iraq and Afghanistan, he also donated a kidney to his best friend who was battling kidney disease a few years ago…without even blinking an eye.
This was a human I wanted to know better.
One of the first things he ever said to me was that he was obsessed with golf. He wanted me to know that right out of the gate. I remember chuckling because I had seen his photos on social media of him on golf courses with his buddies. And him watching Tiger Woods play on TV in his tiger onesie in his golf room.
His. Golf. Room.
That’s when I got curious.
I love when someone is passionate about something…and shares that passion unabashedly.
When he couldn’t actually be on the course playing golf, he was watching it. And when he wasn’t watching it, he was talking about it. He would talk about his game and how far he can hit a ball, but readily admitted he’s not the best putter. He would talk about playing golf with his dad when he was growing up…or how he met his best buddy on a…
