Think about all the great “love at first sight” stories you’ve heard.
Tiger and his putter.
John Daly and his driver, or his beer.
Two things so naturally intertwined, you would never picture one without the other.
This was NOT the case with me and golf.
To say golf was an acquired taste for me would be putting it mildly.
It all started one Christmas when my brother and I both got a Michael Jordan Jr golf set. (I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s true!)
Considering I played a total of zero rounds with those clubs, it’s safe to say they didn’t give me the golf bug.
Fast forward almost 10 years to when a friend thought it would be a great idea to create a summer tournament amongst ourselves.
Naturally, we all played with our dad’s clubs and ran a ruckus on our local executive course.
This was not made any easier by the fact that my stepdad was a boss and played blades.
Yes, the razor-thin kind you only see in those grainy classic golf highlights now.
But hey, I was young and dumb. I had no idea what blade irons even were!
At the time, there was no intent for golf to be a permanent fixture for me.
It was merely a friendly competition between friends to kill time during summer before we’d all go off to college. And I would compete for anything.
I even remember one friend proclaiming he wanted to be good enough to know his handicap.
The rest of us busted up laughing so loud that I’m sure someone on the next hole would’ve cursed us.
At that point, I knew how hard golf was and I never thought any of us would ever be halfway decent.
Spoiler alert: I was the crazy one of the group that actually got and still keeps a handicap.
And, as you’ll see on this list, my handicap is so ingrained in me that it’s part of my goals.
It’s been a little over a decade since that long lost summer of golf and I can safely say I am hooked for life now.
From playing rounds without a driver because I couldn’t keep it on the planet to breaking 80 for the first time, I don’t know what I’d do these days if I couldn’t golf.
The list you’ll see below is merely a way to keep that going.
One of my main reasons is to keep myself accountable, but hopefully, I can inspire some people along the way and may even bring some people on the journey with me.
So here goes…
Bucket List Golf Courses
Like most people, I want to play all the big ones.
The Pebble Beaches, Bandon Dunes, and St. Andrews of the world.
But it seemed too easy to hop on here and simply say I want to play the top 100 courses in the U.S.
Or the top 100 courses in the world.
It would be nice, but I also think there are plenty of other people living that journey.
For me, one of my biggest goals at this stage of life, and this website, is to use golf as a tool for travel.
For that reason, I decided to take a little different approach with my first bucket list item.
Play Golf in all 50 States
I want to play golf in every state.
I’m over 10% of the way there with seven states as of writing this, and recently got to cross off two more states with a trip to Augusta for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
My current slate looks like this:
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- California
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- Oregon
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- Arizona
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- Florida
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- Mississippi
- Georgia
- South Carolina
One of my big motivators for all 50 states is that it doesn’t limit me to only playing the uber elite of courses. (I’ll save that for my next bucket list item.)
I can travel anywhere I want and cross a state off my list, even if it’s not one of the biggest and brightest golf courses around.
Play Every US Open Course
Ok, now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about my big fish.
Play a round at every course that’s held a US Open.
Considering there are dozens of these, many of them are private, and I have literally played zero to this point, we’ll call this one my stretch goal.
The silver lining is that this will also, hopefully, help me cross off some new states along the way.
Playing Goals
I wouldn’t be a real golfer if I didn’t have an inflated imagination about my playing ability.
I think it’s gotten better over the years, but who could say?
Play a Round Under Par
The last five things on my golf bucket list all have something to do with actually playing good golf.
This one is probably the first domino that has to happen before I can accomplish some of the other ones.
I have been so close before.
I know this falls into the category of “no one else cares about what you shoot.”
But I know I can accomplish this one.
I know what you’re thinking.
‘Everybody thinks they’re better than they are.’
However, I’ve actually done this already. Sort of.
The lowest round I’ve shot is 74 (+2). Later that same day, on the same course. I shot a 78.
Now, I would agree with you that neither of those scores adds up to breaking par.
HOWEVER!
The back nine of round 1 and the front nine of round 2 (18 consecutive holes), I shot a 70!
To answer the question in your head. I do not consider this as a round under par.
Hence the reason why this goal is on my bucket list.
What I do consider this though, is a self-motivator that I know I can break par.
I just need to do it on the first 18 holes of the day next time instead of the middle 18.
But I digress.
The moral of this story is that shooting under par is on my golf bucket list. And segues nicely into the next item.
Be a Scratch Golfer
There’s been a lot of attention lately around what handicap professional golfers have.
Understanding how golf handicaps work, you may know that peak Tiger was playing off about +9 during the early 2000s.
Yes, that means he was giving 9 strokes to a scratch golfer.
For lack of a better word, that is stupidly absurd.
Tell your scratch friend that they’re not good enough to be on tour.
I have no aspirations or naivety to think I can get to that point.
I simply want to get my handicap to 0.
Now I just have to play enough to make it happen.
Play in a US Mid-Am Qualifier
What does having a low handicap mean? You can join USGA qualifying events.
Namely for the US Mid-Am.
The actual cutoff fluctuates occasionally, but as of this writing, the requirement is a handicap index of 3.4 or better.
Not exactly a pitch and putt away from my current 7.4.
However, this could be a good thing, as it can be a stepping stone on my way to being scratch.
This would also put me well on my way to being able to join a US Open qualifier which currently requires a 1.4 index.
Do I think I’ll make it to the US Open?
Probably not.
In fact, likely not.
But it would still be an awesome experience to try!
Golf Bucket List: Final Thoughts
There you have it.
The golf bucket list of an amateur hack trying to get out and see the world through golf.
The underlying goals of everything on this list comes from wanting to travel more and meet new people through the game of golf.
With that said, I hope this also keeps me accountable to continue to cross things off this list and meet some new people to share these experiences with.
If you have any recommendations for courses to play or new places to travel to, I’d love to know!
Send me a message and tell me what they are.
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