Golf is truly a game unlike any other, from the diverse and unique people that you meet and the memorable moments that you have out on the course.  Each round is truly a different experience than any round before.  Recently, our USGolfTV team was lucky enough to play Black Diamond CC in Lecanto, FL, a Golfweek Top 100 Course.

The way the round came about was our PGA Pro Todd Kolb went to college with and is still good friends with the former head pro of Black Diamond.  So, after Todd let his buddy know that we were going to be in town, he was able to line up a round with us with one of the members.  Little did we know at the time that we were truly in for one of the most uniquely awesome and adventurous rounds of our lives.

We met Paul at the New England Cafe just down the road from Black Diamond for some breakfast before the round.  None of us had ever met Paul before and didn’t really know what to expect.  After just a few short minutes with Paul at the breakfast table, we knew that we were in for a real treat.  Over the course of the next four and a half hours, Paul told stories unlike any of those we had ever heard before, with one standing out in particular.

Paul grew up in Connecticut where his father owned a lumber company.  In 1959, when Paul was a young boy, his father, who at the time was hard at work to become successful but had yet to strike it big, was a member of a golf course near his home.  Well, a change of ownership was about to happen at the course and with this change, the new course policy was going to prohibit Jewish members, which would’ve excluded his father and his golfing buddies from the course.  Since at the time there were no other golf courses any reasonable distance from his home, this essentially meant that his father was going to have to give up golf.

Paul’s father was furious at this and was going to do everything possible to keep this from happening.  After giving it some thought, Paul’s father made the decision that he was going to buy the golf course so that he could keep playing golf.  The only problem was that Paul’s father was in no personal financial position to be purchasing the course.  So, he explained the situation to all of his family and friends and took out personal loans from nearly everyone that he knew to pile up enough capital to purchase the course, saying that he’d rather be in debt the rest of his life than not be able to play golf because of his religion.  Despite Paul’s mother being beside herself throughout this entire process, Paul’s father eventually raised enough to purchase the course and therefore allow him and his golfing buddies to play golf together once again.  The purchase of the course made Paul’s father a hero within his hometown.  Soon thereafter, his father’s lumber business surged and made him very wealthy, allowing him to pay down his debts and further proving true the old motto of, “good things happen to good people.”

It was quite the story, and just one of many that we got to hear before, during and after the round.  Paul paid for breakfast, all snacks and beverages on the course and for our greens fees, despite us never having met the man before in our lives.  Also, we should certainly mention that the course was incredible, and easily deserving of its Top 100 ranking (see pics below).

Later that evening after we were driving away from the course, we all collectively stopped to take a moment and laugh to ourselves how amazingly generous that was of Paul, and how lucky we were.  That’s truly a day or memory that never would’ve happened with any other sport.  Golf is truly the game of a lifetime, and will allow you to develop relationships and opportunities that you never before thought possible.

Joel Harrington

Blog Sponsored by: