Issue No. 148 | January 25, 2025
If I had to draw a through line when it comes to my love for golf, it would start with my grandfather, Bill Goodwin, who was a sicko before being a sicko was an actual thing.
He was at the “got on the list for Masters badges before the Masters was the Masters” sicko level.
And that through line runs into my mom — his daughter — and then to me.
I have mentioned this a few different places, but my mom was an elite amateur golfer (as you’ll read below) and had some extraordinary experiences in the game as a high school and college student.
When I was young and we would play golf together — which wasn’t super often because I was more into baseball — you could tell she could flush it. Like, flush flush. Long, easy backswing and just insane power at the bottom. It was startling. Wait, this is my mom who reads me books and makes me sandwiches?
I didn’t know exactly what I was looking at when I was a kid, but in retrospect, it was a formative (and pretty amazing) experience. I didn’t know what releasing your hips and exploding through the ball meant as a 12 year old, but I knew she murdered the golf ball.
My mom was the one who introduced me to reading, and thus writing. We had books on books on books, and she read them to us endlessly. Then when she got tired of reading, she would let us listen to audiobooks. It’s all I did growing up. I didn’t realize then — just like my kids don’t realize now — what a gift that was. How unusual it was.
Now? I’m grateful for the ways she shaped my reading and writing life and, more importantly, who I am as a person. A lot of my disposition and worldview was shaped by the way she was available and present in conversation and how she guided me and my siblings in growing up. Parenting is hard. She was great at it.
I have always wanted to do an interview or Q&A with her about her golf life, and I’m grateful that she obliged. I’ve always known bits and pieces, but this one — which is a bit longer — gave me a full picture, not only into her as a golfer but as a person.
Even if nobody else reads it, I’ll always treasure having it.
Thank you to Meridian for presenting today’s newsletter.
Meridian recently earned gold from the 2025 Golf Digest hot list on both its blade series and mallet series, which was both a delight and a surprise to its team.
What does earning gold from the Digest hot list mean?
You can read more about that here, but the TL;DR is that clubs are graded on performance, innovation and look/sound/feel. Gold means you earned a score of 93 to 100, and Meridian’s blade and mallet series were both in that range this year.
This is not the first time Meridian has earned this honor, and I’m guessing it won’t be the last.
And perhaps — perhaps! — if Meridian had been around in the 1970s, mom would have actually moved on to play golf at the professional level instead of raising an incredibly average baseball player and his siblings.
But then again, that probably means Normal Sport wouldn’t exist. So thanks for waiting until the 2020s to get going, Meridian.
OK, onto the Q&A.
KP: When did you fall in love with golf?
Mom: I didn’t start playing until I was 16 years old. I don't remember exactly, but it seems from the first time I hit a ball, I fell in love with striking the ball. I loved that sound — when it was a solid hit — and I remember loving to see it soar in the sky, especially when the sky was kind of dark and stormy-looking because you could see the ball so well with the dark background.
I got addicted pretty quickly and I practiced every day. Back in those days, 1968-ish, I would go out to an open field with a bag of golf balls called a shag bag. I would hit them all and go pick them up, hit them and go pick them up....for hours.
One place you might find interesting that I hit balls pretty regularly was on this open field to the right of the Southern Hills Country Club entrance. I don't know if it is part of the golf course now or a parking lot for SHCC or what, but it was my favorite place to practice.
KP: You played in some U.S. Ams and other USGA and Western Am events but not college golf. That would be unusual now. How has women’s amateur golf changed since you played?
Mom: Back in the day, we didn't have women’s golf teams in college. That sounds crazy, but I graduated from high school in 1970 and I'm not sure when Title IX started and women’s sports started to become more prevalent.
I really wasn’t into college (as I am reminded quite often by my kids...... I am the only member of our immediate family that does not have a college degree), but I did attend fall of 1970 at Oklahoma State and fall of 1971 at Oklahoma State. I used to hit balls on the practice range with the men's OSU golf team. The only name that comes to mind that was on the boys team was Henry DeLozier.
After my two years at OSU, I had become friends with the men's golf coach at Oral Roberts University. He would see me hitting balls on the open field across from ORU, and he would see me at the ORU basketball games so we became friends.
As I said, there were no girls teams, but he wanted me to play on the boys team. He offered me a little scholarship. A few hundred dollars a semester, not much. But I didn't care, I thought I was going to play with the guys. Well, the athletic director nixed that when it was time to actually play. I did get to practice and play with them, but when it came tournament time, he said no.
I do remember that I was interviewed to be the first women's golf coach at the University of Tulsa. At that time it was mostly a volunteer position since it was in its infancy. I don't remember what year, but it was going to be Nancy Lopez' freshman year at TU. It was pretty exciting to see women's golf start to get some traction and maybe be on the ground floor of this movement.
I chose not to take that position as I really did not feel qualified to coach other golfers not much younger than myself. I also did not have a college degree yet, but was offered to get it at TU as I coached.
They hired Dale McNamara who was a legend amateur golfer in Oklahoma. She won a record seven state amateurs and was kind of a bigger than life individual. She went on to bring TU to national prominence and developed an amazing golf program there. Dale was 16 years older than me, and she was definitely the perfect person for that position.
I'm not sure of the timeline, but during all of this in college, out of college, in college, out of college stuff (a side note....OSU cost $12/hour at the time), one of the assistant pros at Tulsa Country Club was encouraging me to turn pro.
He was from Texas and he had a couple of members of his old club that wanted to sponsor me. It was quite exciting and scary at the same time. I probably could have handled it from a ball striking standpoint, but I think I knew in my heart of hearts that I was not mentally prepared or tough enough or confident enough. I'm not sure what the right words are to say there.
So I turned down that offer and that was kind of hard to admit that I did not feel good enough to compete at the professional level.
KP: What were some moments that stand out when you were playing. Was there anyone you came across that made you realize you were going to have to go pro in something other than sports?
Mom: I remember my first tournament was in Dallas at Brookhaven I think. It was the U.S. Junior Amateur. It was 1969, and I had just been playing a few months. I think I probably shot in the 90s...I really don't remember. I do remember Hollis Stacy won that tournament and she had won one or two in a row. I knew I had to get lots better, which I thought I could because I loved to practice, I loved to hit balls. I would hit hundreds and hundreds a day.
One shining moment was at the Broadmoor Invitational in Colorado Springs. I was in a long drive playoff with Nancy Lopez, and I won that playoff! She was the best and I really felt accomplished. I cannot remember what year that was though. Either 1971 or 1973 ... around there.
Another moment I remember was in 1973 (I think that is the year) I was playing in the Oklahoma State Amateur at Stillwater Country Club .... which my house I live in now backs up to #3 at Stillwater Country Club (full circle!).
Anyway, day one would be qualifying to see which flight you qualified for. I happen to be medalist, which means I shot the lowest round of the day.
Ed. note: Absolutely in love with my mom explaining to me what medalist means.
I believe it was a 72 (maybe 73?), and I was thrilled because I typically would play great on practice rounds and then pretty much choke on Monday qualifying. But this day I did not choke! It was a thrill to be medalist.
Of course I went on to lose to the eventual winner, Cathy Morse, in the third round. In those days, Dale McNamara or Cathy Morse won almost every State Amateur. Then came a girl named Patty McGraw, whose brother, Mike, you know as he was the former coach of OSU golf team and now at Baylor.
Patty actually has the record for most State Amateurs. I never really played against her as she was about eight years younger than me, and my career was short lived.
Another standout moment was during the Oklahoma State Amateur at Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club in 1970-something.
I shot my career low round of 69 in a practice round. It was not recorded as the lowest round there because it was a practice round and they could not verify that it was legit. But I know what I shot, and it felt awesome.
Ed. note: “I know what I shot, and it felt awesome” is going straight into my golf lexicon.
Until the next day of qualifying and I shot something like an 84 or something and didn't even qualify for championship flight! Sheesh, that happened more times than I would like to admit.
One more time I remember is I flew from Tulsa to Austin to take a couple of lessons from the great Harvey Penick. Ben Crenshaw happened to be there playing which was cool. Harvey Penick was old school and made it seem simple and was really a great teacher. I think this was before I decided not to make this my career.
KP: What did golf teach you about yourself?
Mom: I realized that I did not have very much confidence in myself. I realized I was not very mentally tough. I was playing against Amy Alcott, Nancy Lopez, Hollis Stacy, Carol Semple and others on a national level. I could hit it as well as they did, but I could not score. I would get so upset if I did not hit it perfect because I did not have the confidence that I could get up and down. Golf is such a mental game and I just did not have the mental toughness it took to be successful on a big stage (or a medium stage for that matter).
I will say also, I think one of my biggest mistakes in my short golf career was that I spent too much time practicing and not enough time playing. I was grooving my swing and could hit it a mile, but I needed more on course actual golf course situations. That would have prepared me more for the stressful or tough shots during tournament time. It’s easy to hit 500+ balls a day and feel good about your swing, but to do it under the pressure of having to actually score is a different thing altogether.
KP: Why were you not more emphatic about pushing golf on us as kids? It was always around, I guess, but I don’t think I realized until I was in high school what a big part of your life it represented.
Mom: I had been away from golf for so long when I had you kids. I think I quit playing at about age 24 or 25. I got married at almost 30 and had you at 32. It had gotten where it wasn’t fun anymore. I got good fast, but I never got to that next level that I felt I should have. I would get so angry at myself and realized this is not fun. I think my self-confidence was tied to my golf game, and that is not a way to live life. I loved being outdoors and playing golf, but the joy was gone. I would have loved y’all to play, but none of you were really very interested at that point. You all had baseball and soccer and basketball and theater and I guess we just ran out of time.
KP: Why did you not pursue golf as much when you were the age I am now (40)? I feel obsessed with it, but I don’t remember you playing very often when we were growing up.
Mom: I did not play when y’all were growing up because it was very time consuming. You all had activities that you needed to go to so that kept me busy. Plus, I was a homeschool mom. When I was 40 I had a 3, 5 and 7 year old so life was quite busy. Your dad traveled a lot, and it was different back then.....dads didn’t work from home like some do today.
But, I was blessed enough to be able to play in some fun golf outings with your dad's job in lots of locations across the country. This was probably when I was in my 50s and been away from golf for 2-3 decades.
The most memorable was getting invited to play in the Tiger Woods Chevron World Golf Challenge when they played it at Sherwood Hills Country Club in California. This was in December of 2008. It was amazing.
I was almost 60 years old at the time. I learned how very privileged these golf professionals really are. They are treated like royalty at these clubs. We got the benefit of being treated pretty royally too. I remember getting to go in this luxurious locker room, hitting golf balls on the range standing between Fred Couples and Boo Weekly. It really was surreal. We got well over a thousand dollar gift baskets worth of clothing (I still have most of it). Maui Jim sunglasses, all sorts of awesome stuff.
We got to play with a different pro each day. The first day was Hunter Mahan, and the next day was Charley Hoffman. We played really well and actually came in second place in the tournament! I was thrilled because I hadn’t played in years, and I contributed quite a bit as I was playing from the ladies tees and I could still hit the ball pretty good! I remember on a par 3 toward the end of the round, none of our team hit the green. We knew the scores were close so I was last to hit. I was feeling pressure, but Charley was so encouraging, and I hit a great shot and we birdied the hole! I didn't choke!
What a fun, awesome two days. The dinner was amazing, we got to visit with Paul Casey at our table and Craig Sadler and Hunter and Charley. So that was the last of my golf days, but what a way to go out. Playing with the best of the best and getting second place!
KP: Two of your kids now work in media and publish things online for a living. I barely want my kids to even know what the internet is so I’m curious about what your experience is like as our mom.
Mom: I am grateful that we didn't really have internet when you all were little. There is obviously a lot of good to the internet, but I am glad there wasn’t social media back in those days. It's a little hard to wrap my head around that you all make a living on the internet, but I know that's how the world works these days. You are all very talented, and I am grateful that you do make a living online or offline!
KP: What is a golf take that you’re way in on right now?
Mom: I think they should put a timer on each group/player and penalize EVERYBODY — even Tiger — for taking too long.
Thank you for reading until the end.
You’re a sicko for reading a golf newsletter that’s 2,992 words long.
I’m grateful for it.
And thank you to my mom for sharing her story with everyone. I love doing all of these Q&As, but this one meant the most.