Last month, I wrote about Eagles Nest, where I was enrolled in my first junior golf clinic at age 9.
During my childhood, my family spent most summers on Amelia Island, a barrier island northeast of Jacksonville, Fla. In order to receive practice and playing privileges, I picked the driving range and worked in the cart barn at Amelia Links on Amelia Island Plantation.
The resort’s Oak Marsh course, a classic Pete-Dye design, was built in 1972 shortly after the famous architect completed Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. Featuring tight fairways and small greens, the par-72, 6,500-yard track meanders along serpentine salt marsh creeks and through moss-draped heritage oaks without a single parallel fairway. Constructed with a strategy to preserve the natural environment, the course features native plant life, habitats for wildlife, and the use of coquina shell for distinctive cart paths. Listed in Golf Digest’s “Top 75 U.S. Resort Courses,” Oak Marsh recently played host to National Golf Association’s Hooters Professional Golf Tour.
As a kid, I spent hours learning the game on the practice facilities and course. At the time, the director of golf was Buddy Antonopoulos, who is now the head pro at Greg Norman’s Medalist Golf Club. Golf broadcaster Steve Melnyk — then playing on the PGA Tour and living in a home just off the 10th green — offered an occasional tip and wrote a personal recommendation letter to Coach Jesse Haddock during my college recruitment at Wake Forest.
Undoubtedly, pitching and putting became a strength of my game due to the creativity needed to get up and down on the small greens on Oak Marsh. Back in the day of persimmon woods, forged irons, and wound balata golf balls, I also learned how to work shots left and right to navigate the tight routing of the holes. Unfortunately, length of the tee was not a priority, and today, my driving distance probably suffers as a result.
I actually experienced a life-threatening incident on the 17th hole of Oak Marsh. When I was 14, I was playing alone and searching for a golf ball in the marsh that fronts the green. With my eight-iron, I innocently disturbed a beehive lodged in the grass and reeds. I was stung 48 times. Within a couple of minutes, I was experiencing a deep loss of breath and itchy hives over my entire body. I somehow managed to walk back to the cart barn, where my friend Blaine loaded me on a golf cart for a quick ride to a nearby security gatehouse. Then, an ambulance drove me to Baptist Medical Center in Fernandina Beach for emergency care. Months later, I underwent a desensitization program with a long series of venom shots administered by an allergist, and today, I am alive and bee allergy free!
With family living on the island, I still return to the resort for vacations as well as the annual member-guest tournament. My playing partner is Rocco Marsicano, an original resident who still plays golf into his 80’s. I always enjoy looking at the silver plate in the trophy case which signifies the junior club champion and includes my name twice. Today, the professional golf staff includes friends Robert Dugger, Dean Grunewald, Bobby Voelker, Barry Richardson, Broc Nell, and Ed Bowe, who is the new director of instruction.
Where did you learn to play golf? Please take a minute, and share a favorite story.
Until next time, enjoy golf, America!
