Have You Ever Fully Reinvented Yourself?

Have you ever fully reinvented yourself?

Not a pivot.
Not a tweak.

A real identity shift.

I was basically a kid with a kid. Coming out of skateboarding, snowboarding, and creative work… and somehow stepping into the golf business.

On paper, it didn’t make sense.
In real life, it made perfect sense.

I was fairly good at golf. I played on the team in high school. But more than that, I loved the process.

Once you have a swing that repeats, golf becomes almost entirely mental. Focus. Discipline. Self-awareness. Improvement without shortcuts.

In the design world, burnout is real. Being creative every single day is hard.

Golf felt different. Measurable. Honest. Grounded.

I didn’t have a job.
I had a one-month-old baby at home.
And I was already at the golf course every day.

So I started working there.

Before anything was official, the transformation had already begun.

Earrings came out.
Hair got cut.

The baggy pants and flannels disappeared.
(It was 2006.)

Skate parks gave way to driving ranges.
Filming sessions turned into practice sessions.

Only now, I wasn’t filming skate clips.
I was filming and analyzing swings.

Same eye.
Different subject.

One of the guys I worked with had been a teaching professional at another club. He mentioned they were looking for a new pro.

I applied.
I got the job.

Just like that, I was a professional golfer.

Well… a golf professional. Big difference.

There wasn’t really a plan.
I just knew I could do this.

People were excited for me to be there.
And I was genuinely excited to get to work.

I dove in.

Beyond the PGA training required to become a professional, I found mentors. I learned how to teach. I read everything I could get my hands on.

Magazine articles.
Old books.
Library archives.

I still have photocopied pages from golf books written in the 1920s.

I was all in. And it was great.

Golf puts you in interesting rooms.

I worked with and played alongside some of the best players in the world. Golf pros. Other professional athletes.

I’ve played golf with a World Series winner.
Actual PGA Tour players.
Pros just breaking in.

I’ve seen Kevin Love and Bill Laimbeer share a golf cart. It looked like a clown car.

John Randle walks when he plays. His shoulders are wider than his golf clubs.

Those years were special.

One underrated benefit of being a golf pro in Minnesota: winters.

I never let go of creative pursuits.
They just weren’t the focus anymore.

That balance worked… for a while.

Then I got a call.

The pro at my hometown course was retiring. He told me I should apply for the job.

I did.
And I got it.

We uprooted the entire family.
Moved from the Twin Cities to small-town Minnesota.

Our son was about to enter kindergarten.
My wife had lived in metro areas her whole life.
And I was stepping into my first head pro role — an 80+ hour-a-week job.

What could possibly go wrong?

Golf taught me discipline.
Patience.
How to teach.

But it wasn’t the end of the story.

Because reinvention has a way of continuing — whether you plan for it or not.

Next Thursday: what happened when the dream job collided with reality… and why this chapter couldn’t last forever.