Sharing My Personal Golf Story

Maybe My Life Is “All About Golf”

My wife Diane often says “everything with you is all about golf.”  Well – this is not TOTALLY true – but at the same time yes she is pretty perceptive.  Here is the backstory.

At age 16 I started to caddy at the St. Clair Country Club in Pittsburgh, PA – my neighbor Nick Londino – the Locker Room Attendant there – actually asked me if I wanted to do this, and drove me there early each morning that the club was open in the summer.  I was fortunate through hard work to become one of the top caddies there.  Since we would arrive at St. Clair very early on Saturday’s (Nick had to be there) I could go out in the first group that teed off.  This group most weekends included Dick Swanson, Marshall Brown, and Duncan Brown.  Dick, Marshall, Duncan, and I had a great golf relationship – but also a true personal relationship.  

There are many more details I could share – but Nick, Dick, Marshall, and Duncan decided to help me obtain a Western Pennsylvania Golf Association Caddy Scholarship – 4 years full tuition to Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh.  To get to go to school at a place like CMU was the opportunity of a lifetime – and it molded everything about my future.  I am not sure I could have ever attended CMU without their help.  And the personal lessons I learned from each of them also influenced much of how I am today.

I call Dick Swanson each year around Christmas time just to say hi and again say thanks.  This year I found out that he passed away in March.  Somehow I knew this before I called – but it was still sad to learn.  But I also thought about the gratitude I have for all he and Nick, Marshall, and Duncan did for my life.

Maybe some of you reading this have some type of personal story related to golf and how it has been important to you.  If so – enjoy thinking about it during this wonderful season!

Merry Christmas And The BEST 2019!

TONY