Hey there, Birdies!
In this installment of Golf for Swifties, I will be sharing about something more personal – my marriage to my husband and fellow avid golfer, Colin. We have SO MUCH FUN on and off the golf course. My hope is that by sharing about how golf has brought us closer together, other couples can see that with effort, golf can be a wildly effective and fun way to connect.
Our Origin Story (The Cliff Notes)
For context, here’s a bit about us:
We met volunteering for Special Olympics in Springfield, Missouri, only to discover we lived merely miles apart in St. Louis (4 hours from where we were). Fast forward through a lot of love, fun, not fun, learning and growth, to Colin unexpectedly proposing in September 2020 on the 18th green at our club. Originally, we’d planned to get married in Ireland, but Covid’s prolonged global impact made that dream impossible. Instead, we secretly tied the knot in February 2023 at the Four Seasons in St. Louis. Elvis was our officiant. It was the perfect blend of fun and fancy. The golf honeymoon we’d planned was still a fabulous time, but the knee injury I had sustained 6 days before our wedding (the one that led me to create Tee Time with Audrey) really put a damper on our party. Colin, being the considerate man he is, planned a “honeymoon 2.0” last month September at the same resort in Phoenix that was perfection. Today, I am happier than I have ever been in my life.
5 Ways Golf Have Helped Us Connect & Grow Together
Here’s some of my favorite photos from our golf adventures paired with notes about how golf has brought us closer together and has kept a tether between us throughout our individual growth:
Being Eachother’s #1 Fan
Cheering each other on when we nailed a difficult putt or managed a long drive is always a joy. It reminded us to celebrate each other’s successes, both big and small. In 2021, I won our club’s Member/Member tournament. Colin cheered insanely loud. Like PGA Championship in STL, circa 2019 loud. At the time, I wasn’t aware that if I had not made every single shot he reacted loudly to, my partner and I would have been eliminated.
My husband is EASILY, the most supportive man I have ever met.
Gaining Common Ground
During the doom, despair, anxiety, and depression that COVID-19 brought upon the world, golf was our escape. Colin and I ended up golfing together 82 times in 2020 and every game brought us closer together. If we had not had that outlet, yikes.
Quality Time
Spending uninterrupted hours on the course allows us to escape the usual distractions and just focus on relaxing and spending quality time with each other. I can tell when we golf and one of us is preoccupied with work. We leave less relaxed.
Colin’s goofiness also comes out on the course. We have SO much fun together!
Thinking Strategically Together
Golf is full of challenges, and it requires strategy and patience. Figuring out the best way to navigate tricky holes is something we tackle as a team. Golf can be frustrating at times for both of us. We both have strengths and weaknesses in our game, so learning from each other has, and is still, a part of the fun.
Talking Things Out
We found ourselves communicating more on the golf course. Chatting about our strategies or the conditions of the day helped us connect on a deeper level. It’s led to some fights too. (cue Mr. & Mrs. Smith therapy scenes) But we were talking, and that’s what I feel has mattered the most.
…Also, it helps that most golf courses aren’t the kind of place where noisy arguments are tolerated.
For those interested in getting their spouse more involved with golf, check out my series For Love & The Game!
Our journey through the golf course truly reflects our journey in life – filled with moments of learning, growing, celebrating victories, and standing by each other during relentlessly rough times. As we move forward, we know the course will continue to be our special place, a place where we connect, reflect, and keep falling in love. Golf, after all, is more than a game for us. It’s part of our origin story.