Brent Newhouse, founder of WeekendWarriorGolfer.com, tries to figure out if he's pulled the right stick on the 171-yard, par-3, 15th hole at Radrick Farms, Wednesday, June 3rd.
Life can be screwy. You do everything you're supposed to: go to college, get a job, get married, buy a house, start a family and settle in for what you hope will be a long, healthy, and somewhat prosperous life and then, with little, or nor regard for your future plans, it comes crashing down on your head.
Because of the dour economy that is ripping the guts out of our country right now and absolutely crushing the state of Michigan, that story line is all too familiar for a lot of us - me included. Yes, I'll be on the bread line come July 23rd when the Ann Arbor News closes for good after 174-years in the business.
Without knowing it, the same story line played out in symmetrical fashion across town for Brent Newhouse, a fellow golf enthusiast, who had to come to grips with losing his job last June at Pfizer where he worked several years as a supervisor in operations.
What to do? Certainly it's a question that I, Brent, or anyone else who ever lost their job has to ask. For Brent, the answer was not going to be move to Connecticut where a lot of the Pfizer employees were relocated. Still, with a wife and a 2-year-old, he had to do something, but what?
The what turned out to be WeekendWarriorGolfer.com, a new website founded by Newhouse that launched earlier this year. The site is aimed at the "regular guy" golfer looking to play a course that offers both enjoyment and value. Newhouse can relate, because he feels like he's that "regular guy."
Brent and I got together Wednesday morning (June 3rd) at Radrick Farms in Ann Arbor to play 18 and talk about everything from the economy, to courses we love, to his decision to stay in Michigan and gut it out.
We had a great time playing one of my, and his, favorite courses (a review on Radrick to follow) but we had an equally great time just being outdoors, strolling a quality chunk of real estate, enjoying what I would call a perfect day for walking a golf course.
In fact, one of the first things Newhouse told me was how much weight he's lost since getting out from behind a desk to start his new venture of playing and reviewing golf courses.
For some, it may sound like a cake job, but when you take into consideration the fact that Newhouse not only plays the course, but also has to write, take pictures, sell advertising (which can be a tricky proposition so as not to look as if the review has been bought and paid for) and put it all together in a user-friendly package, well; it's not as easy as it looks.
Still, Newhouse wouldn't have it any other way. His loss of employment has opened up a world where he can chase a dream. A pursuit, he says, made all the easier by a wife who not only supports his new venture, but also encourages him to follow his dream on a daily basis.
Launched in January, the site focuses mainly on courses in Michgan, but also includes other gems that Newhouse has played, like Pebble Beach and Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. It's important to Newhouse to try and tell it like it is when he reviews a course. He wants golfers to know what a course is really like - and not just the golf part, but the whole deal. From the parking lot, to the pro shop counter, to the beer you might drink at the 19th hole, Newhouse wants you to know not only how badly a long, double dogleg par-5 is going to kick your butt, but also if the guy behind the counter was a jerk, or if the hot dog at the turn was the best you ever had. And since he's working for himself, he'll give it to you straight, regardless of the cost of the course, its ranking, or its reputation.
He does this with a course rating system called the Five F's: as in Fee, Friendliness, Fringe (amenities) From First Tee to Handshake Factor, and Fun. The site also features product reviews, contests forums and feature articles.
But why go from a high paying gig at Pfizer, to the relatively unstable world of the web? "People think it always has to be about money," Newhouse said, "but I'm a hundred times happier now than I was then... I was miserable as hell sitting behind a desk all day."
Before the day was done, Newhouse and I extolled on why we love golf so much and it dawned on me that many folks enjoy the game for the very same reasons we do. Yeah, there's the camaraderie, but Newhouse also enjoys the feeling in you get in your hands from a well-struck iron, or the joy you feel when you peel off your golf shoes at the trunk of your car after walking 18, and slip back into something -anything - that's more comfortable.
He wants golfers, and more importantly local Michigan golfers, to know that despite the horrid situation we've been plunged into economically, don't give up the golf. Instead, embrace the golf, make golf be your escape. Save your money wisely, but don't forget to get outside and be human - breathe a little - hit the ball; walk; walk some more, then hit it again.
Brent Newhouse is most likely a golfer just like you- a weekend warrior. He doesn't pretend to be anything more than that, but he gets it, he really does, and he wants you to get it to.
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