Welcome To My Blog

Hello and welcome to my blog about golf.  I'm 38 years old, happily married for 5+ years with one child (whom my world revolves around) and I live in beautiful Vancouver, BC, Canada (also known as the best city in the world).  I own and operate a retail jewellery company called K.I.G. Fine Jewellery & Custom Design as well as a precious metals buying company called Pacific Gold Buyers. 

I've played sports all my life...baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis, golf...and the list goes on and on.  When I was 8 years old, my dad introduced me to the sport of golf.  I was immediately hooked.  I started out playing at the local pitch and putt courses and took a few beginner lessons at the McCleery Golf Course in Vancouver, BC as my dad wanted me to learn how to swing the club properly so I wasn't hacking around and tearing up the courses.  After a few years of playing par 3 courses and learning more about the challenges and ettiquette of the game, I was ready to take things up a notch and play on the "real" courses.  Thus, I became a junior member at the McCleery Golf Course where I attended weekly lessons with the assistant pro in order to develop skills and eventually take what we learned out onto the golf course.  Being a junior member was the best thing I could ever have done as it gave me the opportunity to learn from a great teacher (Alec Macdonald) as well as compete in several tournaments at the club itself in addition to tournaments around the Lower Mainland.  At the age of 16, I became the Junior Club Champion and had gained lots of experience playing in competitive events under pressure.  Of course, not all of the experiences were 'great', but each one was an opportunity to learn and grow as a person while developing my game.  One of the great things about golf is that it teaches you many other important life lessons and traits such as humility, patience, perseverance, success and failure.  I was lucky to have benefited from these experiences at a young age and I'm one who believes that golf is not just a sport, it's a path to learn about life and how to deal with challenges that come up along the way.

I stopped playing competitive golf after completing high school as my focus was on completing my business degree at the University of British Columbia and I just didn't have the time to put into golf.  Getting an education was priority as I'm a true believer that in life, you may lose everything, but no one can ever take away your education and your knowledge.  I always wanted to pursue a career in golf and see if I was good enough to get to the next level, but "life" took over and business opportunities came about so I stuck to playing golf recreationally with friends and have continually improved my game over the years.  I did, however, have the opportunity to take lessons from one of the top instructors in the United States a few years ago.  Joe Thiel is an amazing man and an even more amazing golf instructor.  He has taught many of the great players in Asia and travels around the world teaching both amateurs and pros and I was lucky enough to be one of his students.  I'll share my experiences with Joe in a later blog.

This brings me to where I am today and why I've decided to put together a blog.  As I mentioned above, I've always wanted to pursue a career in golf and I'm finally taking the steps to get there.  Golf is my passion and one of the things I love to do is help people improve their game.  Whenever I play golf with friends or in corporate tournaments, people always seem to look to me for advice on the course or on the practice range.  I have a sound understanding of the golf swing and the science behind it and I'm always more than happy to share my knowledge and help people to enjoy the game more.  At the moment, I'm in the process of completing my golf teaching certification through the Professional Golf Teachers Association of America.  My goal is to become a Master Golf Teaching Professional and be able to make a career out of teaching and becoming the best instructor I can possibly be.  I've learned so much through the game of golf and it's time for me to give back and help others learn the game, improve their skills and, ultimately, grow the sport in order for people to benefit from not only the game, but from the life lessons that are learned and experienced through golf. 

Stay tuned as I'll be posting tips and tidbits about golf in order to help readers improve their game and enjoy the sport more.  I'll also keep readers posted about my progress through the certification program which I'm planning to complete by the spring of 2013.  Feel free to email me with any questions you may have about the sport or any tips and I'll be sure to get back to you as soon as possible...also, don't forget to subscribe to the blog by clicking on the link below.