The Story of How I Got Into This Whole Blogging Thing

It's kind of a slow news day today.  Michelle Wie suffered heat stroke during a pro-am in France.  The Canadian Open starts tomorrow.  Tiger has lost $22 million in earnings in '10 compared to '09.  None of those stories really interest me all that much, so I figured I would tell you a little bit about myself.  

Why?  Well, in recent weeks, I've had the pleasure of getting to know some more people associated with this site - readers, some media, and people at other golf organizations.  In those meandering chats, some stuff comes up that surprises people.  So, I thought I would summarize.

The most common misconception about me is that Waggle Room is my full-time job and I am a full-time reporter/blogger/whatever I am.  I'm not.  I actually have a day job involving technology.  I run this site as a passion for writing, reporting, and golf.

That leads into the natural follow-up: how do you post so often?  Honestly, in most cases, I have what I want to say in a post already written in my head before I type it.  I'm fortunate enough to not have word counts, particular sourcing requirements, or anything like that behind each story that I do.  And since I can dictate the topics, I cover things that appeal to me.

After that, I usually get: would you like to write about golf full time? It's a long answer with some caveats.  Let me tell you the journey to here.

I got into the game of golf when I was 12.  I was playing three sports at the time: baseball, soccer, and basketball.  During baseball season, I would go to the batting cages which were located at the driving range.  After I would hit in the cages, I started going to rent a driver and hit golf balls.  I quickly realized that I was much better at hitting golf balls than baseballs.  My parents hooked me up with four 30 minute lessons (the only ones I've ever had), and I ditched the stitchball.

Eventually, I ditched soccer and baseball just before golf season of my freshman year of high school.  That February was a two day tryout to make the team.  Back then, we only had a varsity squad, so space was thin.  On the first day, I went out at Rolling Road CC in like 44 strokes for nine.  Nothing great, but not bad.  I needed to do better the next day.  On day two, I somehow pulled a 39 out of nowhere - including a birdie at the last in front of the whole squad - to make varsity.  I stayed there for four years - played other great tracks in the area like Baltimore Country Club and Caves Valley.

When it came time for college, I decided not to pursue it.  I knew professional golf was not in the offing for me, so collegiate golf would be a dead end in exchange for losing a lot of fun time.  But, I did go into college to be a journalism major.  On day one of JOUR 100 (no lie), the dean of the school said to the hundreds assembled that we could expect to make between $11,000 and $41,000 in year one.  Realizing that I could make more fixing computers, I never went back.  I switched majors to business.  (Sell out!  Yes, I am.)

Fortunately, I knew a guy by the name of Sean O'Connor, through my good buddy and groomsman Scott Wasilewski.  They ran a company now called All In Broadcasting - streaming collegiate and high school sports, as well as sports talk, before the advent of podcasting, internet radio, and smartphones.  I was hoping to get in and do a golf talk show.  They said, "Sure." So I started The 19th Hole Golf Show.  Just me and a mic at a table for an hour with likely just my parents on the other end.

Bored with that idea of babbling, I decided to make something of the show.  I started emailing people.  Writers, the tours, other people in the business.  I got Scott Van Pelt to come on the show a handful of times.  Christina Kim was introduced to me in her freshman year on tour.  We've become good friends since.  I even caddied for her once.  Talked to Paula Creamer before she became Paula freakin' Creamer.  Had Martha Burk on the show.  Sally Jenkins said our interview was "fun."  It was great stuff.

Problem was that I wanted to write.  I had to find an outlet to write.  I picked up some work at what were then known as "fan sites" - the precursor to blogs where less the traditionally trained writers talked sports.  One was Sports Central (which I still contribute to) and the other was Sports Fan Magazine.  My editor was Greg Wyshynski, a talented writer with a knack for hockey.  His Jester's Quart column was the bomb.  Now you know him as one of the best hockey writers in the biz over at Yahoo!'s Puck Daddy.

Eventually, the writing and the show took off.  With the advent of podcasting, my audience increased by thousands almost overnight.  As blogs became more prominent, I started my own.  People were beginning to take at least a tiny notice at my work.  All the while, I was getting my Master's degree in Public Policy through the summer of '06.

That takes us to the summer of 2008.  With some steady growth at my old, self-created GNN Blog, I was starting to think a little bigger.  More traffic, better arrangements, and the like.  Then the big opportunity hit.  Mulligan Stu, who founded this site, had to step away because he was unable to maintain this site as he would like.  With a void at a respected blog, I asked the good folks at SB Nation if I could have a shot at it.  Luckily, they said yes.

If you want to know the details of my adventures here at Waggle Room, just scour the archives.  Those are stories unto themselves.

So, why share this? Well, I realize that I don't share a lot of myself in my writing.  You know that I cry from time to time, apparently particular to the subject of Tom Watson. It's known that I got married (which was a post that people really enjoyed).  And you all know that I am bald.  That's it.  But, I wanted to share with you where I come from when I write and what I do.

Also, I want to hear about you.  Why do you come here?  What's your connection to golf?  The beauty of this place is the community.