THUD! Touchdown, rolling across the runway the stewardess welcomes me to my new home, “Welcome to Tampa/St. Pete.” My flight took two and a half hours from Detroit to Tampa on the morning of Friday, January 13th. That’s a lot of time to think. How are the next four months going to be? Is Shane going to be a good guy? It will probably be awkward at first, right? These were some of the many thoughts running through my head on this two and a half hour flight. Let me start from the beginning.

I was half way through my junior year at the Culver Academies when I decided to withdraw. I have always been told that golf is the key to my college career, but I haven’t been performing to the expectations. So I decided to move down to Florida for the second half of my junior year. I lived with my dad’s friend’s friend, Shane, who was a teaching pro in Tampa. I met him before but I didn’t know him that well. The plan was to go down there for a semester, work on my game, take some classes to get my credits, and then come home in May. And that’s exactly what I did.

A clean, red, convertible mustang was at the airport waiting for me to get in, that was Shane. I threw my luggage into his mustang and rode to his apartment. His apartment was pretty nice; nothing special just a regular two story apartment but it got the job done. I was just happy for a place to stay. He got me a gym membership for the time I was down there so I could work out, and he was able to get me on the golf course and use the practice area at the course for free. It was really a pretty good deal, two thousand miles away from my parents, soaking up the Florida sun, playing golf every day; it couldn’t have gotten any better. It was my dream.

I never thought repetition would be such a good thing. Every day I woke up, ate breakfast, and started my homework. After I finished my homework I took a shower, got dressed, and drove to the golf course. Practice. I was at the course for the majority of the day; I usually left once it got dark. Then I would meet Shane at home and go over to the gym for a workout. It wasn’t exciting at all, but then again it wasn’t supposed to be. I didn’t have any friends when I went down there but after the first week I befriended some of the kids that played at the course. They were all nice kids, all pretty good at golf. There was one kid that was there every day with me, Ian. He was by far the best player at the course. I played with him a lot and learned a lot from him.

My time down in Florida was very beneficial and I had a great time while I was there. I made some good friends who I still talk to. Hopefully I will play in college and continue my golfing career.