I thought on Thanksgiving this year we’d give you all a break from the usual golf content while you’re spending time with your family, eating too much food, watching some football, or just enjoying a day off work (or not of course, am I right, retail?).  Instead, I thought I’d take a minute to go with the Thanksgiving theme and mention some of the things we’re thankful for at DRH in our first year of existence.

Bill’s Thanks

Old Friends

First off, taking the leap to start from scratch and launch a new site was a daunting task.  It was also quite a bit of a risk.  While we knew we’d be back at ground level, there was no guarantee we’d be able to gain much ground and maintain any ongoing momentum.  There have been a handful of people that specifically jump out to me.

The Scott Readman Concepts team has been featured quite a bit on our site already.  Regardless of the content we’ve created so far, Scott, Emma, and their families have been amazing friends to me/us since Day 1.  Basically, they’ve all been willing to help with anything we need and have been great supporters of our efforts.  They’ve been beyond great to me as well as my family for years now.  The Readmans and Chisletts have even gone so far as to welcome me into their homes and tour me around England!  My connection to these people is something cosmic that transcends this silly golf site, and I’m fortunate I have people like this half the world away.

There’s also my guy Chip Usher.  I was thinking about the it the other day, and Chip and I go back quite a few years now.  It’s funny how this “internet golf game” can work out from time to time.  In a lot of ways, Chip has been a golf mentor for me whether it’s about club building, swing issues, or insight around developing relationships in this business.  Chip’s one of the kindest humans I know and I’m very thankful for the guidance and friendship he’s given me over the years.  I’m sure he’ll never realize the extent of it, but his ongoing support means the world to me.

Victor Afable – another guy from day 1.  I’ll never forget, it’s like week 3 of the site being up and I just get a text message, “hey, I got a new shaft ready to launch, let’s get it on your site ASAP.”  He’s always ready to help and bounce ideas off of, tell a wild story, and just a great guy to have on your side.  I’m honored to be his favorite buckethead.  Also proud of him rocking one in the picture above.

Todd Bishop of Dormie Workshop – I don’t have a good/fair picture to use of Todd Bishop (you’re welcome, Todd), but he’s another one that has been supportive dating back to the old site and has always been more than willing to provide input on new ideas.  Todd was one of the first people with DRH to go “alright, let’s go, how can I help?”  Todd’s company has blown up the past couple of years, and it’s easy to see why when you deal with them.  I’m so excited for all of their success and I’m so appreciative of Todd always putting up with me!

It goes without saying, we’re all extremely appreciative for the support from our family and friends.  While most of them don’t care about our golf ramblings, they still read the stuff we write and encourage us.  There have a been lot more that have supported us from the ground up and I can’t thank them enough.  I’d mention them all here, but out of respect for their privacy and day jobs!  I’ll just say, David, Jared, and Rhett, it’s been a pleasure keeping the machine alive together.

Making New Friends

Every now and then, having a golf website pays off in some cool experiences, and you even make some friends.  I’d met Red, the men’s locker room manager at Olympia Fields Country Club, a little over a year ago (see original Red shout out here).  Since that visit, we stayed in touch, and managed to get a round in together before he went South for the winter (blog to come eventually).  During our round, we played with a man named Bob Topel.  In short, I’ll just say that Bob Topel had many great stories that he was willing to share with a bunch of golf fanatics that appreciated soaking it all in.  These kinds of experiences are what keep us going.

Then there’s Max Reinland.  If you follow the site, you met Max Reinland earlier this week here.  I’ve actually known Max for a couple of years from my old website, but it was more “in passing” so to speak.  I’d recently reached back out to Max for the first since launching DRH and it was a weird collision of stratospheres.  Max and I had an instant chemistry and see the golf world in very similar ways.  Since that initial phone call to catch up, Max and I have been kicking around a lot of new ideas and I couldn’t be more excited about the future.  I appreciate Max’s massive support this year, partnership, and random conversations about browser extensions, universal energies, and real spirit animals.  Also, I picked this picture because it’s comically dramatic and cracks me up every time.  ’92 Jordan > ’92 Drexler.

Jon’s Thanks

Oh boy, this takes be back to elementary school where you learned how to articulate feelings! It’s been a fun year in golf, so here goes…

Don’t tell Bill, but I appreciate him dragging me into the “golf blog” world.  We’d been golf-nerd buddies for a couple years, and he’d always told stories about his previous work on the golf-internet.  I’d always liked his stuff, but never thought I’d be participating.  When he came up with DRH, I got asked to hop on board, and naturally… I resisted!  For whatever reason, he kept giving me ideas about what was coming up, how much I’d enjoy it, and what kind of stories we’d tell.  Well.  He was right.  It’s been fun to be along on the ride, and it’s exciting to see what we’ll do next.  Just don’t tell him I said anything nice!

I appreciate a lot of the folks in the golf world that are so open to sharing their stories, their courses, and for those in the business – what they do for a living. When you stop in the pro shop for the first time and the shop guy or starter tells you about what’s going on that day, to the head pros you’ve known forever, or even the random hacker on the range (beware the unsolicited swing advice) I always think it’s cool how welcoming people in the community are. That’s what keeps me coming back to this game!