The Transformative Power of Following My Inner Voice

For the last eight months, I’ve been traveling in a sprinter van to all 50 states playing exclusively in random pairings at municipal courses. Here’s how following my inner voice has transformed my life.

In 2018, I played one of the world’s most epic courses. But the thing I couldn’t stop talking about after was my random pairing. I realized it’s the people you’ll remember most, and golf is the rare activity that pairs you with a stranger for hours that you have to talk to.

A small voice in my head was telling me to run with that idea.

If I wanted to meet people from all walks of life, I knew it wasn’t going to be at Top 100s or country clubs—they tend to attract the same kind of person. I knew where I’d meet the most diverse crowd: The munis.

After having a sales job for nine years plus a one-year stint at The Golfer’s Journal, the voice in my head telling me to go became too powerful, so I left both jobs.

In March, my girlfriend Mia and I—and our two pups—pulled out of our driveway in Nashville for this adventure.

Learning to live in a 20ft vehicle with my GF took time, like from Atlanta to Florida to Alabama to Mississippi to Louisiana time. I remember cooking salmon on our camp stove in a Walmart parking lot in Atlanta that first night thinking, “This part wasn’t in my dream.”

I had no clue what I was doing, but I kept having unbelievable connections with people on the course, and that became my north star.

So by Texas I ditched the idea of having a social media following and put all focus into my time with pairings. This made my inner voice happy.

That’s when I met Frank in San Antonio, an 85-year-old attorney whose first words to me were, “I’m a lousy golfer but a scratch bullshitter.” We got so deep in the weeds of his life philosophies, and I think about them almost daily. From that day on, I was off to the races.

Frank / Brackenridge Golf Course / San Antonio, TX

This trip has taken me to munis on the Mexican border, under the midnight sun in Alaska, on top of old mines in Montana, to commuting via the NYC subway and more.

The only thing more diverse than the landscapes are the people I’ve met along the way.

Ascarate Golf Course / El Paso, TX

With only three states left, a common refrain from friends/family has been, “What’s next?” I smile and say, “We’ll see,” knowing my job is to keep following that voice.

So here’s to everyone listening to your inner voice. May you follow it to a life worth living.