From Lawyer to Volunteer Coach to Even Par at Chambers Bay
During the spring of 2026, I attended a recruiting trip with my son in which he was invited to play in front of several junior college basketball coaches in the Pacific Northwest. It was my first time visiting the Seattle area. Coming west from Walla Walla and Columbia Basin junior colleges, we drove into Seattle and crossed over Lake Washington. The views were stunning. I was super hyped and a bit nostalgic as well, having listened multiple times to one of my favorite stories, The Boys in the Boat. The book is about a crew (rowing) team from the University of Washington that improbably won Olympic gold in front of Hitler in Germany in 1936. I was excited to see some of the places that were regularly discussed in the book.
Detailed book descriptions did not do the city and views justice. With the sun shining and few clouds in the sky, Seattle and Puget Sound did not disappoint. We stopped at the Space Needle, but none of the boys wanted to pay the hefty price to go up top. Instead, I paid $50 for an Uber to take me, my son, and three others down to Pike Place Market to see the sights. The combination of the crisp spring air and sun rocketed Seattle up my personal “most beautiful places I’ve ever been” chart. The next day I woke up to rain, which lasted all day. That’s when I was struck with the reality of what people in Seattle deal with most of the time.
During that spring trip I regularly checked the maps app on my phone so I could see where we were in relation to Chambers Bay. I knew I’d be back in June to play the course and kept doing my pre-golf trip due diligence. That due diligence included watching YouTube golf videos of some popular golfers and the 2015 US Open video found on YouTube as well. Of course, Jordan Spieth won the US Open that year. It is always fun to play a course and then watch a video and think, “yeah, I had that putt.” Or, “I birdied that hole!”
My experience at Chambers Bay was really no different than driving into Seattle for the first time. The views are stunning and the golf no less magical. We showed up almost two hours early to relax, warm up, and take in the sights. The range footprint is a bit small but has enough turnover with the players heading to tee off that getting an area to hit balls and warm up was not difficult. The putting green and chipping area are both large. It may have been one of the best warmups I’ve ever had.
On the first tee, three of our group of four hit good drives into the fairway. The fourth in our group, me, pulled a drive down the left side that ended up in a bunker below the fairway that also runs next to the 18th hole. Being in the middle of golf lessons at that time made my nervous swing fears quickly return as that ball soared left and I found myself in an opening hole fairway bunker. But, surprisingly, I did a good job of telling myself to calm down and enjoy the golf and views and not worry about my score. The score would take care of itself.
One of the people I have golfed with most over the last few years is my good friend, Mike. Mike took me to Bandon Dunes for my first trip there. Mike is a Bandon aficionado. One of his arms is dedicated to Bandon. He has every course logo tattooed on that arm. Mike got a lot of attention for his arm when we went to Bandon. No matter where we went people stopped and asked about his arm. At one point I swear someone called him the “arm tattoo guy that’s been walking around,” but that’s a story for another time.
One of Mike’s buddies recommended a caddie named Liam for our trip to Chambers Bay. Mike did not want to carry his own bag and so he booked Liam. It turned out that Liam was finishing up his senior year in high school and was off to college in Arizona on the Evans Scholarship. A film about caddies entitled Loopers was released a few years ago. During that flick, the Evans Scholarship was featured. According to the foundation’s website, “The Evans Scholarship is a full tuition and housing college scholarship for high-achieving golf caddies with limited financial means.” Liam was a good kid, if a bit chatty with his questions. Regardless, we wish him luck in his schooling.
I got online a few weeks before our scheduled tee time and booked a forecaddie for myself and the other two in our group, Jason and Jeff. Jason and Jeff are my buddies from southern Colorado. Prior to our round at Chambers Bay, neither of them had yet used a caddie. When we showed up to the pro shop and checked in we found out that the staff thought we were all going to use Liam. The confusion was quickly taken care of as can be expected of such a professional operation like that at Chambers Bay and, thankfully, Alex came in on his day off to help us get around the course. Alex turned out to be the nephew of a good friend of mine with whom I coached college hoops over a decade before. It never ceases to amaze me what a small world we live in.
In the summer of 2010, I lost my job as an attorney resulting from the economic crash that began in 2007. Vegas felt like ground zero for the crash, and I was working as an associate at a small law firm when they let me go. For the next two years I sent out résumés weekly to law firms and never once got a response. Instead of sitting around collecting unemployment I decided I’d go do something that had been simmering in my soul for years anyway: coach college hoops.
I reached out to all my former college teammates and coaches who were still in the business a decade after my playing career came to an end. Most gave me encouragement but could not really help. Then I got a call back from Michael Ostlund, head basketball coach at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah.
Coach O, as we called him, previously coached one of my best friends from my youth at St. Martin’s in Lacey, Washington. In 2008 he was in Vegas with his dad and wanted to golf, but didn’t know anyone or where to play. My high school buddy called me and asked if I could help Coach O and his dad with some golf recommendations. We scheduled a round at TPC Las Vegas (then TPC Canyons) and played 18 together. Our communication was minimal after that, but the round of golf along with my connection to his former player was enough for Coach O to call me and offer me a job as his second assistant (pronounced “volunteer assistant”) at Snow College.
Coach O gave me the best offer he could: $500 per semester on a student ID card that I could use on campus for some meals and groceries. I also picked up a couple of teaching gigs in the PE department to earn a little extra cash. Looking back, I can’t believe we went, but my wife and I loaded up our three kids under the age of four and headed for central Utah. There, my summa cum laude accounting graduate wife worked stocking shelves overnight at Walmart to help pay the bills. She’d come home in time for me to head to practice. Then she’d go to bed when I got home around 8:00 p.m. so she could get up at 3:00 a.m. and do it all over again. I still shake my head thinking about her sacrifice and what it still means to me today.
That walk toward my ball in the left bunker on the 1st hole at Chambers Bay felt a bit contemplative. I can’t truly take the life jump we made going from six-figure attorney to volunteer coach and compare it to golf, but the emotions and nerves of playing a high-end course for the first time on a buddies’ trip are very real. As we walked to our tee shots, I asked Alex to please focus on Jason and Jeff as they had never had a caddie before. “Don’t worry about me,” I said, “I just want their rounds to be enjoyable.” And I meant it, even if I was going to spend the day in and out of Chambers Bay’s (and life’s) bunkers. When I headed down the hill for my ball in the bunker after telling Alex to not worry about me, he gave me a quizzical look and asked if I needed a yardage. I flashed him my rangefinder and went down the hill with my clubs and pushcart.
Mike, Jason and Jeff all hit great second shots into the 1st green after help from Liam and Alex. As I stood over my ball with 170 yards uphill to the green, I couldn’t help but feel the eyes on me from the group in the 18th fairway just behind me. Somehow, I quieted the doubts and demons, relaxed, and put a good swing on it with my 8-iron. The ball came out nice and landed 20 feet behind the pin on the green. I immediately calmed down knowing I had a birdie putt. After we all two-putted for par, we settled in and moved through the course. It is amazing what one good swing early can do to set the tone for your round. Looking back on my basketball playing days, it was like getting a bucket early. The nerves settled down. Nothing like seeing your ball go through the net early, or seeing your shot or putt go in the direction you want it to early in your round.
The 3rd hole at Chambers Bay gives you your first truly stunning tee shot. On your left is Puget Sound, with a vast area of the course up the hill to your right. Four more good tee shots on the 3rd and we were on our way to the 4th, your first par five. Getting there requires a cart ride with a course employee. After I birdied the 4th I was one under. The rest of the front nine takes you back down then back up the hill until the par five 8th. The second shot on 7 is steeply uphill and requires some genuine guesswork. We all came up short and I had to knock a long putt close for a tap-in bogey.
The par five 8th sits atop the property and any shot right of the fairway sends you into the weeds and significantly down the hill. I hit one of my most memorable shots of the day, a cut driver that started over the left side of the property but took the steep slope and ended up center cut. The calculated execution of my planned swing even elicited a comment from Mike, which made me feel good. My second shot, a 3-wood intentionally aimed at the top of the hill left of the green, was also meant to take the slope down the hill. I striped it and we all thought it was on the green, but we could not quite see with a bit of fog ahead. Unfortunately, my ball took too much slope and ended up just right of the green. I missed a five-footer for birdie, followed by a three-putt from long distance on the par three 9th which landed me a score of one over for the front.
Like my front nine at Chambers Bay, my first (and only) year at Snow College with Coach O had its typical ups and downs. Those ups and downs included the rigors of travel, dealing with high-level athletes who have a hard time making it in the classroom, and worrying about a wife and children as we froze in the central Utah winter with little income. But there were highlights too. In one weekend, we beat the No. 1 and No. 12 ranked teams in the country on back-to-back nights. One of those teams, Southern Idaho, went on to win the national junior college championship that year. That Southern Idaho team featured Pierre Jackson, another Las Vegas native, who ended up playing in the NBA. In the end, however, the new athletic director fired Coach O and took over the basketball program for himself while remaining in his administrative role. As a side note, this was an act that did not inspire trust from the basketball community after that. Getting rid of someone to pursue your own interests rarely goes over well.
But like my round at Chambers Bay, I look back with nothing but fondness for the experience, struggles, and successes at Snow College with Coach O. While there were some struggles at Chambers Bay as well, including two three-putts for par on 12 and 13, I did hole a 40-footer for par on the 5th. The 12th is the short uphill par four on which most tour players could reach the green with a 3-wood at the 2015 US Open. I hit driver and landed on the front of the green with the pin 80 feet away.
My frustrations softened a bit on the par three 15th, where a bad swing went left of the green but the slope fed it toward the pin and left me with an uphill 12-footer for birdie (I missed again). The short and downhill 15th hole frames the famous logo tree in the background as you look over Puget Sound. I forgave the course for my prior three-putts and we walked to the short par four 16th where we teed off next to the railroad tracks. A 3-wood up the left side left me a flippy wedge into the green but I once again missed a 15-footer for birdie. After pars on 16 and 17, I hit a 4-iron for my second shot to 20 feet on 18 for an eagle chance and an under-par round. When the ball faded off the club and hit the top right of the hill behind the green, Alex held his breath, but finally commented, “Lucky,” as it came down the hill onto the green. I finally two-putted a par five this time and tapped in a birdie for an even par 72. Certainly one of the most memorable rounds of my life.
Looking back, Alex was right. I was lucky. But this luck has nothing to do with my ball taking the slope on 18. I’ve been lucky to have people like my wife, kids, and Coach O in my life. People who are willing to support me in big risks, and give me chances when I’ve been unproven.
I’ve also been lucky to play one of the few golf courses as fun and stunning as Chambers Bay. There are a lot of golf courses that are simply visually stunning. Of course, Cypress Point, Pebble Beach, and others would be included on this list. But Chambers Bay is no less stunning in its own way compared to those golf course icons. It also did not hurt that the day we played was perfect golf weather. Jeff, Jason, Mike and I kept having to decide whether to take our jackets off or keep them on. A good problem to have.
As I mentioned before, my buddy Mike and I have been to Bandon Dunes multiple times. More than once as we walked Chambers Bay and played various shots, we commented that it reminded us of a solid combination of Pacific Dunes and Bandon Dunes. Like those two courses, I simply cannot think of a bad hole design or absurdity on the course.
Other than Jason and Jeff thoroughly enjoying Alex as their first-time caddie, the thing I remember most about Chambers Bay is Puget Sound. The water looked like glass the entire day and I kept wondering what it would be like to wakeboard out there. Are there orcas in those waters? Would they chase me as I jumped the wake behind the boat? I could almost feel the energy of a wakeboard beneath my feet carving the water as my eyes kept being diverted from the golf course (perhaps why I three-putted so often) to the sound, the trees, and the natural beauty that is Puget Sound. Nature in its finest form. We are lucky to have these types of courses where we can not only strike a ball around some green and brown turf but also stand in awe of what God has given us as a creation.
After the round Alex (our caddie) sent me a message on Instagram thanking me for the generous tip and inviting me back to play his home course if I were ever in Seattle again. It would be fun to return and play with Alex and catch up with Coach O to discuss the old Snow College glory days. Chambers Bay sits in my top five golf courses played and is definitely a place I would like to return to for golf. I hope the weather, and the ups and downs of life and golf, stay the same for me next time as well.