The Symphony After the Storm. My Lowest and Best Golf Round Ever.
On August 28, 2026 I shot my best golf score ever. A six-under 66 at Coyote Springs Golf Course. Coyote Springs is located about an hour north of Las Vegas, Nevada. I should tell you that I am a member at Coyote Springs and play the vast majority of my golf there. Most consider Coyote Springs a difficult course. Even though I play it regularly, it is absolutely a course that can be a regular kick in the teeth.
To say that shooting a six-under round of 66 from the blue tees that measure over 6800 yards was awesome is an understatement. It was more than that. It was emotional in many ways. It was anxiety and frustration, patience and peace, all rolled up in one after years of incorrectly tying my personal value and self worth to a golf score. Side note, I still do this, even though I’m trying to be better at it.
I even pumped my fist and silently screamed inside when I holed a 10 footer to finish my round with a par. I was playing alone, but I’m assuming (hoping) the guys on the 9th fairway who watched me fist pump like Tiger were happy for me too. Even if they didn’t realize I just holed out for six-under.
It may be cliche’, but Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Man In The Arena” quote truly sums it up for me in a raw emotional way. One “who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”
My previous best round was a 68 at the Las Vegas Golf Club, or more affectionately known as “the Muni” to locals. I did shoot a 69 at Coyote Springs the year before (2025), but that was from the white tees. While my handicap currently sits at 0.7, that is largely because of a very good score at least once in 20 rounds, combined with the USGA trying to make us all feel better about our true handicap using its system that, in my opinion, masks mediocrity. In reality, I should probably be a three to five handicap. Mostly, however, I find myself playing inconsistent golf which is obviously frustrating.
The 66 was a culmination of work and effort stemming from years of trying to improve and get better. It wasn’t luck, although all golf rounds whether good or bad, involve luck in some shape. I actually started the round five-under par through seven holes. Freaking out on the eighth tee box I started to think ahead. “Can I really do this?” “Can I shoot in the 60’s today?” “Am I going to self sabotage again and end up in the mid 70’s despite my fast start?” These were all thoughts going through my head. I’ve had others tell me this is not abnormal. For some reason most of us are naturally afraid of success. Somehow, however, I quieted the demons and finished the next 11 holes at one-under for the final score of 66.
As I mentioned above, the 66 was a culmination of a prior year’s worth of work. Well, more than that. It was a culmination of two decades worth of work, really. After I shot the 69 from the white tees at Coyote Springs in the summer of 2025, I realized that my golf game peaked. With the state of my current swing, I wasn’t going to get any better. I knew I had significant limitations in how I hit the ball. In short, inconsistently.
A week or two before the Covid shut down I was blessed with the opportunity to go on the golf trip of a lifetime. We played PasaTiempo, Cypress Point, most of Spyglass Hill (a story for another time), and San Francisco Golf Club. Yes, THAT San Francisco Golf Club. I call it THAT San Francisco Golf Club because when we were getting ready in the small historic locker room at Cypress Point two guys across from us were talking about SFGC. One asked, “how do we get on there?” His buddy responded, “you’ll never touch that.” My friend and I glanced at each other without saying a word, but silently screaming, “we are playing there tomorrow!” Sidenote, the trip was amazing. But I also get a bit depressed when I think about it. That trip was once in a lifetime and will likely never happen again. I long to go back regularly, but doubt I ever will have the opportunity.
After that trip, my game developed a significant pull hook. As a result, and not long thereafter, I quit the game for eight months. Sometimes when we are away from things that we enjoy, the absence makes the heart grow fonder. But I honestly didn’t miss it. Then my Colorado golf buddies came to Las Vegas (my hometown) the following spring for our annual get together. I didn’t play great, but I didn’t play poorly either. There were times when we were on the course and I wondered why I was spending money on something I was no good at. This is another one of my personality traits. All traits have a positive and negative side depending on how they are used. This one, the “I don’t want to do it if I’m not good at it” trait, has also helped and hurt me at times in my life. Regardless, at some point during that get together with my friends I decided to give golf one more run. (Sidenote — there have been more than one “one more run’s” since then).
I started truly playing golf in 2003 when I went to law school in Omaha, Nebraska. I took a couple of basic lessons while there, but for the better part of 20 years I was mostly self taught. In returning from my eight month post-Covid hiatus, I searched online and found someone who I thought truly knew the game of golf. Then I sent him an email, jointly wondering and hoping if he would respond.
I didn’t want to take lessons from some random PGA certified guy who worked at Golf Galaxy and claimed he could teach me golf, but who couldn’t break 80 himself. No offense, I’m sure there are amazing golf instructors out there who work at Golf Galaxy. Including some that can’t break 80. But I wanted a guaranteed legit instructor at this stage of my life. Enter Mark Whetzel at Conestoga Golf in Mesquite, Nevada.
Mark is extremely positive and kind. Whenever we speak he is gracious and makes me feel like it is his pleasure to be my friend. Mark was a former professional golfer that previously ran Thanksgiving Point near Salt Lake City, Utah. Most compelling was the fact that Google told me he was Tony Finau’s youth coach. I figured if he was good enough for Tony then he was certainly good enough for me. And he was. The Tony stories are also fun.
I sent Mark an email explaining the state of my game, the time off from the game, and my desires about it moving forward. To my surprise, Mark emailed me a couple of days later saying he didn’t teach a lot of lessons anymore but my email intrigued him. He asked that I come to Mesquite a few days later for a playing lesson so he could evaluate the current state of my game.
Mark watched me play seven or eight holes giving little instruction or comment. I think he was legitimately surprised after I bombed my first drive down the center of the fairway and left myself only a small 70 yard wedge into the hole. I stuck that shot to five feet. Although I missed the putt, the greens were extremely slow and I left it short, I think I showed Mark that maybe I wasn’t pulling his chain and there was something there to work with.
Later in the lesson he finally stopped me after my pull hook reared its head for the umpteenth time and frankly said, “Steve, you will never break par with that swing.” After a split second of being stung, I realized I appreciated his directness. Then we went to work.
Mark taught me the fundamentals of stance, ball position, posture. Things I never knew before. Simple things that lay the foundation of a golf swing. Fundamentals that I can always rely on whenever I feel lost on the course.
God blessed me with the gift of obsession and so when I put my mind to something it can sometimes overwhelm my other priorities. My wife is not a huge fan of this, but I think she appreciates having a husband that sets goals and tries to achieve them, rather than a guy who just sits on the couch and overeats. To make myself feel better I often imagine her saying things like, “the dishes may not get done and the trash may sit for a while, but by golly at least he’s making better contact with the face of the club now.” She actually does not say these things and would rather the dishes and garbage be taken care of instead.
Fast forward to my 69 a few years later in the summer of 2025 from the white tees at Coyote Springs. I knew that I had once again peaked implementing what Mark taught me after those initial lessons. To be fair to Mark, he is extremely busy and we stopped doing consistent lessons a few months after I started. I took what he gave me and made it into the best I could with some irregular video follow ups. Still, it got me that 69, but I knew there was more.
In the spring of this year, 2026, I once again decided to obsess myself with getting better again. Enter Grant Lancaster, the head pro at Coyote Springs. There is a scene in one of my favorite all time movies, “Hoosiers,” where Coach Norman Dale is asked what he’s going to do with his struggling team. He responded he would break them down and build them back up again. And that’s what Grant and I set out to do. Grant took the fundamentals of what Mark gave me, broke me down, and is still helping put me back together.
The breakdown was significant. It included days where I regularly felt like I could not hit the golf ball. In fact, there were times when I had no idea where it was going. I vividly remember playing Paako Ridge with my Colorado buddies this summer. One of them, Jeff, felt so bad for me that he actually apologized to me about my game being so bad. “Steve, I’m so sorry that you can’t hit the ball. I wish you were still good at golf.” Imagine someone feeling so bad for you that they are apologizing to you for your own shortcomings. I did not cry. But I wanted to on more than one occasion during those tough rounds this summer. Yeah, that’s how bad it got.
The rabbit holes also have to be discussed. Those of you who have chased those rabbit holes on YouTube or other social media outlets as it pertains to the golf swing know exactly what I’m talking about. We are constantly trying to find a tip or trick or lesson on how to keep the club outside the hands on the takeaway, where the wrist hinge comes in, face angle aligned with your back after takeaway, wrist bend at the top, shallowing the club on the downswing, and on and on and on. I think I still have dozens of unread Instagram videos that I messaged to myself thinking, “yes, that’s it” when it really was just more noise that I did not need.
Ultimately, Grant has been amazing. My swing has dramatically changed for the better. With the combination of the fundamentals taught to me by Mark Whetzel, Grant has helped me get the club in a better position all around to help me be more consistent. And, as a side bonus, I hit the ball even further now.
But it took effort. A lot of effort. And it’s still taking a lot of effort. I’m talking striking hundreds of balls a day at the range and in my garage. At least the blisters on my hands (literally), sore back, shoulders, etc. are starting to improve. And so is my game, in small but noticeable ways.
It also took another frank comment from Grant, like the one Mark gave me. “Steve, it’s not all about the swing. Your short game sucks.” So once again the gift of obsession is taking over. I have begun to put even more hours into putting and chipping before and after the range sessions. And, somehow, on that beautiful late August day it all came together culminating in that 66.
The day I shot my 68 at the Muni in Vegas, and following my final putt in the hole, I sat down on the fringe and took a deep breath. I had played most of that round with my late uncle, Wade (another story for another time). Although I was alone when I tapped in my final putt, I felt a great calm and sense of accomplishment. Like I had done something important, even though in the grand scheme of things it really isn’t. Still, as I sat down to take it all in I remember the sun lowering in the West, and as can happen in the desert, the clouds were a mixture of brilliant orange and red that clashed perfectly with the light blue sky and the mountains in the background. I tried to soak in the feeling of having accomplished something great, at least great in the golf world. Something I had been striving to achieve for years. I made sure to slow down and appreciate the moment. I did the same this August after my 66. Deep breaths. Enjoy the feeling. Appreciate the effort put in to make it all come together. Sleep well that night.
It’s easy to sit and read inspiring stories. They can fire us up and trigger strong emotions inside of us. I think there are a lot of us out there that want to do great things, no matter if it is golf, coaching, parenting, working. But Theodore Roosevelt was absolutely right. The credit does belong to the man in the arena, cliche’ or not. But that “credit” or “success” doesn’t come without a marred face, sweat and blood, and not without first the errors and the shortcomings. Ultimately, however, every once in a while the great enthusiasms combined with those marred faces, blistered hands and egos, place us in the position of appreciating the victory after only knowing, truly knowing, so many defeats.