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a course called U.S. Senior Amateur Champion, Rusty Strawn, is putting down roots at Lake Oconee

STORY BY PATRICK YOST

Everybody should have a year like Rusty Strawn did in 2022.

The 59-year-old Strawn, who plays out of Cuscowilla, turned in what several golfing publications dubbed a “dominating” year, winning four USGA senior amateur tournaments, including the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship and the Canadian Men’s Senior Championship in back-to-back weeks.

Strawn also won the Trans-Mississippi Senior Championship, the Society of Seniors; Dale Morey Championships and had three second place finishes for the year.

This year, the juggernaut golfer has his sights set on establishing a new home course.

The Strawn family is currently building a home at Cuscowilla and Rusty says he can’t wait to get moved in to a neighborhood and a golf course he admires.

“I’ve always been a fan of the design,” he says. “That course plays very difficult. That golf course is very challenging. It teaches you to think your way around. It’s a cerebral course.”

Currently ranked 443rd in the world, Strawn says in his late 40s after the insurance agency his father founded continued to prosper and his three children had grown older, he reached a defining point in his life. Always a golfer, he decided to dedicate time and energy to see “how good can I become.”

So far, he says, the effort has led to an interesting and amazing life.

Playing as a ranked amateur, Strawn has played golf all over the world. Often, he says, his wife of 36 years, Jennifer, accompanies him on tournament trips and has caddied for the golfer. The Strawns have three daughters.

“I couldn’t count the number of meaning relationships I’ve acquired from golf all over the world,” he says. Strawn says following college, he made a conscious decision to focus on work and family. While he considered making a run at playing professionally, his family and the family business beckoned. “There’s not a doubt in my mind I could have made it out there but the question is, to what expense? I wasn’t willing to sacrifice that to play professional golf.” But, he says, he never gave up on the game. “I’m a golfer, that’s what I enjoy doing the most.”

To return to a tournament level, Strawn says he focused on health and relied on his faith to round out his game. Strawn says he stretches at least 45 minutes a day and incorporates some light weight lifting and cardio into his routine. The process, he says, has been a joy and comfortable with his nature.

“I’m very disciplined in most areas of my life,” he says. “I’m goal oriented and develop both a process and a plan in everything I do.”

His faith, he says, keeps him grounded and patient. “I ask God to give me a calming presence. Whatever happens, I just honor and glorify Him at the end to the day. I’m blessed to have that relationship with the Lord.”

Through it all, the plus 2.5 handicap player says, stretching is the most important physical component of a senior game.

“A lot of people underestimate stretching and what it can do for your golf game,” he says.

From his bag, he hits a driver between 265 to 275 yards; a two wood

235 to 250; a three iron hybrid 210 to 225 and his four iron can go as far as 215. His 150 yard club is an eight iron and a pitching wedge can go 130. Every practice and every round is geared toward consistency and remembering that the counter intuitive nature of the game is filled with challenges.

He relishes challenges, he says. “When I have to hit a shot I’m uncomfortable with and then you pull it off, that’s a small victory. Holding up under pressure, that’s what I’m trying to do.”

The short par three 11th hole at Cuscowilla, a 100 to 125 yard shot to a green on the shores of Lake Oconee is Strawn’s favorite at Cuscowilla. During the summer, he says, when boats line the shoreline and lubricated boaters cheer or jeer tee shots into the green, the hole provides both tension and reward.

“It’s so short you’ve got to assume you’re going to hit the green,” he says. “That puts a lot of pressure on you.”

Soon, Strawn will have plenty to time to perfect the hole, between opening the newest branch of the Strawn & Co., Insurance at Lake Oconee and moving his family to Cuscowilla.

There, he says, he will continue to work on a game that continues to show promise and will continue to settle into the patient rhythm of both his practice and life.

He’ll get in a game every once in a while with his father Norman, 86, and keep his interest and natural curiosity in others active and alive.

“It’s more about the journey than the destination,” he says. “I enjoy what it takes to play at the level I’m playing at today.”