I
Everything has its season
n 1966 Alexander City State Junior College hosted its first men’s golf team. The first head coach was Maxie Boles. Boles had a niche in recruiting. He brought some of the finest young golf talent found around the world to Alexander City. He coached the team from 1966 through his retirement in 1998. In 1990, his 24th year, Boles finally won the National Junior College Athletic Association Championship; then again in 1996 and 1997. John Sadie, from Montgomery, followed Boles for two years and was fortunate to have Nick Rousey on his team, which Boles had secured before his retirement. With Rousey, who is the only golfer in the NJCAA to win the National Championship as an individual, back-to-back years, Sadie picked up two more National Championships in 1999 and 2000. Unfortunately, after the 2001 year concluded, it was announced that Central Alabama Community College would cancel its men’s golf program. Make sense? Not to me either; however, it happened. In the spring and the following fall quarter of 1976, I played golf for Alex City State Junior College, and the experience I found here drove me to choose a career in golf. My first professional position was at Inverness Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama. I tried to play mini-tour events, but I realized they would not be a viable means of income without long-term financial resources. So I returned, as a pro, to country clubs and found a love for teaching the game. I had no preference to teaching men, women or junior golfers, as long as they worked on their game. Hearing about them breaking 90, 80 or 70 for the first time always made me smile. In 1997, by an odd coincidence, I came across a cap manufacturer one day in Atlanta. On a whim, I proposed hiring me as the national sales manager and creating a golf division to acquire and manage independent sales representatives to carry the company's headwear. The company liked the idea and gave me the opportunity. Within a couple of years, we began to make a reasonable dent in the industry, and the future looked bright. Then in the summer of 2001, during a golf trip to Montgomery, I read about the closure of the golf program at CACC. To make a very long story short, with the help of Hoyt Carlisle, Billy Hardy and Al Hartley, we were able to convince CACC President Dr. Jim Cornell to reinstate the golf team. Through the meetings with these gentlemen, I became interested in the possibility of me coaching the team, as former coach John Sadie had accepted a position at the University of Arkansas. As things worked out, I took the job. For a long time as an adult, my idea of success was to climb the ladder, make a bunch of money, buy a bunch of things I didn’t need and have the white picket fence house. That was my American dream, or so I thought. Over time, life slowly reveals its secrets to us. We just have to pay attention. In just a few seasons as the golf 14 Lake Martin Living
coach for CACC, I realized that I was experiencing a different and more fulfilling sense of accomplishment from helping these young people start their adult lives than I had in climbing the ladder. More than 85 percent of my former players have successfully transferred to play golf at the four-year college level. In addition, more than 90 percent of my former players have acquired their bachelor’s or master’s degrees. Those two facts tell me that I was doing something right. The demands that I place on my players to develop a strong work ethic have proven to be a good strategy for our play on the golf course, classroom and preparing for life. With the list of outside distractions in today’s world, it is not easy to get young people focused on their priorities, but we’ve been pretty successful in doing that. To witness hundreds of young men develop into hard-working, God-fearing family men is a blessing, and I don’t mind calling it – priceless. CACC golf has been very successful over the years. Willow Point Country Club is the home course for the program, and I can’t think of another team that is so fortunate. The boys also utilize many other golf courses in our area like Farmlinks, Moore’s Mill, AU Club, Saugahatchee, Wynlakes, Lagoon Park, Arrowhead and Montgomery Country Club. Once a year, The Country Club of Birmingham and Shoal Creek allow us to play their courses, as well. But, let there be no doubt, Willow Point is our home, and we are the luckiest college team in the nation in that regard. Whenever I bring a recruit in, if he isn’t overwhelmed by the golf course standing on the 13th tee overlooking the green with Lake Martin gleaming behind it, my interest in that young golfer is extinguished. The student-athletes who have played for me have worked extremely hard to improve their golf game and succeed in the classroom. Over the last 21 years, 18 have consisted of golfers who have earned Team Academic All-American honors. To work hard at practice and perform well enough to win a dozen conference championships, six district championships, two national championships and too many collegiate tournaments to count, all while being successful in the classroom, displays
