A golf odyssey: How a Pawleys Island couple played 200 of America’s top-ranked courses
When Mike and Marilyn Allen walked off the 18th hole at Pasatiempo Golf Club in California in November 2018, they had a moment to reflect on what they had just accomplished.
“We finished up at Pasatiempo and we looked at each other and said if we had the time and the money, we’d do it all over again,” Marilyn said.
They are likely the only couple to play every course ever included on Golf Digest’s biennial list of America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses through 2018 that has remained open and public — 194 courses in total. It’s hard to imagine anyone else has even attempted it.
“It was pretty much drive, play golf, eat, sleep and do the same thing the next day,” Mike said of couple’s many multiple-course trips. “It was new every day. It was a new area, new course, new people. You always looked forward when you got up in the morning to what was going to be new that day.”
Mike wrote the book “From Tee to Shining Tee” about the couple’s experiences on the trip, and recently published it through Amazon.
The couple lives in Pawleys Island half of the year, and the book is available at www.agolfersdream.com and on the South Strand at The Golf Center, True Blue, Caledonia and the Steve Dresser Golf School.
Every dollar from sales is going to two charities related to military special forces — the Pat Tillman Foundation and Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
The couple has three sons and their middle son, Scott, is a special forces member who recently completed a fourth tour in Afghanistan.
“When I decided to do this book, I said we’re not going to make any money, so let’s make it worthwhile,” said Mike. More than 150 have been sold in about six weeks.
The journey
Mike and Marilyn, both 72, are from Columbus Grove, Ohio. They met as freshmen in high school there and have been together for the past 57 years.
They have split time for the past 14 years between Ohio and their home at Litchfield by the Sea and are members of Caledonia Golf & Fish Club and True Blue Golf Club.
Mike was a high school math teacher and coach for more than 20 years, then turned a part-time side job into a career in 2001 when he opened a financial planning business that enabled the golf endeavor. Marilyn was a nurse for 42 years.
“If I had stayed a teacher, it never would have happened, and we wouldn’t have a place at Litchfield by the Sea either,” Mike said.
Scott got the quest started in 2006 when he bought his parents a peg board of the top 100 public courses on Golf Digest’s 2005 list.
They started making short trips within reasonable driving distances of their homes to play some of the courses.
They took their first extended trip in 2009 and played 14 layouts, and by 2013 they had played several dozen and decided to pursue the total in earnest.
“In 2013 we go, ‘OK, let’s see if we can do all this because we have much more free time now,’ “ Mike said. “… When we started it in the first two or three years, we felt we’d never finish it, but we thought the journey, even if we don’t get done, it’s going to be a great, fun time.”
The Allens used the quest to explore the country and traveled to 49 states — Alaska was excluded — covered 55,000 driving miles on extended trips alone and took nine flights.
Forty-five states had top 100 courses, and in the other four states they played one or more of the state’s top-ranked layouts.
“That was the whole idea, we wanted to start seeing the United States by driving and seeing what was going on,” Mike said. The couple hit tourist attractions when time permitted.
“It’s a wonderful country. It’s so diverse. It’s amazing how one day we could be in the desert, the next day in the mountains, the next day on the ocean,” Mike said. “There are so many different kinds of golf courses.”
How much money did the endeavor cost? “Some things you don’t want to think about,” Marilyn quipped.
“Our boys encouraged us, but they always kidded us that we were spending their inheritance,” Mikesaid. The couple paid greens fees ranging from about $40 to $500 per player.
They had to add to their list of courses to play every two years when the rankings were released with new additions. So they were constantly playing catch up.
They took two long trips in 2017 and three in 2018 to complete the quest, ending with 11 courses in Hawaii and California in November 2018. The final trip coincided with their 50th wedding anniversary.
The longest trip was 23 courses in 21 days in the northwest.
“Playing 21 days straight, you’d think you’d be so tired, but it was a new challenge every day,” Marilyn said.
Other than back spasms that dropped Mike to the ground on the course a few times, the couple remained healthy. Marilyn credited traveling with their own pillows.
A look back, ahead
Dave Hanneman, a sportswriter at The Courier in Findlay, Ohio, encouraged Mike to write the book about his journey and served as his editor, then wrote a story about the couple and their achievement. Hanneman had covered Mike’s high school basketball team when he was coaching.
Marilyn took and placed the 120 color photos in the book, added input and also served as an editor.
The book includes information about the courses they played, but it’s often minimal. “It’s more about experiences, and the unusual events that happened and the people we met,” said Mike, who kept meticulous notes and wrote a blog during the trip that he referenced while writing the book over nearly a year. “There’s a little bit about each course but not detailed because I wanted to write it so non-golfers could enjoy the book as well.”
As enjoyable as all the golf courses were, the Allens enjoyed the people they met along the way more, some that they keep in touch with.
“I think really the experiences and the people we were paired with, that was more memorable than the golf,” Marilyn said. “We met some great people.”
The couple putted everything out but weren’t overly concerned with their scores. Marilyn shot a low of 78 at Bully Pulpit in North Dakota and a high of about 103, while Mike was between 74 and about 92.
The Allens aren’t done. The 2019 Golf Digest list of America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses had 13 that were different from the 2017 ranking.
Three were previous top 100s that they played, and six they played previously as highly-ranked state courses. That left four. Two were in Michigan, so they knocked those out on a quick trip from Ohio.
Torrey Pines North was added outside San Diego, so they visited a grandchild who lives in the area and played that.
They plan to play the final one, The Wilderness Club in Montana, in July to complete the now more than 200 courses that have made the list.
“And the journey continues,” Mike said.
Then there’s the list coming out in 2021.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 8:51 AM.
