@36aday is pleased to introduce interviews with leaders in the game of golf in Canada. Nine questions are presented to probe important issues of the game, personal experiences, stories and insight. Just like 9 holes of golf, I hope you find this enjoyable and that it leaves you wanting more.
A Quick 9 With Sean Casey, Director of Instruction at The Glen Abbey Golf Academy and Head Coach for the Canadian Junior Golf Association National Teams.
3. How much fun were those early years together – Sean and Sean? Were they enjoyable for you?
SC – Yeah! Awesome, it was a blast. I was 22, he was 25. We had just finished that university age, we both probably had some debts and all of a sudden for the first time in our life we’re making decent money. That’s a fun time in life when all of a sudden you can afford, a good car, to pay rent at a decent place, so all of a sudden we’re moving into decent condos and apartments. We both have new cars, we have money in the bank; we are young. We don’t have much responsibility. We’re not married yet. All we really had to do was show up for our lessons on time. If you think about it responsibility-wise that is all we had to do. And we probably didn’t do that very well (smiles) but we were just going. We had 12-14 lessons a day – very busy – because we were the two young ones at the academy we would be available all day. Sean and I made ourselves available pretty much every day, all day. It was a like a clean slate so we would let the administrator just fill it, just go nuts, fill it from sun up to sun down. We had a lot of energy, it was fun. Somehow outside the hours of these long work days we spent a ton of time doing other stuff: socializing, road trips in the off-season, concerts, going out for dinner, whatever it would be. There was a lot of extra-curricular time and a lot of fun. Then getting out of bed and getting back here and teach another long day (smiles). There weren’t a lot of days off but I remember taking some time off in those summers to play golf. We still loved to play so when we took a day off it was usually to go play a tournament.
And we were playing decent back then. We were young, athletic, working out a lot, and hitting balls and learning about the game. We won the 2003 two-man event, teamed up and had a good day at Angus Glen that day. When we both played well, I mean we were both definitely decent players at that time. He and I were definitely two guys who had potential to play the game at a decent level but probably got in our own way a little bit and not have a real clean score card (smiles) but as a team, you know, for him for sure. Sean was a thinker; he could hit a golf ball as good as anybody. He hit the ball consistently, his swing was very simple, repeatable, one of the best swings that you’ve seen but his mind, because he’s such a thinker, he would have a hard time getting into that play mode where he just played. But when he and I teamed up together, he would just play. It helped that I maybe already had a ball in the fairway. So if I hit one down the fairway, Sean got into this play mode, the pressure was off and he could perform at a higher level.
@36aday – that’s quite a variation to ham and egging it
SC – (laughs) Yeah, and we would do well in our team events. It was definitely a fun time. There were a lot of fun times. I can’t remember them all but his wedding comes to mind. That was in either 2004 or 2005 he got married. Actually he got married right above where we’re doing our interview. He got married on the rooftop here (above the Glen Abbey Academy). But whatever we did it was big and it was fun.
@36aday – Do you guys still keep in touch?
SC – Sean and I would keep in touch through text mostly, these days. To be honest, I don’t message him a lot, just knowing how busy he is. I don’t want to be that friend from Canada that texts him every day and gets pissed that he doesn’t respond quickly. I respect the demands on his time and choose not to do that, but I’ll text when I need to. If I’m going to Orlando, obviously, that would be when. I generally would meet with him, most times in Florida. And that’s really when I get to see him in person is if I’m in his home town. We usually meet up there, or, when he’s here. But he doesn’t come back that often.
Tomorrow – Part 4 – The Future of Golf in Canada
