With Charlie Epps and his trip diary from 1967.

Houston was a pivotal city for the ‘Journey to Olympic Golf’ in several ways.  Many times on the trip to Rio I would be amazed on the connections made at the most opportune but very limited time. My same friend back home who connected me with the Olympian Dennis Berkholtz in Atlanta gave me the contact information for Charlie Epps, the coach for two-time Major Champion Angel Cabrera. I called Charlie thinking he could help me when I got to Argentina but when I told him what I was doing he recommended that I come to Houston because there was something called The Spirit International taking place.

More on that later including how attending the Opening Ceremony at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott seven days later set up my travels throughout Mexico and Central America. The amazing thing about Charlie Epps that I learned once I met him in person at Redstone GC, now the Golf Club of Houston, is that he did nearly the exact same trip I was on as a young kid out of school in 1967! And he had a typed diary to prove it which he graciously let me make a copy of to guide me on my travels. It’s a small world but not that crazy small to connect with someone who did what you are doing 36 years ago. Maybe there are more people driving from the United States to Argentina and Brazil than one would guess?

I stayed in the Houston area for a total of seven nights, the most in anyone place since the start of the trip by far and only surpassed by Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. It was a mixture of seeing old friends and making new ones, playing some golf, and enjoying a 3-night stay at the newly refurbished Woodlands Resort . Stay tuned as it will be quite a week in the Houston area!

Some more stories in the pictures below…

I am looking for 100 new friends in the next 100 days to make a $100 donation (or any amount that you are able to make) to The First Tee. Each day I will be reliving the original “Journey to Olympic Golf” and hope to find a new friend in golf. Is that you? Please join me in giving back to the game we all love.

CLICK here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Please select ‘Andy Reistetter’s Journey to Olympic Golf’ on the drop-down menu for the question ‘What inspired you to make a gift today? This is for tracking purposes only, Andy does not receive any part of your donation or anything financially from The First Tee organization.

There are interesting incentives for making your donation to the First Tee…

PLEASE click here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Thank You!

Torch, my 1992 Infiniti M30 has gone Go Pro on me, one pointing outside, one pointing inside at me… very interesting videos especially going through borders in Central America…

Charlie Epps (L) with Uruguay’s Alvaro Canessa (R) and young protege Franco Martinelli. Alvaro would later host me in Punte del Estes for New Year’s Eve!

Making a copy of Charlie’s 1967 diary. Even though it was in Spanish and was 36 years old it helped me find my way to Rio!

Here’s today’s blog update for the “Journey to Olympic Golf.” Heading to Houston this afternoon for The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship… then Mexico after that!  (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 10/22/13)

Daily Blog Updates

HOUSTON, JTOG has landed her in HOUSTON for the next five days! Anybody have HOUSTON leads to discover the “Olympic Spirit of Golf & Golfers?” Looking for Olympians living here in HOUSTON… any knowledge of or contact for appreciated!   (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 10/23/13)

Have my BLOG Updates organized on the “Journey to Olympic Golf.” Please share with your FB and golfing friends… (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 10/22/13)

BLOG Updates

Thank you Mike Hulbert!

Mike Hulbert tapping his heart to indicate what the “Olympic Spirit of Golf” means to him.

Mike was one of eleven Champions Tour players I interviewed to get their reaction on golf becoming an Olympic sport and their thoughts on how to define the “Olympic Spirit of Golf.” It was his gesture to his heart that said it all to me.

The “Olympic Spirit of Golf” is hard to define with words as you can see in the full video interview below. Olympic Golf was last played in 1904, what will be 112 years ago when another Olympic Golf shot is struck on the Gil Hanse-Amy Alcott-designed Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro. Nobody on this earth has played Olympic Golf or for that matter has had an opportunity to interview any one like George Lyon, Olympic Golf Gold Medal Champion from 1904, that did play Olympic Golf.

CLICK here for the VIDEO INTERVIEW with Mike Hulbert, Champions Professional Golfer.

Visiting Bobby Jones grave with Olympian Dennis Berkholtz before heading out to Bobby’s golf home at Eastlake and AAC.

Based on my visit to Atlanta, host city of the 1996 Summer Olympics; Glenn Echo CC, host club of Olympic Golf in 1904; and seeking inspiration from Bobby Jones and Jack Fleck; and the likes of Olympian Dennis Berkholtz and professional golfers like Mike Hulbert, here is the first cut on the definition, limited to 100 words, of the “Olympic Spirit of Golf.”

The ‘Olympic Spirit of Golf’ will be present in Rio de Janeiro for the first time in 112 years. One can look back to history—to the origins of sport itself and the game of golf for the context of what is to come in Rio for the game we love.

Nearly 3,000 years ago in Olympia, Greece the games had a secular character and aimed to show the physical qualities and evolution of the performances accomplished by young people, as well as encouraging good relations between the cities of Greece.

The Olympic Rings are at home at Glen Echo CC and so was I!

After 1,200 years of competition, such “pagan cults” were banned by Emperor Theodosius in 393 A.D.. Another 500 years later, in 1896, the modern Olympic Games were resurrected when Baron Pierre de Coubertin was inspired to found the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

During the dormant Olympic period golf, as we know it today, was founded in St. Andrews, Scotland with the earliest documentation being in 1457.

There was Olympic Golf in 1900 in Paris and in 1904 in St. Louis. Now, in Rio in 2016, the game of golf, at age 560, will join the world of its sporting parent who has been around six times as long.

What does this have to do with sport and golf in 2016? Absolutely nothing other than can you imagine where sport and golf will be in another 500 years? I can’t but suffice it to say, that with its inclusion in the Olympics, golf is as bonafide a sport as any other.

With Jack Fleck and his 1904 replica Olympic Gold Golf Medal. Mr. Fleck will always be an Olympic Golfer to me!

The ‘Olympic Spirit of Golf’ is sport as close to perfection as Bobby Jones winning the Grand Slam in 1930; it is hickory-shafted George Lyon walking on his hands transitioning to Jordan Spieth tipping his cap to acknowledge the spectators at the Australian Golf Club and the patrons at Augusta National; it is Jack Fleck triumphing as the underdog at the Olympic Club; it is an eternal club as Dennis Berkholtz commented “once an Olympian, always an Olympian; it is the emotional thump of one’s heart not in competitiveness but in community as demonstrated by Mike Hulbert; and it is much more, something to be found as we look beyond where we are looking today.

With Gil Hanse in Rio on the Olympic Golf Course he designed with Amy Alcott.

Golf is a simple game of hitting a ball with a stick and chasing it to hit it again until it falls into a hole. The same could be said about life—we are born, we breathe, we eat, we grow, we decline and we die. Beyond the obvious lies the spirit within. Like life and golf one has to live and play it to begin to comprehend its significance.

To know the reality of the ‘Olympic Spirit of Golf’ we will have to wait until August, 2016.  I can’t wait, how about you?

Well that was 460 words but I hope to whittle it down to 100 words as I continue on my way to Rio.

Before I head to Mexico I am heading over to Houston because I got an insightful tip that there was something right up my alley that I needed to see there. And lo and behold that person was right!

More pictures below with ten more Champions Tour golfers and their thoughts on the ‘Olympic Spirit of Golf.’

I am looking for 100 new friends in the next 100 days to make a $100 donation (or any amount that you are able to make) to The First Tee. Each day I will be reliving the original “Journey to Olympic Golf” and hope to find a new friend in golf. Is that you? Please join me in giving back to the game we all love.

CLICK here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Please select ‘Andy Reistetter’s Journey to Olympic Golf’ on the drop-down menu for the question ‘What inspired you to make a gift today? This is for tracking purposes only, Andy does not receive any part of your donation or anything financially from The First Tee organization.

There are interesting incentives for making your donation to the First Tee…

PLEASE click here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Thank You!

With Brian Henninger… “fantastic, fortunate to play, pressure competing for country, immeasurably impactfull!”

With Steve Jones: “golf definitely deserves to be in the Olympics, all about perseverance and being prepared.”

With Dan Forsman: “golf by its nature is international. will be challenging competition from all corners of the earth.”

With Jay Don Blake: “exciting, great impact and benefit for golf.”

With Tom Byrum: “golf is growing globally, time for it to be in the Olympics, to play for your country is a huge honor.”

With Blaine McCallister: “golf is now a true sport around the world that everyone can relate to, has to be a great feeling on the Awards Stand when they play your national anthem.”

With Willie Wood: “First Tee has helped make golf more affordable so kids can get started, main thing for an Olympic Golfer is they have to love the game, that’s why professionals play golf.”

With Jim Gallagher Jr.: “golf has become a global game, will grow golf, have to love the Olympics and love your country.”

With jay Delsing: “will have a global impact like the Dream Team with so many European players in the NBA now, integrity, will, desire to win.”

With Phil Blackmar: “golf is a worldwide sport with nationality associated with the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup and tours around the world, need mental fortitude to become an Olympic Golf Champion.”

Bloggers, Breakfast & Birdies at JW Marriott & TPC San Antonio on the Way to Rio

Here is a great combination—golf (the par-3 16th) and resort living at TPC San Antonio!

I left Dallas early in the morning and drove down I-35 to San Antonio to make the breakfast. By noon I was officially a blogger and by 4pm I was out on the AT&T Oaks Course making bogeys. If you invite me to an event I will be as true as I can be to your event. If it is Bloggers, Breakfast & Bogeys, I mean Birdies, then I will do my best! Unfortunately my best may not be good enough. In 29 holes of golf played I failed to make one birdie though I did meet a lot of the biggest and best bloggers out there and enjoyed several fantastic meals including the Sunday breakfast which was really a brunch!

This was another fun stop on my way to Rio for sure! We played a little team event and somehow I won a n Adam Scott signed TPC San Antonio flag. He won the 2010 Valero Texas Open and has won 11 times on the PGA TOUR, including being the first Australian to win The Masters in 2013. The comfort, convenience and luxury of staying on site at the JW Marriott was unbelievable. With the Champions Tour coming in that week for the AT&T Championship I felt like a pro myself. They were playing the AT&T Canyons Course while we knocked it around on the AT&T Oaks Course which hosts the Valero TExas Open in late March just two weeks before The Masters. With 1,001 rooms and two great golf courses and a million amenities, including a water park for kids, young and old alike, the JW Marriott and TPC San Antonio is a Texas-sized resort not to be missed.

Tomorrow, I capture my best ‘Spirit of Olympic Golf’ video from a Champions Tour player with a lot of heart, before heading over to Houston to complete the Texas Triangle of Dallas, San Antonio and Houston.

Check out more pictures below!

I am looking for 100 new friends in the next 100 days to make a $100 donation (or any amount that you are able to make) to The First Tee. Each day I will be reliving the original “Journey to Olympic Golf” and hope to find a new friend in golf. Is that you? Please join me in giving back to the game we all love.

CLICK here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Please select ‘Andy Reistetter’s Journey to Olympic Golf’ on the drop-down menu for the question ‘What inspired you to make a gift today? This is for tracking purposes only, Andy does not receive any part of your donation or anything financially from The First Tee organization.

There are interesting incentives for making your donation to the First Tee…

PLEASE click here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Thank You!

Chip Gist gave me a great tour of the Texas Wall of Fame in the Clubhouse, what a legacy of golf in Texas!

Bloggers are so much fun to play golf and hang out with!

I can tell me kids I did some Dufnering and Streaking in my day but not on the same day as far as I can recall…

I think I am on the TPC Trail for a little bit… TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas and now TPC San Antonio… nice run of hotels too… St. Louis Union Station Hotel, Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas, and JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa… sure there will be some nights of just me and Torch (my Infiniti M30 baby that is guiding my way to Rio de Janeiro)…  (Facebook Post 3 Pics, Andy Reistetter, 10/21/13)

Mexico is on my mind… I go south of the border next Monday October 28th at Nuevo Laredo… plan to stay in Monterrey and then Mexico City to capture the spirit of the 1964 Summer Olympics! I NEED HELP with the details, car insurance, lodging, somebody to help me get around Mexico City… any assistance appreciated, please message me! THANKS, Andy   (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 10/21/13)

Want a signed Adam Scott TPC San Antonio flag? Make a $100 donation this week (or what you can) to The First Tee and you will be entered into a raffle for it! I won it as part of the Bloggers, Breakfast & Birdies (Twitter ‪#‎BBBatTPC‬) event (closest to the pin). Remember to select “Journey to Olympic Golf” from the drop down on the question “What inspired you to make a gift today?” Forward the “Thank You” email to me and you are in the raffle that ends on Friday at 5 pm CT. C’mon, it is a great cause and everything goes to The First Tee, I receive nothing from your donation.   (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 10/21/13)   https://donate.thefirsttee.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=398  

Here is my blog on the bloggers last Sunday at TPC San Antonio!   (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 10/26/13)

Bloggers, Breakfast & Birdies at JW Marriott & TPC San Antonio on the Way to Rio

Missing being at the AT&T Championship presented by Alcatel-Lucent this weekend… the Bloggers, Breakfast & Birdies (‪#‎BBBatTPC‬) media event last Sunday TPC San Antonio was a blast! Check out this video- Dufnering (Jason Jason Dufner our Forest Gump) and what a vertical leap! Which one is me? Frosty, (Jeffrey Rothstein) u & I are naturals!   (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 10/26/13)

#BBBatTPC Bloggers, Brunch and Birdies Event at TPC San Antonio