Smith takes a warm-up swing before hitting his drive on No . 3 at

Elizabeth Manor .

CHRIS LANG

SMITH WASN ’ T EXPOSED TO GOLF growing up in Norfolk . He was drafted first overall by the Buffalo Bills in 1985 , and soon after , he started playing the game with his teammates .

“ I wasn ’ t exposed to golf until my early years with the Buffalo Bills ,” he said . “ As you can imagine , the golf season is pretty short there . We would go out and swing and try to play a round of golf . I really didn ’ t get serious about it until I started taking lessons . I found a local pro that started helping me out . Keep in mind , I had some friends who were trying to teach me the game long before I really started taking lessons . I just love the competition . When I really got serious and started taking the lessons , that ’ s when the bug really hit me of what a great game this is , from a number of different standpoints .”

REYNOLDS DAWSON , PGA , the head professional at Honey Bee Golf Club in Virginia Beach , was the teacher who made the game make sense for Smith . Dawson ’ s first thought when he saw Smith swing a club for the first time : “ I ’ ve got a lot of work ahead of me ,” Smith remembers with a laugh .

“ There were others before him , but there was something about Reynolds ,” Smith said . “ He had a tremendous amount of patience with me . I mean , trying to get a 280-pound defensive lineman to understand that it ’ s not ‘ kill , kill , kill ’ isn ’ t easy . It ’ s muscle memory . He ’ s stuck with me for 15 , 20 years now . My game has really gotten better , it ’ s improved . I can go out and be competitive with just about anybody . And that ’ s what is so fulfilling about the game of golf . You put the work in , and you ’ re able to go out and you ’ re able to play a respectable round of golf . And then , you can sit around the table , and hopefully count your money up .

“ He was just encouraging , just like all of the other guys that have tried to teach me about the golf swing , show me how to read greens , and chip and putt . There are

just so many different facets of golf that you have to pay attention to . But nothing is more important than the setup . If you ’ re not setting up right , if you ’ re not aligned right , if your hands aren ’ t placed correctly on the club … if you don ’ t pay attention to those details , the ball can go anywhere .”

WHILE HE WAS STILL AN ACTIVE NFL PLAYER , Smith began hosting a celebrity Pro-Am in the Virginia Beach area . At one point , the event became part of the festivities associated with the annual Buy . com Tour ( now Korn Ferry Tour ) event in Virginia Beach .

“ I don ’ t think I had a lot of good memories when I first started off , other than being around my buddies ,” Smith said . “ But as I understood the impact that golf has on the community and on young people and on sports , it just became more and more compelling to me . I had to get good at this game .