Virginia Golfer Sep / Oct 2020 | Page 35

MOVE Mike McGetrick hones his already pure putting stroke on the RTJGC clubhouse green. even that enamored with golf as a kid, even though his father, Mack, was a scratch player. His athletic son dabbled in the game early on but was far more interested in football, baseball and swimming in high school. “Back then, I thought golf was for older people,” McGetrick said in a recent interview in a cozy club lounge that serves as his office and is the epicenter of RTJGC’s world-class teaching facility. “It wasn’t something I had an interest in.” LET’S MAKE A DEAL But his view of the game clearly heated up not long after graduating with an engineering degree from Columbia Basin College in Pasco, Wash. He later took a job at the Clinton Nuclear Power Plant in central Illinois and began taking lessons nearby at the Bloomington (Ill.) Country Club. His instructor was Mike Adams, then in the early stages of his own career as one of the country’s top teachers. McGetrick’s play improved dramatically, and his growing love for the game soon became quite obvious to Adams. vsga.org S EPTEMBER/O CTOBER 2020 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 33