Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Troth | Spc. Peter Webster watches his ball inch toward the hole during the Deer Creek Open in...... read more read more
Subscribe
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - When you are stationed in Hawaii and spend all your free time on or in the water, a transfer to Fort Riley, Kan., is a big change.
That change took place for Spc. Peter Webster, a truck driver with Company A, 601st Aviation Support Battalion, this past spring when he traded in the sandy beaches and warm waters of Hawaii for the wheat fields and rolling hills of Kansas.
“I was a big active surfer, skin diver, free diver and fisherman while I was stationed in Hawaii,” Webster said. “When I found out I was moving to Kansas I knew it was time to find a new hobby.”
Since he knew his normal after duty hour activities weren’t going to be possible in the country’s heartland, Webster decided he needed to find something else to pass his time.
So on March 25, a few weeks before he left Hawaii, Webster picked up a set of clubs and played his first “serious” game of golf. He had played a few times with friends over the years, but that was goofing off and losing more golf balls than he cares to think of. He admits that he didn’t do that well on this first serious round, but he knew it was something he liked and something that would challenge him.
“I like to be perfect at everything I do, and golf is something that is impossible to be perfect at,” said the Daytona Beach, Fla., native. “So it will always challenge me and keep me interested.”
That interest put him on the golf course for at least two rounds per week since he arrived to Fort Riley, and another three or four practice sessions per week.
“I try as much as I can to get better, I don’t like to lose,” Webster said.
That dedication paid off for the rookie golfer. With less than six months on the links he has won a few tournaments at the post’s Custer Hill Golf Course and placed third at a tournament at the Rolling Meadows Golf Course in Milford, Kan.
Webster’s drive to master golf recently took him to Overland Park, Kan., for the Deer Creek Open. Out of the 74 players who competed over the 3-day event, Webster finished 22.
“This tournament was definitely a little bit over my head,” said Webster. “But you aren’t going to get any better unless you go and play with the big dogs.”
Webster said that on his first day at Deer Creek, his foursome consisted of one golfer who had played in the U.S. Open, another had won three college championships, and the other was a 5-year pro.
“I don’t think I did half bad, 6 months compared to 20-some years of experience,” said Webster. “But, although I didn’t win I did learn from everyone that I played with in that tournament, and that is only going to make me better at this impossible game.”
| Date Taken: | 10.24.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 10.24.2011 19:51 |
| Story ID: | 78944 |
| Location: | OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 107 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Soldier trades sandy beaches for sand traps, by SFC Jeff Troth, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
