Father’s Day Reflection

My dad’s funeral was the week before Father’s Day, 2015.

We had planned our annual golf trip to Pinehurst that weekend, but had to move it.

On Father’s Day itself, we were playing Pinehurst No. 4, one of the most historic and demanding courses at the resort.

My mind was everywhere that round. But I wound up making par around the fourth or fifth hole.

And then something happened.

I made a long putt. Then another. 15 feet. 20 feet. 35 feet. I wound up making 9 one-putts in a row. Around the fifth one, everyone in the foursome just stopped talking. We all knew, joking or not, that something special was happening.

I was a 15 handicap at the time, and a 15 handicap doesn’t putt like this. Not on Pinehurst No. 4.

I used to be skeptical when people said they could feel a departed loved one’s presence.

Not after that day.

I felt my father’s spirit as surely as the heat and humidity of that Carolina sun. And what came through was simple: you have everything you need to succeed; trust yourself.

After I sank my last putt on 18, I broke down in tears.

I posted an 83. An unlikely score for someone of my skill level.

One year later, I launched Protégé Search, a firm that would make its own unlikely mark in executive recruiting.

There is real pain out there right now. People navigating unemployment, underemployment, financial uncertainty. If you’re in that place, I want you to hear what my father put in me that Father’s Day.

You have everything you need to succeed.

Trust yourself.