This week, I discovered Golf My Way Home, the very artful golf story of John Dunn. John hitchhiked across America with his backpack and golf clubs to help raise money for cancer while on his way home to visit his father, who was dying of pancreatic cancer. John succeeds in raising over $25,000 on an adventure that begins on a Southern California beach, and 125 rides and 37 golf courses later, lands him home in Connecticut.


Golf My Way Home, John Dunn

John had already spent nearly four months at home with his dad the prior summer when he was first diagnosed with cancer. During this visit, they grew close and ironed out the misunderstandings that naturally existed between a free-spirit son and an old-fashioned, responsible father. But when his dad relapsed, he got rattled. The reality of his dad's mortality made John think long and hard about how he could keep living his life and continue the momentum of his own writing career, but somehow include his dad. Then the light bulb went on.

He'd hitchhike home with this golf clubs and write about it, an idea John had actually been toying with for years.

He shares, "the golf course has always been a refuge when the going got tough. I know golf is often considered a game that brings people together and I've got many close friends I met through golf, but it is also a solitary pursuit and in a very real way, many years ago, I golfed my way away from home. It enabled and grounded my personal journey - my search for my own path and my own truth. Of course, the end of the outward journey is often the realization that truth lies in the love and appreciation of home - of family and friends, of shared memories and acts of kindness and love. But that does not diminish the importance of the outward journey. It's as simple as the fact that there can be no light without darkness, no story without conflict. The journey is essential to the return. So now humbly, gratefully and with love I am Golfing My Way Home."

John divides his journey into eighteen "holes" or chapters with the 18th "home" hole being a literal return to his family home in Connecticut. He meets a cast of characters along the way and plays some pretty incredible golf courses. His website is filled with these stories, presented in both words and video. I'd imagine a book or documentary will follow soon!

His adventure proves to be life changing and is filled with many lessons. Mostly, I think, John learns to have faith in life and in each other. This journey reaffirms his faith in people and his country. And he learns that the end of his trip, and the eventual end of his fathers life, are in many ways just the beginning.

Golf My Way Home - www.golfmywayhome.org

Labels: Golf My Way Home, John Dunn