Over the years, I’ve been asked many questions about my life as a golf course photographer. But the one I hear the most, especially from seatmates on long-haul flights around the world, is: “How did you get that job?”
It’s a fair question. After all, becoming a professional golf course photographer isn’t exactly a well-trodden career path. Here’s the story of how it all began.
Back in 1976, I purchased my first camera and spent countless hours capturing landscapes and wildlife near my home in Northwest Oklahoma. Photography quickly became more than just a hobby—it became a passion. Around that time, my college friend Steve Braley, who was the general manager at Oak Tree Country Club in Edmond, Oklahoma, approached me. Oak Tree was a new golf club and real estate development, and Steve knew I was becoming serious about photography. He asked if I’d photograph the golf course.
I spent a few days capturing Oak Tree and then met with Steve to show him my work. He loved the images. They were used in ad campaigns, large prints adorned the clubhouse walls, and they even created a wall calendar. That moment was a breakthrough for me.
At the time, I was working as a graphic designer and photographer at a large regional bank in Oklahoma City. The job was far from fulfilling. Around this same period, I read about a photography workshop happening at a state park in Southwestern Oklahoma, led by a nationally known landscape photographer, Phillip Hyde and Dick Durrance, a National Geographic photographer who had turned to commercial work. I signed up, eager to learn and explore.
The workshop was a weeklong immersion, with about thirty photographers heading into the field to shoot each day. Every evening, we had a contest to see who had created the best work. To my surprise, I won every single contest. My reward? The chance to help Dick Durrance edit his film from a photo shoot he had done for a cigarette brand. We stayed up most of the night editing film and talking about the photography business. That conversation changed everything.
I told Dick about my Oak Tree assignment, and without hesitation, he said I should quit my job and offer my services as a golf course photographer on a national scale. At the time, there was only one other person specializing in golf course photography—my friend Brian Morgan from Scotland. The golf industry was about to boom, and Dick insisted that I jump in.
As I drove home from the workshop, the excitement of this new idea filled my head, but I knew I had one major hurdle to overcome: telling my wife I planned to quit my secure job at the bank to chase this audacious dream. I’ll never forget her response—”Let’s do it!” Her support was everything.
It wasn’t always easy or glamorous, but pursuing golf course photography has been the most rewarding career I could have ever imagined. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with legends of the game, meeting some of the nicest people on the planet, and traveling to some of the most beautiful and exotic golf destinations around the world.
Now, after more than four decades, it feels like the perfect time to share these experiences and images with fellow golf lovers. This journey has been one built on friendships, bold moves, and a bit of good luck. Looking back, I often say I was too naive to know I couldn’t succeed. But here I am, still doing it, and still loving every moment. To me, that’s the definition of success.
PS: About twenty years after my workshop experience, Dick Durrance started specializing in golf course photography.
