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Friday, August 1, 2008
Course Connection
Greater Louisville, KY
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For Kelly Thompson and his son Matthew, the name of the game is golf. And there’s plenty of play in their days.
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"When he was two or three years old I took a five iron and cut it in half, and he's been going to the driving range with me ever since. He picked it up, and he's never put it down."
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You could say that when Matthew Thompson was a kid, he and his father, Kelly, weren't joined at the hip, they were joined by a golf bag.
"Almost like clockwork, if he knew dad was going somewhere, he'd pick up his golf clubs and was out the door waiting for me," Kelly Thompson recalled on a recent afternoon in the family's Jeffersonville home.
Years later, the two are still taking it to the links together.
Matthew will be a senior at Jeffersonville High School this year and Kelly is his coach. The elder Thompson coached the Red Devils boys' team in the spring and will guide the girls' team this fall.
"I enjoy it," Matthew says of playing for his father. "It gives me more time to spend with my dad because my dad works a lot—he works three jobs."
Indeed, when Matthew was born, Kelly started working third shift just so he could be with his son.
"I just dedicated myself to him and working with him," Kelly says. "I went many a day with an hour or two of sleep and I worked three jobs. Everything was based on him so I could spend time with him."
And much of that time has been spent on golf.
"He's been playing golf with me since he was able to walk," Kelly says. "When he was two or three years old I took a five iron and cut it in half, and he's been going to the driving range with me ever since. He picked it up, and he's never put it down."
Kelly Thompson, a graduate of duPont Manual High School, didn't take up golf until his early 20's. However he learned the sport quickly, especially while working as a full-time caddie at Valhalla Golf Club.
"All my knowledge from that I've put into him," Kelly says.
So when father and son weren't at the driving range, or on the course, you could find them practicing their putting in the family living room. Nowadays you might find them turning a freshly-mowed football field into a makeshift driving range, or watching the Golf Channel on TV.
"This family's basically a golfing family," Kelly says. "My wife (Georgetta) didn't know anything about the game. Now she probably knows as much as I do."
"I do all the hard stuff: paperwork, stats, all the bookkeeping," adds Georgetta, who also tapes Matthew's matches. "I don't play golf, but I'd sit and watch him play seven days a week. I am his No. 1 fan."
Matthew played No. 2 (ED: Team or position on the team?) his freshman and sophomore years at Jeff before moving up to No. 1 last season. At the sectional he fired a 79 to qualify for the regional, where he shot a 78, missing the State Finals by one stroke.
This summer Matthew, whose best 18-hole round has been a 69 at the Jeffersonville Elks Golf Course, has been playing on the Indiana junior tours. He hopes the experience and exposure might earn a golf scholarship, if not an academic one (he has better than a 3.6 grade-point average).
Matthew would one day like to be either a secondary education teacher or a Certified Public Accountant…and possibly a golf coach.
"That's the reason I want to be a teacher, the opportunity to coach kids," Matthew says.
Until, then, though, he'll continue to hone his game with—and against—his father and coach. When asked who wins between the two Matthew raises his hand.
"We go back and forth—you don't win all the time now," Kelly retorted.
Though they're divided on who’s better, they're still joined by a golf bag.
Josh Cook is a freelance writer who lives in the Louisville area.
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