Coming Around Again

It was words from his father that steered Ted Shulz toward his current profession. "When I was young my dad encouraged me to try to find a sport I could play for money," says Shulz. "He said if I found one I really liked and got good enough, it could make a pretty good life for me." The 1977 Ballard High School grad has made it a fine life, one that is now coming full circle. The sport turned out to be golf. Shulz liked baseball a lot, but wasn't that good beyond Little League. When he was about 15, he quit baseball and concentrated all his energies on golf. "I started playing all the time and I just loved it," says Shulz. He had trouble making the team in his first few years at Ballard, but kept improving and played in the state tournament as a senior. He didn't play much in his first couple of years on the University of Louisville team, either, but developed into their top player as a senior. Shulz continued to hone his game while working at a driving range after college, then playing mini-tours in Asia before eventually sticking on the PGA tour in 1989. He won the Southern Open that year and the Los Angeles Open in 1991. Life on tour was good, but the weekly grind and travel took its toll, especially with a wife and kids at home. "When you're playing well, it's not bad; when you're playing badly, it's hard to be away," says Shulz. "It's hard either way, but it's really tough when you're playing badly." A job at the new Cardinal Club in 2000 was just what the doctor ordered...a chance to stay in the game while also being home with his family year-round. Now after eight years, the club's Director of Instruction is looking to make run at tournament golf again. He turns 50 in October and will be eligible for the Champions Tour in January of 2010. He's giving himself a couple of years to work on his game. The former State Amateur and two-time State Open champion played in a few tournaments in 2008, including the Kentucky Open for the first time in 20 years last August. He finished 3rd. "It felt pretty good out there," Shulz says. "I didn't play great. I played solid ... made some mistakes. Third place was still pretty good for not having played much." He'll play in more tournaments this year while working and practicing at the Cardinal Club. Shulz says the people there have been very encouraging. The same goes for his wife and three teenage children, a son and two daughters. "They're excited and want to see me play. They never really got to see me when I was playing. My son Sam might get to caddy some for me as well." Shulz says he hasn't had much contact with others who have tried to make it back to tournament golf on the senior circuit. But he knows how it works. "The bottom line is, you play well...everything will work out fine." Tom Lane is Sports Director for WDRB-TV Fox41.