STAFF FEATURE: INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT MILLHOUSER

June 28, 2016 by Bandon Dunes

The cool morning air hits you in the face as you step out of the shuttle. You rub the sleep out of your eyes. The driver grabs your clubs out of the back of the shuttle, sets them down, shakes your hand and gives you and your three best buddies a quick piece of golf advice, "Enjoy the morning walk, gents!"

You make your way towards the Bandon Trails clubhouse to check in and gear up for the busy day of golf. As you walk into the golf shop, there is a tall, wide-smiled golf professional waiting there who greets you with a "Good morning, sir! Anything I may help you with today?" He answers all your questions, and you make your way to the first tee feeling prepared for the day.

What you might not have found out during the haze of an early morning is that staffer who helped in the shop is not only enhancing your daily golf experience but is also making big moves in our local community to help bring the game of golf closer to our next generation!

Known around the resort as our junior golf guru, Scott Millhouser is not only the Head Golf Professional at Bandon Trails, but he's also the Head Golf Coach for Bandon High School and helps teach the Southwestern Oregon Community College men and women's golf teams.

We sat down with Scott between clinics to talk to him about his involvement with coaching young golfers, embodying the Bandon Dunes golf experience and balancing all of that with family life and two young kids at home.

Hey Scottie, thanks for all you do to ensure our guests and local juniors have the best golf experience possible. Let's start out with some history, where are you originally from, how long have you lived in Bandon and worked at the resort?
Thanks! I am originally from Dallas, Oregon. I have lived on the South Coast of Oregon for just over 11 years while working at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.

Wow, the time sure does fly around here. Tell us, how do you balance work, play, coaching, and family life at home?
First, I have a wonderful wife who understands I am living my dream job. The culture at Bandon Dunes makes us feel like part of a larger family. My family enjoys playing golf, so we play where I work. Occasionally my young son will come to high school golf practice with me so we can spend more time together and the kids on the team have been great to him. We also enjoy the resort’s walking trails, and we do our best to get to the beach whenever we can.

A balanced life for sure! How long have you been coaching high school and junior golf around Bandon?
I started volunteering as the boy's Assistant Coach for Bandon High School nine years ago. I officially became the boy's Head Coach in 2012 and just finished my fifth season. This year I also took over as the girl's coach and have really enjoyed coaching both boys and girls golf. I've been involved with our junior golf programs at the resort since 2005. A couple of seasons later I realized that I wanted to follow through with the progress we had in our summer junior golf programs into the high school golf season.

How did your teams finish up this year?
We had our best turn out with sixteen boys and six girls this year! Both teams had a lot of fun and made solid progress in their games throughout the season. We had our top ranked girl win a few tournaments along with our top ranked boy winning a handful as well. Both kids have been participants in our summer junior golf programs over the past five years, and it has been incredibly fulfilling to see the progress they have made since they first attended our junior golf programs. Looking forward, we are excited to start building on the successes of this year and are lucky to have a number of returning players.

That is great stuff! Expand more on teaching golf to youngsters. What's rewarding about it? How do you ensure that your students balance fun and competition out on the course to keep them coming back for more?
Teaching golf to kids is extremely enjoyable. We try to provide a safe learning environment that cultivates confidence and character. This level of confidence allows them to have fun and be themselves. Their excitement for life, golf, and anything fun is contagious. It’s rewarding to see their reaction when they make their first putt or hit their first drive in the air and is longer than they expected. They smile, laugh, and cheer, and instantly you know they are hooked on golf. Once they hit a good shot, they cannot wait to show off what they have learned. We provide them with instruction followed by a brief competition. By keeping the competition short, they are left wanting more, and it helps bring them back week after week!

What is the best way to get kids excited about golf?
The best way to get kids excited about golf is to let them be themselves. Only focus on what they are doing right, because nobody likes being told what they are doing wrong. If you provide them with fun games and encouragement, they will remember that they had a great experience on the golf course and crave more.

Speaking of great experiences, when you take them out on our courses what is their reaction to the scenery? Does it remind you of the excitement we see in our adult guests?
Absolutely! Both our juniors and adult guests have the same reaction to our courses. It's like kids in a candy shop. They start dreaming about the next hole they are going to play and the enjoyment it will bring them.

Lastly, if there is a guest who is enquiring about junior clinics how should they go about finding more information?
They can email me at smillhouser@bandondunesgolf.com or call my office at 541-347-5973. It is worth noting that a lot of our clinics are complimentary and conducted at our Practice Center. They can also check out our summer clinic schedule available at this link! Thanks for helping promote junior golf!

UPDATE:
Scott's illustration has been featured on a custom club cover from Seamus Golf!

Big thanks to @seamusgolf for creating this head cover for my very close friend and Head Golf Pro at #bandontrails Scott Millhouser. Scott is a class act and this is an image of his beautiful, smooth, buttery golf swing!! Big love to him and #seamusgolf #whyilovethisgame #pga365 #oregongolf #bandondunes #bandondunesgolf @bandondunesgolf #pnwgolf #playerswanted #pacificdunes #enjoyyourwalk @boo_her @kempersports

A photo posted by Brian (@mands_on) on Oct 7, 2016 at 6:03pm PDT

Eighty-five holes and $20,000 for charity in under seven hours

January 9, 2014 by Nick Martin

A rainbow appeared as Tim Scott finished his 85th hole of the day. (photo by Nick Martin)

BANDON, Ore. – The sun had just begun to illuminate the low-lying clouds. Everything was bathed in a silvery glowing haze. The clouds were lifting like a curtain and mid-morning sunlight came pouring down on the glistening turf.

By this time Tim Scott, professional golfer and executive director of Speedgolf International had already played 36 holes and was approaching the halfway point of an epic 85-hole journey. Scott's goal was to play every hole of the five courses at Bandon Dunes in one day. It just so happened, “that day” was December 21 – the shortest day of the year.

The experiential journalist in me decided it would be fun to run alongside Scott for one of his rounds. Shortly after I arrived at Old Macdonald, Scott was coming from Pacific Dunes, having already completed his rounds at Bandon Trails and Pacific Dunes. It was approaching 10:30 as Scott readied to play Old Mac, almost an hour ahead of his estimated pace. Scott had already played 36 holes in less than three hours.

I stood by the bag drop in front of the Old Mac clubhouse stretching my hamstrings and nervously re-checking my camera gear for the umpteenth time. The Oomba video crew was going over notes and strategizing for their live-streaming internet broadcast. We had just enough time for some quick introductions.

The Oomba cameraman and I shared a couple laughs. This was unlike anything either of us had experienced and suddenly, it was happening.

Scott strolled leisurely but intently toward us with one eye focused on the path ahead – that’s right, one eye. I almost couldn’t believe it.

On April 19, 2012 Scott was diagnosed with Ocular Melanoma, a rare form of eye cancer that often goes undetected because there are no symptoms. Scott received radiation treatment in his right eye to kill the tumor, but it left his vision poor. He experiences flutters, flashes and has pronounced double-vision, thus the eye patch. It wasn't until I saw him that I fully understood the impact of what he was trying to do.

Scott was not only drawing attention to speedgolf, he was trying to raise awareness of the silent killer, ocular melanoma.

"I've wanted to do something for quite some time to raise money and awareness,” Scott later told me. “Speedgolf seemed the perfect vehicle for me to do both and Bandon was the perfect place to do it."

As we walked to the first tee I introduced myself to him and his wife, Lori, who was running alongside in support. "I love having my wife run along with me when I play speedgolf," Scott said. Lori also ran with him at the 2013 Speedgolf World Championship last October at Bandon Dunes.

After a brief interview with Oomba, Scott turned and aimed down the first fairway. He piped it down the middle and we were suddenly off and running – literally.

The first three holes went by fast. Then, on his second shot from the fairway on No. 4, a long par-4, Scott snapped the shaft on his driver. Lori looked concerned as she picked up the two halves. The next longest club in his bag was a six-iron but there wasn't time to think about how he would finish the round. As a few spectators and I stood there stunned, Scott was already running toward his next shot.

Jeff Simonds, director of golf at Bandon Dunes was following us in a cart and he immediately radioed the golf shop. Scott kept on playing and 12 minutes after his driver died, a fresh one was delivered to him by a Bandon Dunes staffer who emerged in a golf cart from behind a gorse bush.

In what seemed like a matter of moments, we were running up to No. 14 green with the big tree by No. 3 (nicknamed "Snag") in the background – a stark silhouette against a white sky. Soon thereafter, Scott was ringing the bell on his way to No. 17 tee, and almost as quickly as his round at Old Mac began, it was already ending. Scott and Lori kissed on the 18th green, 54 holes of golf behind them. Only 18 holes at Bandon Dunes, plus the 13 par 3s at Bandon Preserve remained.

While Scott made his way through his round at Bandon Dunes, I took a much needed break. Playing 54 holes while running is warrior-like. Apparently, following 18 holes while running, taking photos and jotting notes takes its toll on mere mortals.

Fast-forward to Scott’s final round: Bandon Preserve.

Scott made Bandon Preserve look more like a cool down, as he made short work of the par-3 course. After his last putt, seeing him walk off the green felt unreal, like witnessing some form of magic. Scott and Lori had run more than twenty miles, raised more than $20,000 and played 85 holes of golf in less than seven hours.

As he walked off that final green there were congratulatory hugs and handshakes. Almost on cue, a rainbow appeared out of nowhere. Scott picked up his young son and gave him a hug. Jess, Tim Scott's dad was there taking photos like any proud dad would. There were media interviews and more handshakes. Nobody wanted to leave the green, it seemed. We were just milling around soaking in every moment, trying to wrap our minds around what just took place.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Scott.

"Fantastic,” he exclaimed. “I'm very grateful that I was allowed to do this at Bandon and appreciative of all the support from Bandon Dunes, Oomba for covering the event and greatly helping in the raising-awareness end, all those who donated to the cause, and my family for being there to support my efforts."

Click here to learn more about Ocular Melanoma and to donate to the cause.

Click here to learn more about Speedgolf International.