Sheard had landed his drive on the kitchen-island fairway. A shot to the green the size of a glass jar – literally – awaits. Sheard and a caddie approach the orange pingpong ball.
The junior on the golf team at Cedarville University in Ohio, looks over the shot. He picks away a few crumbs around the ball before lifting the lid of a jar, taking a pinch of sugar and tossing it into the air to gauge the wind. He has three clubs to choose from – a wooden spoon for loft, a spatula for distance and a green utensil maybe just for actual cooking.
“Spoon,” he says to his caddie as he puts an oven mitt on his left hand.
He takes a practice swing as the club is handed to him, then another with it. Sheard taps the spoon three times. He uncorks his swing.
In.
A loud scream comes from the background. Player and caddie high-five.
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.