“EVERY GREAT GOLF STORY STARTS FAR FROM THE FAIRWAY.”
Our new series, People of Urban Golf, is about uncovering those stories, one player at a time. From cracked sidewalks to hidden fairways, these are the people shaping the culture of the game outside the country club gates.
For our second interview, we sat down with Drew Johnson, an urban golf legend that has built a connection to the game through the love of his family and homies. We feel blessed that we've had the opportunity to become great friends with Drew and man let us tell you... Dude is a REAL ONE.
THIS ISN’T JUST ABOUT GOLF. IT’S ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO PLAY IT THEIR WAY. 🏁
Tell us about yourself... Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Drew Johnson, originally from Indianapolis, IN. Moved to Portland about 9 years ago and you know, I just stay in the streets!
How long have you been playing golf?
My golf life started at age 13. My grandfather used to make clubs out of garage in Clearwater, FL and I went on vacation for my 13th birthday and him and my dad had surprised me with my first set of golf clubs and we golfed for shit, probably 3-4 days straight in Florida. I came back to Indiana, played golf for the rest of summer with my pops and some of his friends. I kept playing golf through high school, somewhere out of high school I kind of just lost the game for a little while and them in my mid early mid twenties I picked it back up just by buying random clubs on eBay and you know when I moved out to Portland I didn't have clubs with me and so it kind of took a few years to get back into it. I met some guys through work that I bought, actually ended up getting free clubs from and then that turned into me buying another just random one off bag and you know, kind of developing the game again. Still trying to do that you know, years later and street golf is probably my favorite aspect of golf currently. Just because you don't have to be great, you don't have to be bad, you don't have to be good. You can be whoever you are and come out here and have a great time and it's more love to the game for me and it pushes me to get better on and off the street, you know on and off the grass!
How and when did you find out about street golf?
So street golf and the Muni Kids came into my life just on instagram probably 3 years before I even showed up. I saw it was going on. It just was something I always thought was pretty cool but never really made an attempt to get after it and between Luke and David, two guys that play here regularly. I knew they had started playing a year or two probably three years ago and they started inviting me out. I still drug my fee and then two years ago I started coming out from Opening Day and try to be a mainstay ever since. Because f*ck man, it's one the coolest things we got going on in Portland and if you like playing sports, you know again, you don't have to be great, you just show up and have a good time.
What's your favorite part of the Street Golf Meetups?
I'd say my favorite part of playing street golf is definitely the camaraderie of the community. Seeing guys that whether you see them throughout the week, outside of the streets or just on Thursdays, you know everybody kind of walks up, daps each other up, shows love, hugs! You know you get a big hug from Flip who regardless of who you are you know. You get to make fun of David or he gonna make fun of you! Drew, Max, I mean you guys just like have cultivated this community into one of the coolest things that I've ever been apart of, so coming out here every day or every Thursday is one of the best parts of my week no doubt. You know if you have the peanut butter and jelly that's the only thing that would make it better!
Any favorite memories?
I mean my favorite memories in street golf are probably any Major you know, standing right here on the dock this dock behind me, watching people smack a ball, hit each other to win a Major or my best friend from back home, John Carter, coming out and coming in 2nd place last year during our Saturday Major. Something that just blows your mind because the kid's hardly ever played golf out here with us and he just picks it up like it's that. My personal favorite memory would probably be just anytime I've ever dunked a ball, so there's like three times. That's three great memories!
Last but certainly not least... What does being a Muni Kids mean to you?
Being a Muni Kid to me is just being somebody that can show up and show love to anybody and everybody that shows out. I would also go back to the favorite part of you know, of this sport that we play every week, this community that we have. The coolest thing to me is when people walk up here by themselves, have never played before and they play the whole night and that's a Muni Kid man. Just showing up and doing something different and really finding out that you love it cause it's pretty freaking cool out here man. Again, this is a special community, special thing that started here, the boys have taken this to Detroit, Atlanta, Texas, and California. I mean it's popping up everywhere now and it feels like a real home team right here. You know we got a solid crew that shows up weekly but we also have every week, somebody that hasn't been there in weeks or a brand new person and being able to just show love to those people, that's who I feel like the real Muni Kids stand for...
My Dogg! I appreciate you!
Shit you already know... That's a rap boy!
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