Where is William now? William is sitting at a Starbucks in Dublin Airport, preparing to hop a big bird through London to Newark. While I am mourning the end of the first leg of my trip, I am thrilled about starting the second leg through New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Pinehurst. My two sons will be joining me for a whopping 15 rounds in 15 days and some of the finest courses on the east coast. My body held up in Europe, but can I continue to make decent, injury-proof swings for another 2 weeks? I have been talking the talk, but now it’s time to walk the walk.

If you’ve ever met me, you know I’ll be bragging about my kids within the first couple of minutes. I am very proud of them both, and I like to say the Sendell gene has evolved from my version. Once, a stranger walked into the golf shop at Tehama and I went into my usual routine of hogging the oxygen in the room before quickly pivoting to my boys. The stranger listened politely, then simply said, “I am proud of my own son as well. He just won the Daytona 500–the first to do so as a rookie.” Game-Set-Match. The stranger was none other than Tim Cindric, President of Team Penske. I have been fortunate enough to re-tell this story in Tim’s presence a few times because he joined Tehama, and it always generates a few laughs.

So, I figure since this east coast leg will feature them, they should be properly introduced. Brad is 27 and lives in Wisconsin. He coaches hoops in the winter at his Alma Mater and is a golf pro in the summer. Jack is 25 and works in wealth management. He just accepted a new position in the San Francisco Bay Area.

They are not only brothers, they are best friends as well. I’ve never lost one minute of sleep worrying about where they are, what they are doing, or if they are making the correct choices. They have set a high bar for themselves. They both were great athletes at Pacific Grove High School, and still maintain a strong connection with their varsity basketball coach. Jack has coached the Junior Varsity team for the last few years. They both played the usual youth sports growing up: basketball, baseball, soccer, and golf. As they progressed into High School, Brad was solely focused on basketball. Jack played basketball and baseball until his junior year, when he chose to focus on basketball as well. Although they were 2 grades apart, they always played together on teams, with Jack playing higher levels than he was physically ready for. It was a very proud season for me when Jack earned his spot on the varsity team as a sophomore to play with his brother in his senior year. And if you know Dan Powers, the Head Coach, this spot was EARNED, not given.

Although we were all proud of their exploits on the court, Mom and I felt it was important for them to play a 2nd sport. They chose golf, but let’s just say the focus and intensity wasn’t where it was with basketball. It was a distraction for them and an opportunity to give William the business by not doing the things one needs to do to shoot good scores. Things like actually practicing, getting correct yardages into greens, wearing acceptable headwear, and caring about the numbers you put on the scorecard. They had talent, but they didn’t care, or perhaps they did but it was more rewarding to passively annoy Mom and Dad. I hit maximum frustration when they were posting gigantic numbers at Spyglass Hill, my home course.

My oldest played college basketball at a small school in Wisconsin and had a great career there. My youngest played street ball at UCLA while doing an internship with a small-cap stock expert. And then the worm turned. Golf was suddenly cool. They cared and wanted to get better. They rued the earlier years they wasted not really trying. They acknowledged they missed out on a lot of cool opportunities while I was in the midst of my 17 year career at Pebble Beach. But one of my favorite sayings is “golf finds you when you’re ready to be found.”

Some of my favorite memories on the golf course are with my sons. On my 40th birthday I played 40 of the best holes in the world. A morning round at Cypress Point, an afternoon round at Spyglass Hill, and 5-6-7-8 at Pebble Beach to finish it up. My boys were with me for the final four as the sun set on Arrowhead Point. We have taken a couple of golf trips every year, and I can confidently say our last one was our worst one. There are many reasons for this that I will not share, but suffice to say I am motivated to make amends with THIS trip. This trip is a gift for Brad, who is marrying his high school sweetheart, Ally, in a month’s time.

We open at Winged Foot tomorrow. I hope you join us as our “fourth” for this family adventure.