It's About More Than Clothes

Today, I signed a two-year contract extension with Dunning. As I type this, I’m having a drink and dancing between sentences. But this story isn’t about Dunning’s shirts,  pants or their latest high-tech fabric. It’s about the good people at a company that helped change my life.

It’s cliché to say, “Find something you love to do, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” There’s truth in that, but what it doesn’t tell you is how doing what you love can change your life outside of work.

“Let’s talk and see if we can help.” That was the DM I got from Annmarie Dodd, Dunning’s VP of Marketing, in 2022.

I should have seen the end of Firepit Collective coming, but I didn’t. When it folded, I decided to start my own website instead of finding another traditional media job. To say I had no clue what I was doing would be an understatement. I didn’t have an LLC, didn’t know how to build a website and had no plan to make money... I was scared shitless.

Annmarie and I talked soon after that message,  I didn’t have a polished pitch or a business plan—just a vague idea that I’d write and post about golf. For some reason, she offered me a contract anyway. I can only imagine how she sold it to her bosses: “We just signed this guy with no plan, no structure and no idea what he’s doing…he’s perfect”

I don’t remember exactly how much it was for—it wasn’t a lot—but it felt like a million dollars. I said yes so fast I probably scared her.

When I got off the phone, my wife, Stephanie, and I hugged for a long time without saying a word. At the time, we were back in my hometown of Alpena, taking care of my dad, who had dementia. That phone call was welcome news during a hard stretch of life.

Before all this, I worked in the restaurant business, running a group of restaurants. I liked it, but the hours were brutal. I’d leave before the kids woke up and get home after they were asleep. Back then, I didn’t realize what I was missing—family dinners, school drop-offs and random Tuesday afternoons. They weren’t even on my radar.

Now, they are.

Most days, I have lunch with my wife—something we do almost every day when I’m not traveling. She works from home as a phone triage nurse. A few hours later, our daughter, Annie, comes home from school, gives us both a hug and disappears to draw. An hour after that, our son, Jackson, walks in, grabs a ball and asks if I want to play basketball before he even says hello.

And like most days, I close my laptop and go play.

Most nights we sit down for dinner together and do something we call Roses and Thorns—each of us shares one good thing and one not-so-good thing from the day. When I’m on the road, that’s what I miss most.

That’s what Dunning has meant to my life. That’s why “find something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” doesn’t tell the full story. Because if you’re lucky, doing what you love doesn’t just change your work—it changes your life.

Fast forward to three years later, Annmarie and I jumped on another call to talk about a new contract. Once again, I didn’t negotiate. How could I? You don’t haggle with the people who helped you live out your dream—and who made it possible to rarely miss a swim meet, basketball game or lunch with your wife.

The entire Dunning team has been incredible. Matt, their Social Media Manager, has become a friend and still thanks me for every retweet or video (even though he doesn’t have to). Christian, the VP of Brand, was thrilled when I joined an LPGA broadcast and the Golf Channel team let me promote the brand. Annmarie and I text weekly—about golf, Dunning and life.

I get to tweet, write and podcast about the minor leagues of golf. That’s my job. Just typing that makes me proud—and laugh a little at how ridiculous it sounds. When people ask what I do for a living, I still don’t really know how to explain it.

So yes, today I signed a two-year extension with Dunning. But what I really signed up for was another chapter of doing what I love—with people who believed in me long before I believed in myself.

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