The following content was first published in USGA’s Golf Journal. Golf Journal is the USGA’s Members-only quarterly print and monthly digital publication.
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Chris Patton is having a cow. In fact, he’s having more than one. Since 2007, the 1989 U.S. Amateur champion, who has dropped more than 100 pounds since raising the Havemeyer Trophy at Merion Golf Club, has been running the 400-acre family farm in Fountain Inn, S.C., where he produces stock Angus calves for other farmers.
“I love the life,” said Patton, who grew up on the farm. “You're not going to make much money, so you just have to accept the fact that you have to live within your means, but there's no boss to answer to, and there's no unemployment unless you make it for yourself.”
Although the club just up the road where he learned the game, Fox Run Country Club, gave him a lifetime membership, he rarely takes time off to play, even with the younger of his two boys, Colby, who is on the golf team at his alma mater, Clemson. Patton, 52, is content these days just to watch Colby compete in tournaments, such as the 2016 U.S. Junior Amateur.
“My advice for him is you can't have a great feel for something unless you put the club in your hands a lot and learn how to find a consistent bottom,” said Patton.
Not many in South Carolina were ever better at that than Chris Patton. “He was just born to swing a golf club,” said Golf Channel analyst Charlie Rymer, who competed against Patton at the junior, college and pro levels. “We had little forged irons back then, and everything he hit came right out of the middle of the clubface just so pure.”
Patton was a Little League slugger who became frustrated with baseball because coaches would always walk him. He played his first round of golf on his 13th birthday (Nov. 20, 1980) and loved the fact that he got to hit the ball over and over. By the end of the following summer he was a scratch player. He would go on to win the state high school championship twice before becoming a three-time All-American at Clemson. His five wins are the most in school history, and he was the first Tiger to win the Amateur (Doc Redman joined him in 2017).
“Winning the Am was the biggest impact in my life,” said Patton, who was also the low amateur in the 1990 Masters.
He turned pro later that year, winning three times early on, including the 1993 Nike New Mexico Charity Classic. His 14-year professional career took him to 34 countries but was beset by injury.
“I'm very appreciative of it all, but I don't miss it, other than some of the people,” he said.
He got to reconnect with some of them at the 2018 U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Amateur champions get a one-time exemption when they turn 50), but he was reluctant to play in it at first because he hadn’t touched a club in 14 years.
“I took it from a competitor's standpoint, instead of looking at it as an opportunity for my family to do something really special and give Colby [who caddied for him] a chance to see what it’s like inside the ropes,” said Patton, who played respectably, all things considered, shooting rounds of 81-78.
His weight has stabilized over the last decade due in large part to being diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic and having to make better food choices. “The key is just to stay out of the kitchen,” he said.
Fortunately, Angus steaks are still on the menu.
Get to Know Chris
Family: Wife Megan, sons Zachary and Colby
Occupation: Cattle farmer
Hometown: Fountain Inn, S.C.
Notable Accomplishment: 1989 U.S. Amateur champion
Fun Fact: He often played in bare feet in junior tournaments because of blisters from ill-fitting golf shoes
Fun Fact: He often played in bare feet in junior tournaments because of blisters from ill-fitting golf shoes
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