Every now and then, you reach a point in your life when you feel the need to accomplish something for you and only you. Things have a way of carrying on in the same manner; a routine sets in and before you know it, it’s been months, perhaps even years since you’ve done something truly unique.

For me, the year was 2003. By then, I had been playing golf for 14 years and I hadn’t gotten any better. It’s strange, actually; My golf game had gotten smarter – I learned to lay-up to the 150-marker so I could hit 8-iron into the green every time; I learned to hit a 5-wood off the tee to sacrifice distance for control; I learned to, well…I learned to play it safe.

I knew I couldn’t compete on any pro tour or even have a chance to win a local tournament. Yet I continued to suck all the fun out of golf by focusing only on that silly number written down with those silly little pencils. I knew something had to change – I needed to shift that focus from my score, to the game itself.

And that’s when I decided to embark on my quest: To play every 18-hole public course in the state of Connecticut. Now it may not have been the most adventuresome quest in golf (people that set-out to play the top 100 courses in the country, or even the world have got some time and money on their hands), but it wasn’t exactly something to sneeze at either (after all, The Constitution State had…at the time…66 golf courses meeting my criteria).

I quickly drew up a schedule for 2003 (and 2004, 2005, 2006 & 2007 to boot). Being married and working a full-time job, I knew this quest would take a few years. That being said, I settled on a schedule that would keep half my summer weekends free, while still enabling me to complete said quest within a reasonable amount of time – I would play roughly two rounds a month for seven months of the year (April – October) for five years.

Of course, no quest would be complete without people to experience it with. So I emailed the schedules to all my golfing buddies – hoping at least one of them would accompany me at every course (and that pretty much happened – at least one golf buddy played with me at each course along the way).

So I had this quest, and I had people to experience it with. But what about documenting it? Rather than keep a diary in the traditional sense, I decided to photograph and review every course I played. But as I reviewed them, I realized many of the course descriptions sounded similar on paper. So I began compiling a rating system based on a set of six criteria to help me distinguish between the courses (you can learn about those criteria HERE).

The more courses I played (and subsequently the more courses I rated and wrote about), the more I began to realize what makes a good golf course (at least in my opinion). This quest took me to the lushest of courses; where greens-fees greatly exceeded $100; where bag-boys loaded your clubs on the cart at the beginning of the round and cleaned them for you at the end of the round; where every blade of grass reminded you of Augusta. Yet the same quest took me to the shabbiest of courses; where chain-link fences protected tee-areas from errant shots; where driving range mats replaced worn-down tee-boxes; where the fairways were so dusty, you’d swear the carts ahead of you were part of Rommel’s tank battalion.

After completing my quest at the end of the 2007 season, it took two years for me to embark on my next adventure – contributing to this blog and helping to develop golfstinks.com. And this too benefited from my quest – a new feature you will be seeing very soon on this site is the ability to search and rate golf courses the golfstinks way (not-to-mention you can read all my ratings and reviews for those Connecticut courses too). But I’d have to say the real benefit was to me. I learned a bunch in those five years…mainly to forget about my score and just have fun playing the game I love.

So get out there and experience what golf has to offer. Drop a C-note on an awesome track once in a while; drive two hours to experience the latest Nicklaus or Jones design; get out there and forget about the rest of the world…Don’t worry, your home course will be waiting for you when you get back.