The Best Golf Lessons are Life Lessons
Dave Kendall is dying of cancer, but still living it up daily on the golf course
By Tom Lang
Dave Kendall has already beaten the odds.
By all odds, he really shouldn’t be alive today – but, oh man, is he ever living – and more importantly he’s showing others they too can live well under dire circumstances.
Back in March, Kendall was given a diagnosis of terminal cancer. Dozens of tumors were found in multiple areas of his body, including his throat, lungs and brain. He told friends that his round of golf in Florida on February 1 was his last. Some looked at him like he was crazy and told him – in a sense – that he still needed golf, and golf needed him.
Like the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame golfer and instructor he is, Kendall has been applying the life lessons he’s given to so many students over the years, to himself.
Understandably things didn’t look good. Kendall was told most people with his types of cancer die within two months of diagnosis. Living just eight months would be about normal. Going a year is reserved for just 25 percent. Here in early November, it’s been 8 months. This month is his and wife Karen’s wedding anniversary.
Kendall credits golf, family and friends with earning all the extra time. And with the added time – after some surgeries and chemotherapy and slowly recovering by walking a few miles a day – he worked his way back to playing golf several times a week. His first round back on course was nine holes on July 10. Slowly but surely, he’s added distance to his daily walks, added holes and yardage distance to his golf rounds – and this fall, he’s had more fun and success at golf than some people do in a lifetime.
Kendall recorded his 11th career hole-in-one in September (his first came at age 17 when skipping school in Jackson so he couldn’t brag about it). Then on Oct. 3, shot his age of 69 from the white tees at Washtenaw Golf Club, where he is the lead owner.
“What I learned from golf was to not set unrealistic expectations – because people who do expect to win when they never have before, or to finish second when they’ve never finished in the top 20. It’s unrealistic,” Kendall told me in late August at Washtenaw, which turned 125 years old this year and is one of the oldest courses in Michigan. “You should try to finish 18th. Then if you accomplish it, or exceed that, you’re happy and you get to celebrate – but if you’re always disappointed, it doesn’t build confidence, and a person can’t be a champion without being confident.
“So, if you continue to chip away and make the little gains, it adds up to something. It’s about the road it takes to get there. You don’t get from here to there,” he said while pointing to a line on the table, “you go from here to here, then to here,” tapping his finger further down the line.
God willing, Kendall turns 70 in January and wife, Karen, has a birthday in February. “And if we make it to those, it’s another thing to celebrate,” he said. “And then we’ll try to make our granddaughter’s fourth birthday, that’s a lot of fun. So, I said this to my Oncologist, and she said she hadn’t heard it put that way before, but she thinks that’s perfect.”
Kendall’s life has been dedicated to teaching the game, from beginners to fine-tuning the skills of very talented golfers. His Kendall Academy in Ypsilanti – housed at Miles of Golf – is always abuzz with students, and with multiple teachers he’s taught how to teach. Kendall Academy is nationally ranked, but any student of his will tell you Dave’s as much about the life lessons he teaches outside of the golf stroke.
“I can’t think of anyone who goes through what Dave is experiencing and would handle it the way he does,” said Miles of Golf owner, Chris Mile. “He knows he does not have a long life, but he is grateful for his past and the future time he has, and is clearly not depressed. His life has been like a really wonderful round of golf.”
MSU men’s golf coach Casey Lubahn told me: “I’m a monster fan of Dave professionally and personally, so I’m not surprised at all by him handling this situation in the same way he has always lived.”
While at a recent event, a long-time golf industry rep said to me, “Dave is absolutely the nicest person I have ever known.”
As he taught golf the last several decades, Kendall has had a heck of a competitive golf career as well, especially as a senior – including two Michigan Senior Open titles and one Michigan Senior PGA Championship.
He’s also had 11 holes-in-one — including six in competition — and three double-eagles. The first ace for Kendall, growing up in Jackson, came when he was 17, in 1972. Problem was, he skipped school to play golf that day, so he couldn’t even tell his parents.
Kendall admitted that other friends and family connections have died as early as age 30 from cancer, “and I think they got a bad deal. But I’ve lived to be almost 70, and I think, ‘wow, that’s really lucky.’ So, I’m not sad at all. I’m grateful.
“Through this (cancer) journey, the encouragement I have received is a blessing. It made me want try harder,” he said. “I believe that if walking and playing golf causes me to live one week or one month longer, it will be worth doing it every day.
“I thought if I could break 40 for nine holes from the Senior tees, before the end of the year, would be a good goal,” he said about the July 10 ‘restart.’ “I was able to do that within a month. I started to get a little stronger every week. In September, on each 9, I started playing 6 holes from the White Tees and 3 holes from the Senior tees. I decided I would play the Course that way until I shot under par, or better yet, until I shoot my age (69).”
When he accomplished that incredible feat, he shot 35 on the front nine at Washtenaw. On the back 9 he birdied the first two holes and was 3-under.
“I had shot my age several times since I turned 67, but not since all of my health issues,” Kendall said as his story continued. “On my 13 hole, after a perfect drive I hit a poor 2nd shot and made a bogey. It was a nervous swing. It felt like the nerves I have had when trying to win a big tournament. I now have four holes to go and have to play 1-under the rest of the way. The next three holes I have very good putts at birdie, but missed. Now on the last hole, I have about 12 feet for birdie. It was exactly like trying to make a big putt to win. I made it! I was able to accomplish my comeback.”
Yet by no means is Kendall finished.
“I was thrilled to be able to feel what it feels like to win again,” he exclaimed. “I am so glad that I decided to make playing golf a big part of my physical therapy. I never dreamed that I could ever experience the adrenaline that attracted me to competitive golf many years ago.
“I am so glad that I did not believe that because I have a terminal cancer diagnosis, that my life is over and to just sit around and wait for the inevitable. Golf continues to teach me so much, and my friends and family would not let me quit trying to do my best, every day.”
That is Kendall’s lesson to everyone – even if it’s his very last one.
