It may have been destiny.
But in Erik Long-Goheen’s case, his golf destiny got a little bit of help.
“When I was about 2 years old,” Long-Goheen explained, “my parents put a set of practice clubs in my hand and said, ‘Go swing away kid.’ But I’ve only been really serious about golf since I was about in eighth grade.”
The Desert Vista senior come from a golfing family. His sister, Kassidy, is a sophomore on the Desert Vista girls golf team.
Obviously, his parents are also avid golfers.
“Every summer we go up to Washington (state) because it’s not 130 degrees and we have family there,” Long-Goheen said. “We play almost every day.”
And, to improve, that is critical.
“You’ve got to play everyday,” he added. “I don’t want to say that it consumes your life, but you have to put in the work to stay consistent.”
Before he finally gravitated to real golf clubs, Long-Goheen could swing a bat.
“I was big into baseball in middle school,” he said, “and I played club ball for years, but gave that up because golf is really my best game.”
Long-Goheen’s strength is the long ball up the middle of the fairway and on those summer retreats he and his sister spend time on the driving range.
“We help each other with our games and my parents play all the time so we like to go out and play as a family,’ he added.
As the only senior on a boys golf team filled with returning sophomores and juniors Long-Goheen is a natural leader.
“But we have such a great team and everyone is so close that it’s really a group effort,” he added.
The Thunder won the three-day, 27-hole Ahwatukee Cup tournament played in a Ryder Cup format for the second consecutive year by nine strokes over Mountain Pointe and Mesa Red Mountain earlier last week.
“That event is more group oriented and we have good chemistry on this team, so we hope it gives us some momentum for the rest of the year,” he added.
