You’ve either seen her in-person at Diamondback as both high school competitor and daughter of General Manager Patrick Wilkinson, or on video helping Dad show you how to play each hole here. Now, here’s your chance to learn a little more from Rachel Wilkinson on the role that Diamondback Golf Course has played in her life.
Q:
How long has Diamondback Golf Course been part of your life?
Rachel:
I’ve been here for about five years, ever since my dad first started here. But with golf in general, it’s been since I was born.
Q:
What has it been like growing up as a teenager with Diamondback as a big part of your life?
Rachel:
Well, every time I come in here, I always get greeted like family, even from the members, because I’ve grown up with the members and I’ve known them my whole life. It’s just a great atmosphere to grow up in.
Q:
Tell us a little bit more about the family atmosphere here at Diamondback.
Rachel:
Well, even people that you don’t know, they’ll come in, they’ll see my mom at the grill or my dad behind the desk, and even if they don’t know me, they know them. So as soon as they know I’m their daughter, they automatically greet me like I’m family to them. And I couldn’t ask for anything better, that people just accept everybody here.
Q:
They’ve gotten to know you a bunch of different ways here now, as you’ve been here on a regular basis. You’ve played here quite a bit – competitively, too.
Rachel:
I did. This was my high school’s home course (Aynor High School).
Q:
What was it like for you and your teammates to play at Diamondback competitively? How did that suit your teammates’ games, and how did you like it as an overall competitive experience?
Rachel:
I like it because, honestly, it’s a really tough course to play. So if you can play here, you can play pretty much anywhere. As a team, we would just come out here and it’s a little far away from Aynor, so we would have to make the hike over here and we would share the range with the Loris team. And through that, we could make new friends with other teams and we could play with them a little bit. And we could just come out here whenever we wanted, we know that it’s always open to us so we could play.
Q:
What are some of your favorite memories of playing here competitively as a high school golfer?
Rachel:
I think my favorite memory was my last match that we played here. And all my teammates were sitting around the green as I was on my last hole, and my dad was announcing that it was my senior year and that it was my last match. So that was probably my favorite memory. But other than that, every day that we’d come out here, it was always just a fun time.
Q:
What was it like having your father as your coach, and how did the father/daughter dynamic compare with your coach/student relationship?
Rachel:
It could be tough at times. As my dad, he would always want to come watch me play in matches and everything. But as a coach, he would have to watch everybody else and help them, always be on call. So he couldn’t always watch me whenever I wanted him to or needed help. That was a little tough. But other than that, when we got home, it’s always talking about matches, what I could do better. It was great.
Q:
What are your three favorite holes here at Diamondback?
Rachel:
Hole number one, just because it’s the one that we would most start off on in matches, so it’s the one I played the most and it’s the hole where I always had to get the jitters out. I don’t always have the best memories on that one (laughing), but it’s one of my favorites. My other two would have to be probably hole 15 and hole 18. 15 is just, it’s hard. It’s a really hard hole, and if I can make it at least par, I’ll be happy. So that can turn your day really bad, or it can turn your day really great, whenever you’re playing. And then 18, it’s knowing you’re at the end of the round. If you’ve had a bad day, it’s your favorite hole, just because you’re done. But it can also be the hole that you most look forward to, if you’re playing good, then it’s, “Hey, we got through it and this could be a good round for me.”
Q:
What’s next for you?
Rachel:
Well, I’m enrolled at Clemson this fall on a secondary education major, to become a high school English teacher. It’ll look a little bit different at college. I don’t know exactly how it’s going to play out (outside the classroom), but they have a golf course up there so I might bring my clubs up and hit it around a little bit.
Q:
Something tells us that whether you pursue teaching full-time or anything else full-time, golf is going to be a part of your life to one degree or another.
Rachel:
Oh it will be. There’s no escaping it. I’m too far into it now!
Q:
If you had some advice for anyone considering being a member or being a part of the Diamondback community, what would you tell them to convince them that they should be a part of this?
Rachel:
I think that they should just take a week here, and play every day. Just see what type of people, who works here, all the members, see how they interact with each other and experience how everybody’s family here.