Who golfs? UTC grad student Rachel Olivo

photo Rachel Olivo

Rachel Olivo

UTC graduate student

East Ridge

She tried table-topping like Michelle Wie.

She tried a crosshand grip.

She's tried about everything possible to putt her golf ball in the hole. But almost every putt Olivo has attempted over the last year has lipped out, burned the edge, come up short or scooted some four or five feet by the hole.

Ah, the life of a golfer.

"I blame it on my dad," Olivo joked. "I got into golf so that we'd have something to do together."

Olivo said her dad, who lives in Asheville, N.C., loves golf and she does, too.

The game provides them time to talk and to share emotions about what's going on in their lives. They talk on the golf course about what's good, and they discuss what's bad in their lives.

Playing golf is four hours of father-daughter time.

"I played with Dad in high school, but not on the team, and I've been playing since I was 8 years old," said Olivo, who came to UTC to earn a master's degree in special education. "But I don't play very often. Maybe three times a year."

Those times are special. She wants more of them.

"I am going to practice more and I'm going to play more," she said. "Hopefully I'll be able to putt."

Upcoming Events