Kevin Hall Broke The Mold In Golf

Each of us has a fire deep inside – a flame that, with kindling can burn bright, its heat fueling our pursuit for something that makes us feel alive.

Kevin Hall’s fire was lit more than 25 years ago, after school one day on the Avon Fields Golf Course. He remembers those moments as if it they yesterday. It was an afternoon following his last class when he walked onto the driving range for his very first ever lesson with Sonny Barnes. The then bright eyed nine-year-old with a natural ability for sports paused. Holding a club in his hand, he stood and watched other golfers. He noticed their every movement, the way they positioned their body, the tightness with which they gripped their club, their weight shift, and the direction of the ball as it became airborne. Like a sponge, Kevin soaked it all in, learning from observation their focus and technique.

There is a lot of complexity to the anatomy of a solid golf stroke. Much more than stepping up to a little white ball, holding a club with your hands and powering a swing with all that you have.

In those few minutes, Kevin got it. He wrapped his hands around the club handle and mimicked what he saw. It was a solid contact. The ball finished about 125 yards away.

Kevin was hooked.

As a teenager, he met Tiger Woods, at a Cincinnati golf clinic. After giving Kevin a tip on driving the ball further, Tiger looked the young player in the eyes and told him, “I’ll see you on the Tour someday.”

Every day since, Kevin has had one dream. One focus. To be a professional golfer. Not just a teaching professional, a PGA Tour member.

AND, a PGA Tour member who would break out of the mold. Kevin is African American in a predominantly white sport; but also, he is someone who will never hear the crack of his club as it makes impact on the ball. Kevin is deaf, losing his hearing when he was two years old from H-flue meningitis. (His initial diagnosis was death or life as a vegetable.) He relies on feel and sight to know when he has hit a good shot. He hears his fans’ ovations with his heart.

The year was 2004 when Kevin, a graduate of St. Rita School for the Deaf, would win the individual Big Ten Championship by 11 shots as a scholarship athlete on The Ohio State University’s golf team. That, Kevin told me, was one of is proudest moments. “It was probably the greatest gift I could have given my mom since it was also the first year after she lost her mother. It was great to just play sold golf and get it done for her.”

Kevin was the first African American golfer at OSU, serving as co-captain his junior and senior years. He turned professional after graduating in 2005 and logged 14 years playing in the minors. Last February (2017), he was honored with the Genesis Open’s Charlie Sifford Exemption by the Tiger Woods Foundation, given annually to a minority golfer. He is a member of the 2018 Web.com Tour.

Reaching his goal is no longer just a dream. It is a reality.

“Success did not come quickly after I turned pro. There were periods where Golf was just plain tough for me and periods where I questioned myself but nothing has been as hard as dealing with life being a Deaf person,” Kevin told me. “Dealing with not only that but the struggles that come with playing professional golf has strengthened my resolve because I see what I’m made of and I know I can hang in there and get it done.”

I asked Kevin a few more questions.

Lisa:  What does success look like for you?
Kevin: Creating goals and sticking to it through the good and bad times. Success is the feeling I get when I’ve put in the work and accomplished my goals but it can also be the feeling at the end of the day that I’ve given it everything I’ve got.

Lisa: Do you see yourself as a role model and inspiration to others?
Kevin: I know that my story inspires others and God is using me to do just that. At the end of the day I am just a human being who tries to do the right things in life and work hard to achieve something. If that inspires even just one person to reach deep inside and be extraordinary then I’m happy about that.

Lisa:  Outside of golf, what is another one of your life goals?
Kevin: I just want to do the best I can in life and to make my mark in the world. If I keep doing what I’m doing, I will do just that. 🙂