Pat Romboletti

I was an avid racquetball player until my hip replacement in 2002.  My doc told me that I had to hang up my racquet, and I really missed having a sport in my life.  My personal trainer was a wise sole, and one day he told me, “you know, you would love golf.” 

Me love golf---no way I thought.  It moves too slow!   He convinced me to meet him at the range the next night and hebrought some clubs for me to try.  He took me out to the practice tee, put a ball down and said “go ahead, hit it.”  I protested,  “but I don’t even know how to hold the club.”  He counseled me to do what felt natural and just try to hit the ball.  Well, I did, and the ball went flying off the tee.  From that first shot, I was hooked.  He couldn’t put the balls down on the tee fast enough for me! 

I hired a golf instructor the next day and for the next 6 months, I committed to going to the range every day, no matter what and took 2 lessons per week.  I also vowed not to step on the course until the end of the 6 months.  It was tough to keep my commitment to myself because at the time, I was living in Los Angeles and we were experiencing El Nino.  Let’s just say I had a lot of great rain gear very early on in my golf career.

I am a retained executive recruiter, so finding clients who wanted to play golf was never a problem, and there was a tournament a week in the Southern California.  So, during my early years as a golfer, I was able to play 3 times a week. 

On Thanksgiving Day 2008, my first grandchild was born at Northside Hospital.   The day I held her in the delivery room, I vowed to move myself and my retained search practice to Atlanta.  I arrived in town in June 2009.  The challenge of restarting my business in a new city kept me too busy to golf—and besides—I had left all my golfing buddies behind.

Thank goodness for EWGA.   After two years of not playing I went to the 2011 Kick-Off and was just overwhelmed by the gracious and enthusiastic welcome that I received.   I still am not playing as much golf as I would like to play (but then, is there ever such a thing as too much golf), but being part of EWGA  has helped me get back to the course and has introduced me to a great group of like-minded women golfers.  It has truly made all the difference to me as I have worked to rebuild my new life in Atlanta.   

I am excited that I will now be able to pay EWGA back for the warm welcome, as I will be joining the Marketing and Communications Committee to leverage my LinkedIn expertise.  I am looking forward to helping to spread the word and build the community of EWGA Atlanta.