If you frequent our golf course, Goat Hill Park, chances are you've run into the friendly, laid-back, ex-PGA professional Dean Wilson.

It wasn't too long ago that Dean came up to the Goat with his loyal pup, Toby. We thought it may be a sole occurrence, a one off, as many ex-pros have been frequenting up the hill to experience the Goat. But what we didn't know, was that Dean was never going to leave. The proof is in the pudding, knowing we built something not just for profits or for the pretty, but to bring back the soul of the game. With some Goat, and some persimmons in hand, Dean did just that. 

Dean talks why he left professional golf, and how he found the love for the game once again in a recent interview by Alan Shipnuck for Golf.com.

On leaving the PGA:

"I found I wasn't enjoying myself anymore...It kind of got a little boring to me, I felt like there's somethin' else I could do, and so I just decided to walk away and try to do some other things and live a little bit, rather than just continuously playing tournament golf and stressing about tournament golf. I wanted to experience some different things and take that out of my life."

On finding Goat Hill Park: 

"I grew up at a public golf course, a municipal, so I guess that's where my roots are... As I retired and joined a couple of country clubs here, and you know, as I professional I can't play in any of the club tournaments, so I'm kind like in a grey area I tell people... when I ran into the Goat, per my friend John Ashworth, I just fell in love with the place. I got to play in the tournaments, hang with the guys, and everybody just likes playing golf. It's all about the hang, and just going out and playing and having fun and enjoying golf for what it is, is what I really enjoy now."

 On persimmon woods:

"First I started off being with Ash [John Ashworth] at Goat Hill... you might hit a wood a handful of times, a couple of guys have persimmons there, and I just started to hit 'em and I noticed that I forgot what that feel was like, what it was to search for your rhythm in the golf swing so that you can play... Nowadays with the big headed titanium drivers and graphite shafts, they're so stable you're just taking a big ol' lash and just trying to see how far you can hit it, but, with these persimmons you've got to find your rhythm and if you try to blast one you could actually top it and hit it about 30 yards. Just playing those, me hearing the sound, watching how far they go, you can still play legitimate golf with them."

"Personally what I like...I can jump on the forward tees and have a good match with the guys on the course... it just makes for more fun... it's bringing back the love of the game for me, for sure."  

For the entire interview/podcast, head here: http://www.golf.com/knockdown/2017/09/21/dean-wilson-just-loves-hang