Achieving the Dream
LEFT , Lanto Griffin at the 2008 VSGA Amateur Championship . RIGHT , Griffin shakes hands with Brinson Paolini after the championship match at the 2009 VSGA Amateur .
Griffin is locked in now — between the ears and with his game . He ’ s not being overly technical or trying to change his swing every week .
“ I don ’ t practice as much , I don ’ t have to grind as much , I ’ m having a hell of a lot more fun , and I ’ ve got more money in the bank .”
STARTING IN FAMILIAR TERRITORY Griffin ’ s first start as a PGA Tour member came at the Safeway Open in Napa , Calif ., in late September , where he missed the cut .
Ironically , Griffin was born a couple hours away in Mount Shasta . He lived there for the first 4 1 / 2 years of his life before his family moved to Blacksburg .
“ After we felt a few earthquakes , we felt it was time ,” said his mother , Julie . “ We loved living in California , we owned our own business — a health food store — and my husband Michael said this is kinda crazy , we just need to move closer to family .”
The family ’ s home was near the old municipal course in Blacksburg .
“ That ’ s where Lanto started golf ,” Julie said . “ He spent the whole summer , he would go about 8 o ’ clock in the morning and come home for lunch and then go back until about 6 when they closed .
“ The man who ran the golf course told my husband , ‘ you know , your son loves golf and he ’ s good at it .’ And he said , ‘ Why don ’ t you talk to [ then-Blacksburg Country Club pro ] Steve Prater about some golf lessons ... he works with kids .’”
Prater , currently the teaching pro at Roanoke Country Club , still remembers the day a young Lanto showed up in the BCC clubhouse .
“ He asked if he could be in my junior program ,” Prater recalled . “ And he wasn ’ t a member at the club .”
Michael Griffin passed away from brain cancer in May 2001 when Lanto was 12 .
“ That ’ s when Steve called me and said that he would like to offer Lanto full membership and he can just play golf as much as he wants ,” recalled Julie , who recently retired as a Montgomery County elementary school teacher .
“ And that was the most incredible thing for Lanto because he lost his father that week and golf just became very important to him . A very safe place , a lot of very nice people who were very helpful to him . It became like a second family .
“ Lanto spent a lot of time at Steve Prater ’ s house . And Lanto decided he just
“ I don ’ t practice as much , I don ’ t have to grind as much , I ’ m having a hell of a lot more fun , and I ’ ve got more money in the bank .”
Lanto Griffin wanted to be like Steve Prater , he wanted to be a golf pro .”
Until this day , Prater remains Lanto Griffin ’ s primary golf teacher .
“ Lanto has meant so much to me ,” Prater noted . “ Him getting on the PGA Tour completes a lot of hard work . To see one of them go all the way like he has is just an amazing feeling .”
Griffin bought a two-bedroom condo in Ponte Vedra Beach , Fla . in January . He does all his non-tournament golf work five minutes away at TPC Sawgrass , which has one of the world ’ s top practice facilities .
He works there with TPC pro Todd Anderson , who also coaches Tour winners Billy Horschel and Brandt Snedeker . His caddy is Chris Nash , a 34-year-old Texan who was on the bag for his Nashville victory .
“ We won the second week out ,” Griffin noted . “ He has helped me a lot . He ’ s just a real even-keeled guy , doesn ’ t get too excited and he has no ego ... so no matter how frustrated I get with him for something he might do , he doesn ’ t fire back . If I ’ m down , if I make like two bogeys in a row , he ’ s like ‘ man , we ’ ve got this !’”
Griffin said that the biggest difference between the PGA Tour and the Web . com is an extra zero on the paycheck .
“ The fun stuff is just about to begin , honestly ,” he said . “ You go from playing where a 20th-place finish might get you $ 6,000 on the Web tour and it makes you $ 60,000 on the PGA Tour .
“ It ’ s pretty crazy to think about how much money we ’ re playing for ... it doesn ’ t really make a whole lot of sense to me , but I ’ m all right with it !”
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. org N OVEMBER / D ECEMBER 2017 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 23