From the fairways of Musgrove to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, Jasper native Steve Hudson recalls the highlights of his golfing life. 

Words by Terrell Manasco | Images by Al Blanton and courtesy Alabama Sports Hall of Fame

Travis Hudson stood beside his golf cart, his big hands resting on the shoulders of two of his three young sons, Tab and Steve. Surveying the magnificent splendor of the lush, emerald carpet before him, the Musgrove Country Club golf pro and greens superintendent explained the intricacies of proper golf course maintenance to the boys. 

“You can either get real good at this maintenance and do it every day—or you can learn to play golf,” he told them. 

Indeed, Travis had a way of motivating his sons to do what he thought they needed to do. 

Steve and his four siblings—Tab, Pam, Susan, and Philip—grew up helping their dad in the pro shop and on the golf course at Musgrove. Early on, Steve improved his game by watching his dad and trying to emulate his brother. “Tab was a good role model,” he says. “Trying to keep up with him made me better.” 

By the time Steve was eight or nine, he was playing in junior tournaments at Musgrove—and winning them. 

Steve attended Farmstead School and finished out his high school years at Walker. After graduating in 1976 with a golf scholarship to The University of Alabama, as Tab had done a few years earlier, Steve played golf for football coach and athletic director Paul “Bear” Bryant. He was co-captain his last two years at Alabama and helped lead his team to its first-ever SEC Golf Championship in 1979.

From 1981-87, Hudson played professional golf before becoming a decorated Alabama Golf Association (AGA) champion. He was named the AGA Player of the Year on three different occasions and was twice named the AGA Senior Player of the Year.

A three-time Senior Amateur Masters Champion (2014, 2016 and 2017), Hudson also won the AGA State Mid-Amateur Championship and AGA State Senior Championship on two occasions. He reached the top 10 in the Golfweek National Rankings four different years and was named the Society of Seniors Player of the Year in 2017. He was International Honorable Mention by Global Golf Post for three years.

Throughout his career, Steve has qualified and participated in 15 United States of America events, winning medals in two of the USGA State Team Championships. In this competition, each state chooses 3 players to compete against the teams for all other states. Leading a three-man team in 2005, Steve helped Alabama take home the Silver Medal with a final round of 66. In 2007, the USGA State Team he was on won the Bronze Medal. 

Hudson also won the SOS Senior Masters 3 out of 4 years and finished 3rd in the 2014 Canadian Senior Amateur. He secured a 10-shot win in the 2015 Golfweek Senior National Championship with scores of 64-67-67, and his 18-under par score is the lowest in any event run by Golfweek. He qualified and participated in two Royal and Ancient British Mid-Amateurs, as well as a British Senior Amateur.  

Over the years, Steve has played in a total of 15 USGA tournaments with great success. In 2016, he played in a tournament at Latrobe CC, home of Arnold Palmer, two months before the legendary golfer passed away. He remembers Palmer as being kind and gracious. 

“I shot the low round of the first day, 69,” Steve recalls. “He came up to me and he said, ‘You're Steve Hudson.’ I said, ‘Yes sir.’ He said, ‘That was one fine round,’ like nobody had shot it before. He was that type of person. He made you feel special.”

Palmer also displayed a self-deprecating wit. “Mr. Palmer was sitting with a group of us talking and I asked him, ‘Mr. Palmer, do you remember that year at Royal Birkdale in the British Open when you hit that ball out of the bush onto the green?” Steve says. “He said, ‘You know, I was in a lot of bushes over there.’” 

There have been numerous other awards and accolades in Steve’s career, perhaps none as prestigious as in May of 2021, when he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

“It was an incredible surprise and honor,” Steve says. “When they told me, I didn't feel worthy.”

Other inductees into the 2021 Hall of Fame class include Willie Anderson, Hal Baird, Cliff Ellis, Lillie Leatherwood, George Teague, Ben Wallace, and Demarcus Ware.

More recently, Steve was inducted into the Walker County Sports Hall of Fame on July 8, 2021.

Of all the golf courses he’s played, Steve says there is one which holds a special place in his heart. “If I could only play one more round in my life, I would choose Pebble Beach,” he says. “Just the memories of being there…Tab and I used to play in the World Two-Man Team Championship, and we finished second two or three times. Philip (his younger brother who passed away in 2018) went with us one year after Dad passed away and the three of us played Cypress Point.”

Steve has enjoyed tremendous success through the years, both in golf and in life. None of it, he says, would have been possible without the tremendous support of his wife, Karen, and his daughter, Caitlin. He also extends his gratitude to Walker High School, Musgrove Country Club, and the people of the Farmstead community.

“Farmstead was such a great community to grow up in,” Steve says. “It was such a nurturing place and had great teachers.” 

Steve sums up his philosophy of life with a favorite quote by Babe Didrickson Zaharias:

“The greatest thing about golf is the people you meet along the way. So, enjoy the journey.”

He certainly has. 78