Eddie Miller has played golf in all 50 states, collecting stories, courses, and memories one round at a time.

Words by Anna Owens | Images by Nick Rizzo

Eddie Miller did not set out with a map, a marker, and a plan to play golf in every state in America. Like most good stories, his began more simply than that.

He started hitting golf balls as a senior in high school, when Travis Hudson was coaching football and later became the golf pro at Musgrove Country Club. Eddie never took formal lessons. He picked up the game, learned it the old-fashioned way, and kept playing. Over time, the rounds—and the states—began to add up.

“I played in a bunch of states and got up to around 37 or 38,” Eddie says. “Then I decided I’d just go ahead and play in all of them.”

That decision turned into a rare accomplishment. Eddie has now played golf in all 50 states and on courses in 15 countries. He has also played some of the best-known courses in the game, including Valhalla (Kentucky), Hazeltine (Minnesota), Chambers Bay (Washington), Southern Hills (Oklahoma), and Bandon Dunes (Oregon).

Still, asking him to name a favorite is not easy.

“All golf courses are different,” he says.

Even after playing in every state, Eddie still has a few courses left on his bucket list, including Augusta (Georgia) and Sand Hills (Nebraska), though he admits he may never make it to them. He once came close to playing Sand Hills before the opportunity was canceled at the last minute. But when asked which course he would drop everything to play, his answer was immediate: Pine Valley (New Jersey).

Golf has taken Eddie far beyond scorecards and tee times. In North Dakota, he saw buffalo near a course in the Badlands. In Costa Rica, he played holes that wound through a rainforest, with monkeys, birds, and even a milk cow nearby. In Florida, South Carolina, and New Orleans, he learned that if there is water on a warm-weather course, there may very well be an alligator nearby.

He has made five holes-in-one, though he laughs that he did not actually see two of them go in. One came at Musgrove, and another at Palm Springs, where the ball disappeared over a slope before someone finally suggested looking in the cup.

Even now, after health issues have slowed his regular rounds, Eddie still speaks about golf with the easy affection of someone who has loved the game for a long time.

“Always keep your head down,” he advises. “You don’t ever look up and see a good shot.”

For Eddie Miller, golf has been more than a hobby. It has been a passport, a challenge, amemory-maker, and another way to see the world—one fairway at a time. 78