From artificial greens to Pinehurst No. 2: Luke Clanton’s hardscrabble path to first U.S. Open

PINEHURST, N.C. – A day after Luke Clanton qualified for his first U.S. Open, he returned to his roots.

The Country Club of Miami sounds fancier than it is. The 36-hole municipal facility sits about a half-hour northwest of downtown Miami, in Hialeah, Florida, a blue-collar city of over 6 million – the state’s sixth largest – where nearly 90% of households speak Spanish and the Cuban food is delicious. The club’s claim to fame is that Arnold Palmer served as its first head pro, but these days, the fairways are overrun by crabgrass, the putting surfaces are scruffy and slow, and the short course’s artificial greens have seen better days. For under $50, one can score an early weekend tee time.

For Clanton, it’s also home.

“It’s just a little public golf course, but I give all the love to the people there,” Clanton said. “It’s just proof that you don’t need the best of the best.”

Even as he developed into one of the top recruits in the country, highly sought alongside names such as Nick Dunlap and Caleb Surrat and Ben James, Clanton remained on the hardscrabble path, one that has led the rising Florida State junior, last season’s top-ranked collegiate player, to Pinehurst No. 2 for this week’s major debut at the U.S. Open.

When he wasn’t cutting his teeth at CC of Miami, Clanton was emptying bucket after bucket of beat-up, yellow golf balls at C.B. Smith Park, a recreational spot that features batting cages, mini golf and a driving range. He also used U.S. Kids Golf clubs until he was 12 years old, an age when most of his peers already had the latest and greatest, and still remembers the feeling when he received his first full set of TaylorMade equipment that year.

“If you know your golf clubs, don’t change them,” Clanton’s dad, David, would always tell his only son.

Clanton still adheres to that advice. He’s gamed the same TaylorMade irons – a mix of old MBs and P760s – since he was 17 years old. With the manufacturer running out of sets a couple years ago, Clanton’s wear patterns are noticeable.

But Clanton, as with most aspects of his life, doesn’t care what his clubfaces look like, only the results they produce. He’s currently the fifth-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and this past spring broke out with three straight victories and later a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championship, where he took Auburn’s J.M. Butler to 17 holes in the team final’s anchor match before losing in the deciding point. He has some history in Pinehurst, too, winning the North and South Amateur two years ago at No. 2, a year after making the semifinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur at nearby Country Club of North Carolina.

Ideally, Clanton would love to make enough money playing golf to retire his parents to Pinehurst. “That’s my No. 1 goal,” he says. Clanton’s dad, David, who works as a landscaper and glazier while also moonlighting as a golf instructor, and mom, Rhonda, a flight attendant, still live in the same modest home where Luke shared a bunk bed with his sister, Abby, now 26, and only got his own room when his oldest sister, Ray, now 28, moved to New York City to model at age 18. Abby was a talented soccer player who competed collegiately at West Alabama and just began a job as a veterinarian, but she and Ray both sacrificed some of their passions growing up so that the family could properly fund Luke’s budding golf career.

“I always tell them how much I love them and how much that meant to me,” Clanton said, later adding, “Growing up that way, I think it made me who I am now. I mean, we get a brand-new car to drive around this week.” (Clanton’s 2014 Honda back home can barely reach 70 mph.)

Florida State head coach Trey Jones describes Clanton as appreciative but confident.

“And where the confidence comes from is he’s the most positive person I’ve ever met in golf,” Jones said.

Jones tells a story of another Seminole, Gray Albright, who had Clanton caddie for him at a U.S. Open local qualifier earlier this year. Afterward, Jones asked Albright about the experience.

“I’ve never heard anybody talk like that on the golf course,” Albright said. “Wherever I hit it, he was like, ‘You got this. You can chip this in. You’re putting it so good.’ Does he talk to himself like that?”

To which Jones responded, “Every day.”

Clanton’s mental game was bolstered last March when Florida State traveled down to Palm City, Florida, to play the Valspar Collegiate. Before the tournament, the Seminoles spent a day with five-time major-winning alum, Brooks Koepka, who paid special attention to Clanton, giving him tips, both physical and between the ears. Clanton’s biggest takeaway was Koepka telling him the secret to his success was playing golf like he was “braindead.”

After Clanton won the tournament a few days later, Koepka texted him. Clanton had blown away the field by five shots despite bogeying two of his final three holes.

Koepka didn’t sugarcoat his message: You’re going to have to keep the pedal down, man, if you’re going to win at a higher level.

On Tuesday at Pinehurst, Clanton studied the current world No. 1, Scottie Scheffler, with whom he played a practice round. Clanton, like Scheffler, is a believer, and has continually stressed, “My identity is not in winning golf tournaments but in Christ.” He keeps his numerous trophies in his closet.

“My dad’s a great mentor for whatever I’ve done in my life, and I always give him the highest praise,” Clanton said. “Whenever I was acting a little wrong, he’d make sure I was back in check. Even when I won or anything like that, I’d never get too high; he always kept me down and humble. Now that I’m here, we still talk about staying as humble as I can.”

And remembering where he came from.

Clanton used to hold U.S. Open watch parties as a kid. Some of those gatherings would clear 20 people. Eight of Clanton’s childhood pals will make the 11-hour drive up for this week’s U.S. Open.

“I was talking to my buddies after I qualified, and they were like, oh, we can have the watch party at the U.S. Open this time,” Clanton said.

Meanwhile, some young kids will probably be back at CC of Miami, walking those crabgrass fairways and landing wedge shots onto those artificial greens, dreaming of one day following in Clanton’s footsteps.