Happy finds his home: Real-life Gilmore commits to college

Ball State will soon by Happy’s home.

Landon Gilmore, the 17-year-old Indiana native who goes by the same name as Adam Sandler’s character in the 1996 golf comedy “Happy Gilmore,” verbally committed on Friday to play golf for the Cardinals starting in Fall 2024. Gilmore is currently a rising senior at Bloomington South High.

“Going into the whole recruiting process, I had such an open mind and had nowhere that I was set on going,” Gilmore told GolfChannel.com on Friday via phone. “After calls with Coach [Mike] Fleck, I went up and visited, and I loved the campus; it’s small. Their schedule is jam-packed with good teams all year. I know a few of the guys. They have a really nice indoor practice facility. And so, it was just a perfect fit for me.”

Golf’s real-life Happy Gilmore has been a staple on the junior circuit around Indiana for nearly a decade. He began using the nickname at age 9, after he won a long-drive contest at the Pepsi Little People’s Tournament, a longstanding event in Quincy, Illinois. A year later, he was entering tournaments as Happy, dropping Landon. More recently, Gilmore was the 2020 Hurricane Junior Tour player of the year, and last year he finished runner-up at the Indiana State Junior, which he playfully says he “choked” away after missing a 2-footer on the final hole. He’s also led his high school to a pair of fourth-place finishes, including this year when he finished seventh individually.

And also on Friday, Gilmore qualified for his first U.S. Junior Amateur – and at Ball State’s home course, Delaware Country Club in Muncie, Indiana.

Gilmore, who proudly reveals that he can recite the movie line by line, says he’s not gotten tired of the moniker, either.

“Not at all,” Gilmore says. “… It’d be hard for me to sit here and say it hasn’t [inspired me]. It’s definitely helped me publicity-wise.”

The only drawback? “No matter where I play at, someone will see my scorecard,” Gilmore says. “So, when I shot an 88 at that [U.S. Open] local qualifier [earlier this year], I was really hoping no one would see that. That kind of blew up a little bit. There’s good and bad, I guess, but I have a really great attitude, and I don’t let anything bother me. Honestly, I love when I go through and read comments of people poking fun.”

Gilmore has had some good banter with the most popular Shooter McGavin account on Twitter, but until Friday, he hadn’t ever had contact with Sandler. Upon hearing of Gilmore’s commitment, Sandler tweeted at Gilmore, “Go get ‘em, Happy. Pulling for you.” Gilmore then responded, “My life is complete.”

“When I saw that Adam Sandler retweeted my tweet, my little heart kind of fell apart there,” Gilmore added. “I was speechless and didn’t really know what to do with myself for a minute.”

Lots of people on social media, including McGavin, have been tagging companies with ties to the movie – companies like Subway and Volkswagen – and suggesting they should sponsor Gilmore. That’d be nice, Gilmore admits, but right now he’s focused on next week’s Indiana State Boys Match Play and other upcoming events, including the prestigious IMG Junior Worlds in San Diego.

And like every other college commitment, he’s already looking forward to school.

“I just want to play good golf and see what happens,” Gilmore says of his current college goals. “I’m sure once I get there my goals will change. I’m so competitive, I want to get there and play, and hopefully help the team get to nationals.”