Yep. It’s the first thing someone says when I introduce myself. They really want it to be another name. After all, don’t most golf courses have a creek or spring in their name? Trust me. When you meet my family, it all makes sense. We are, for lack of a better term, a little uh, well…strange. No. Let’s call it quirky.
It is easily the most anticlimactic story ever. I’ve often thought about making up some great tale about how my aunt got attacked by toads. No wait. Killer toads. That’s better. She ran and ran and ran until she came to a beautiful valley and the toads became submissive and made her food?
I got nothing. Basically, the family got together. There were 8 of them at the time who were involved in the operation and started to call out names. Oh. There were normal golf course names, like Spring Creek. The name StephenDale was considered as that was the name of both my uncle and grandpa. A total of sixty-six names were called out and the voting began.
The winner? You guessed it. Toad Valley Golf Course. In case you are wondering, we really are nestled in an, albeit small, valley and if you stick around at night, there are many toads that come out hopping.
What do you do with the name? You make the best of it! We even have honorary bride and groom toads who sit atop our wedding cakes.
Thanks Allison Marie for the great photo!
Over the years, we have come to realize that the name actually fits us quite well. We do things, including naming our golf course, just a little bit differently than most. People like that.
How about you? Anyone else succumb to the pressures of naming a family business?