Sand Valley might just be my favorite place in the world such that when I leave this earth, I’ve put in a soft request for my ashes to be poured into a divot repair bottle and then sprinkled around the course as the fam plays. Not sure how they feel about this, hence, it’s a soft request.

That said, we figured there’s no better place for our family’s debut round than at The Sandbox. It’s a brilliantly designed, family-friendly, 17 hole track featuring Alice in Wonderland-esque greens that are staggering in scale and slope. Surrounded by massive Ice Age era sand dunes and set in central Wisconsin, the culture is laid back, the food is amazing and the people are anything but stuffy. In fact, the suggested method of playing is bare foot.

It was the first time I had ever taken Dottie (7) out for a full round and girlfriend is a powerhouse. She made the long putt of the day and true to her spirit, was a ray of sunshine the whole 17.

On the 9th hole after refusing Rocky (4) a breakfast ball, a gatorade bottle went whizzing by my head and if you know Rock, my man has an arm. But hey, we’ve all been there. Golf is a frustrating, humbling game. Other than the flying bottle, Rocky rallied, made us laugh the whole time and left it all on the course such that Michelle had to carry him to the final green.

Lest I forget, Michelle stepped up to the first tee having only played a handful of times before and hit a gorgeous, arcing shot into the green. She’s sneaky athletic and if she wanted to, could destroy anyone especially with her driver.

After the round, we sat in fatigued silence at a picnic table enjoying a fresh, local meal from the food truck. On the short drive home, everyone fell asleep and I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for the fam and for the fact that places like The Sandbox exist.

Hopefully it’s a long while before I find myself in a divot repair bottle.