Alistair Docherty’s first golf memory provided a couple of valuable lessons. The 32-year-old pro, who will be a PGA Tour card-holder for the first time come 2027, joined this week’s GOLF Subpar podcast and explained how a trip to Sahalee Country Club played a key role in his life.
Sahalee is a private country club in Sammamish, Wash., just outside of Seattle, and in 2010 it hosted the U.S. Senior Open. (It was also home to the 1998 PGA Championship, won by Vijay Singh.) But in 2010, Docherty attended the U.S. Senior Open with his father, and they found a spot to sit by the 10th tee.
That’s when Bernhard Langer came through — and promptly fired his tee shot into one of the many evergreens on the famously tree-lined golf course.
“I looked at my dad and I’m like, ‘Wow, pros hit bad shots too,’” Docherty said. But the best players in the world hitting bad shots wasn’t the main takeaway, it was what happened next. “I’m like, ‘What’s going to happen now?’ Well, he won that week. So a bad shot doesn’t really determine the outcome. … And to be fair, if anyone’s been up to Sahalee, it’s called Sah-hallway for a reason.”
You can listen to the entire interview with Docherty here, or watch on YouTube below.
