“I always wanted the range” - Rickie Fowler buys range where he learned to golf with his grandfather
Rickie Fowler finally became the owner of Murrieta Valley Golf Range, the range on which he started his golfing journey. The American golfer brought the property earlier this year, completing his boyhood dream.
He first learned how to play golf at the venue. His grandfather would take him to practice on the range every Wednesday, where his passion for the game was forged. Years later, Fowler brought the property to provide an opportunity for younger kids to enhance their golfing skills.
Rickie Fowler talked about the range and how precious it is to him with Golf Week. The winner of the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic said:
“My dad used to deliver the sand for maintenance and gravel for the parking lot in exchange for me to hit balls. I always wanted the range to be around and it to be open for the next generation. I wanted kids to have the same opportunity as me if they were interested.”
It is worth noting that Bill Teasdall, a former mini-tour player, leased the 15-acre property to start a 50-stall range. Fowler made sure to contact Teasdall after he retired to ensure the range remained as he mentioned in his email to Golf Week.
“When he decided to retire, I wanted to be able to step in to make sure the range stayed. That was also assuming I was successful enough on the golf course,” he added.
The deal was supposed to get finalized in 2019, however it was delayed due to the global pandemic and finally, they came to an agreement in November 2022 before it was signed in the wake of 2023.
“It has been in the works for a couple of years, as the land is owned by a family and Bill leased it from them. We had to make sure that we would be able to continue that lease long enough and it wouldn’t get ripped out from under us," Fowler went on to say.
“I wanted to keep the range how it has always been. A lot of the people that were there when I was growing up are still the ones running it day to day. We all share the same vision and I’m looking forward to, when this season settles down, being able to spend some more time with everyone involved to discuss our current and future plans for the enhancements at the range,” he added.
Notably, Rickie Fowler has hired KemperSports to oversee the necessary adjustments to the range.
Rickie Fowler's early career
Rickie Fowler was born in Murrieta, California, on December 13, 1988, and attended Murrieta Valley High School. Fowler had practiced on the range for years before winning the SW League Final with a score of 133.
Yugaka Tanaka, Fowler's maternal grandfather, drove him to the golf range and assisted him in improving his skills.
About Fowler's children, Tanaka said via Golf Digest:
"I would pick him up at 2 o'clock on a school day, and we just did things together. He didn't talk much, mostly just watched. When we fished, he did everything right, and he had that patience where he didn't mind if he didn't catch anything. In golf, we were both beginners, but he could hit the ball, and he could concentrate, and he had drive. Those things came from his parents [Rod and Lynn Fowler], not me."
For his graduation, Fowler enrolled in Oklahoma State University and won his first collegiate trophy at the Fighting Illini Invitational in 2007. He turned pro in 2009 and won 10 professional events so far in his career.