Lisa Sharkey, Age: 57;
Paul Gleicher, Age: 61
When Sharkey and Gleicher’s two grown sons started golfing after college in 2014, the couple took up the game with them. “Golf just infused itself into our whole family,” Sharkey says. Their daughter, Casey, now plays on her high school’s team, and Gleicher has even repurposed a batting cage in the basement of their Manhattan townhouse to practice their swing. All their vacations center on golf. They have hit the links at top golf resorts such as Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic and Shadow Creek in Las Vegas; this year, the family celebrated Gleicher’s birthday at Half Moon in Jamaica. Gleicher finds inspiration on the courses he plays, which are often surrounded by design-forward homes. “I’m not only playing; I’m looking at the aesthetics of everything for my own practice,” he says. For Sharkey, the game is deeply personal. “It connects me to my mother. She was an avid golfer until her sudden death eight years ago. I swing the club like her,” she says. “I’m now playing with her clubs. I feel like she’s with me.”
GETTING IN THE GAME: Gleicher and Sharkey recommend vacationing at a golf resort with caddies—they offer great advice—as an entry into the game. He uses Warrior Custom Golf wedges, while she prefers her mother’s Callaway clubs. “Start out by playing nine holes during the twilight hours,” he says, “and be kind to yourself. If you are a perfectionist in your work life, realize this is not going to be the case on the course, and practice the art of ‘letting go’ when you don’t play the way you think you should.”
