Actor and golf content creator Hannah Aslesen initially had little interest in golf. Having grown up playing hockey and basketball, she couldn’t quite understand the appeal of chasing a ball around a course and getting mad at nature. Even after working at a country club for nearly a decade, the sport never really clicked with her. That wouldn’t last, however.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Her view changed after Aslesen was invited to be part of a sketch, setting her on an unexpected path that eventually led to a collaboration with 15-time major champion Tiger Woods. In a conversation with PGA of America, the 35-year-old confessed that her friends and family, who love golf, hate her because she got to work with the biggest names in the sport.
“I’m probably the most hated person among my golf-loving family friends right now,” Hannah said. “Because I’ve been lucky enough to play Pinehurst, East Lake, and Kiawah Island this early in my journey and shoot content with the likes of Tiger Woods and Tommy Fleetwood. It’s not lost on me how lucky I am.”
That luck, however, would have counted for little if she hadn’t received an invitation from Aaron Chewning, founder of the comedy group St. André, to feature in a golf bit in a sketch. Aslesen initially agreed to participate in hopes of attracting more views to her videos. But what began as a move to boost her content unexpectedly sparked a genuine love for the sport.
“I’ve played sports my whole life, but as a basketball and hockey kid, I could usually muscle my way through an off night. Not in golf,” Hannah said. “It demands patience, mental toughness, and a finesse that doesn’t work if you’re mad at the ball [which I am, a lot].
“Every swing teaches me something new, every chunk or shank reminds me to laugh through the pain, and every time Aaron tells me to pick up the pace I’m reminded that I am stronger than those who try to bring me down.”
Her newfound love for golf eventually led to Hannah Gets Good, a five-part series produced by St. André and the PGA of America. All she had to do in the show was to break 90 at Hazeltine National Golf Club. So, Aslesen got to work, spending time with several PGA coaches across Florida and Arizona. Each coach helped her improve different aspects of the game.
But when the day of reckoning finally arrived, it ended in disappointment, yet it showed the promise in her. With Aslesen’s mother running commentary, the 35-year-old finished 91, just one shot over the target. Despite the disappointment, Aslesen promises all the casuals out there who didn’t get the opportunity to shine that she will make them proud.
“To all the golf sickos who wished for this life and somehow it fell to me: I promise to make you proud and never take a second of it for granted.”
That being said, Hannah Aslesen is hardly the only one to have been given a rare opportunity to meet Tiger Woods.
Victory in an essay contest led to a game with Tiger Woods
For one young golfer, winning an essay contest turned into an opportunity most golf fans can only dream of. In 2018, 17-year-old Shahbaz Hashmi of Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio got the chance to play alongside his childhood hero, Tiger Woods, at the Wells Fargo Championship’s pro-am.
Hashmi earned the grand prize in the “Succeeding Together” essay contest, organized by The First Tee and Wells Fargo. While the tournament featured six of the world’s top 10 players, including Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, Hashmi had no hesitation about choosing Woods.
“Tiger Woods is unequivocally my hero, and has always been my first choice since I entered the contest if I won, and he was in the Wells Fargo Championship field,” Hashmi said. He added that watching Woods dominate golf had inspired an entire generation and described playing alongside him as an “absolute dream come true.”
While getting to work with Tiger Woods, who could make a comeback this year, fulfilled one golfer’s dream, it became a source of harmless jealousy for another. But both were happy about it.