PGA Tour newcomer Tom Whitney has gone from manning a United States Air Force nuclear missile silo to a career in professional golf; Watch every round of The American Express at La Quinta, California, live on Sky Sports Golf from 9pm on Thursday January 18
Thursday 18 January 2024 07:39, UK
These days, the only bunkers Tom Whitney has to worry about are the sand-filled traps on the PGA Tour. It is a far cry from his United States Air Force role when he would spend a 24-hour shift 100 feet underground as part of the team monitoring one of the world’s deadliest nuclear arsenals.
Whitney, who begins his first full season on the PGA Tour in The American Express this week at the age of 34, spent four years serving as a nuclear missile operator in Cheyenne, Wyoming, after graduating from the Air Force Academy (USAFA) with a degree in social science in 2010.
Eight times a month, he and a crew partner would descend to the depths of a silo for their shift, which would mostly involve everything from maintenance to retargeting the missiles. However, always in the back of their mind was the knowledge they would bear ultimate responsibility for launching if the order came through.
"I think in total spent around 200 shifts underground by the time it was all said and done," Whitney said. "You get out to the site, you go underground, and you transfer over with the previous crew, get briefed up on everything that happened.
"Then, once they're gone, you have anywhere from an hour to three hours of just routine checklist items, going through all your daily tests, inventorying everything. Then, it's just whatever is scheduled for that specific alert.
"We respond to security situations. So, basically, we have like 1,500 pages of technical data and, as missileers, we are trained to know how to prioritize what happens and where to look to follow the checklist. So, anything that happens to the missile goes through the missile crew, which I was a part of.
"Ultimately, our main training part of the mission is we are the ones that launch the missile if the President sends the order, and it goes from the President to the USSTRATCOM, USSTRATCOM to us. So, there's only one entity in between us and the President if we are launching a nuclear missile."
A talented golfer who won the Air Force Championship four times and the Armed Force Championship on three occasions, Whitney followed his late brother Bob to the USAFA and represented them on the Mountain West Division I college golfing circuit alongside his studies.
He was determined to see out his commitment to the Air Force after graduating as well before focusing full-time on golf, although he admitted missile operator was not the posting he would have chosen and that tears were shed when he found out where he was being sent.
In hindsight, though, Whitney believes it turned out to be best for his post-Air Force career, with the nature of the job meaning he was allowed plenty of time to practice golf outside of his long shifts underground, and he initially found adjusting to his sporting life tough after leaving in 2014.
"It's not a sexy job while you're doing it, and at times it cannot even be very enjoyable, but I'll tell you, it didn't take very long after I separated and left that job and started golf full-time to where I missed it," Whitney said.
It's not a sexy job while you're doing it, and at times it cannot even be very enjoyable, but I'll tell you, it didn't take very long after I separated and left that job and started golf full-time to where I missed it.
"I completely misgauged what I had, and you think the grass is literally greener as you're entering the career of golf, and, man, I had it easy. People told me where I had to be, when I had to be there, what I had to wear, how long I had to be there for, what I was going to get paid.
"I pretty much knew what I was going to be fed. I mean, all the hard decisions were made for me. I just kind of had to follow a checklist. Now, going from Korn Ferry Tour to here, there are so many unknowns that you just kind of learn along the way."
Fellow Air Force veteran Kyle Westmoreland and former United States Navy lieutenant Billy Hurley III have followed a similar route onto the PGA Tour as Whitney, although it has taken him 10 years working his way up from the smaller professional tours to the top level.
That culminated in a top-30 finish on the Korn Ferry Tour points list in 2023 to earn his PGA Tour membership for this year, and when he tees up in his hometown of La Quinta, California, on Thursday he will do so with a different perspective on life from his years serving his country.
"Golf is just what I am currently doing, and I'm completely blessed to do it, but I could still be in the Air Force, at a place I don't want to be," Whitney said. "I could be in harm's way, I could be fighting enemies.
"I've lost friends and loved ones in the armed forces, I have friends that are deployed, and I'm here in Palm Springs with two miles per hour wind, 75 degrees, getting paid to play these fantastic golf courses.
"Absolutely, I have a different perspective, because I signed up to basically saying, 'I'm willing to give my life for this country', and never came anywhere close to that point, but that's kind of what you're agreeing to when you join the military.
"Just understanding that, like, man, there's tough days out here, but in the grand scheme of things, I get to play golf for a living, I get to represent some awesome companies, I get to do what I love, and pretty much have control over my schedule and what I do day-to-day. So, yeah, it's definitely fixed my perspective on life."
Watch all four rounds of The American Express live on Sky Sports Golf from Thursday, January 18 at 9pm. Also stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, all four men's majors and more of the best golf in 2024 with NOW.
