SEATTLE — Between his touchdown catch in Super Bowl XLVIII against the Broncos in 2014, his walk-off touchdown catch in the NFC Championship Game the next year, and his acrobatic catch in the Super Bowl the next week, Jermaine Kearse has a habit of big catches.
Those were the catches then, here's the catch now: Kearse has gone from go routes to golf.
He's the co-founder of Evergreen Golf Club in Redmond.
"I'm here pretty much every single day," Kearse said.
Kearse's business partner, Greg Bodine, is now his best friend.
The two Lakewood natives just recently crossed paths for the first time.
"I met with Greg at a Starbucks," Kearse said. "We walked out of there business partners and ready to make this happen."
"We were there for like five hours," Bodine said.
Bodine and Kearse thought there was a hole in the market for indoor golf facilities.
"Not just like a get-in, get-out type spot, but sort of like an indoor country club," Bodine said.
They came up with something that looks like Augusta without the elements.
There are eight simulators that analyze swings, a PuttView green that shows slopes, a chipping area and a fitness center.
It's lavish and fancy, and memberships are admittedly expensive.
But there's another catch.
They have a kid's program that's breaking barriers.
"We want to do our best to not make the financial aspect a deterrent of being exposed to the game," Kearse said.
"It's one thing to say that you're trying to do it and another really to see the rubber hit the road," said Evan Johnsen, director of programs and development for the First Tee of Greater Seattle.
For the past year, he's worked hand in hand with Kearse and Bodine to lend a hand to kids in King and Snohomish counties.
"Evergreen and we at the First Tee partnered with the Safeway Foundation this year to underwrite the junior golf scholarships," Kearse said.
The result was 18 scholarships, which wiped out a $650 monthly fee for each of the kids.
The scholarships were targeted at an audience that golf struggles to attract.
"Over half the kids in the Evergreen program from the First Tee are girls," Johnsen said. "Way more than half are from diverse backgrounds. It's top-notch education from swing instruction to technology to mental coaching and fitness coaching."
Bodine and Kearse say their role is to play sidekick to the coaches they hired.
Yet both find themselves with lots to offer.
Bodine is a longtime pro caddie. He started with his cousin Andrew Putnam, then worked with Tony Finau, and is currently working with Bryson DeChambeau.
Bodine says he's ready to teach some tricks of the trade.
"If you're on a stimp 11 green and it's downhill 3.5 percent, that plays 40 percent of the total putt length," he said, giving an example of the feedback he gives the kids.
For Kearse, the language is simple.
"Putting people in front of people that they normally wouldn't get the chance to," he said.
His goal is to catch kids so they don't fall.
"I think we could learn a lot through it," he said of the program.