I was pursuing professional golf, running my first business, seeing real growth, confident in my character, with freedom, with resources.

On the surface, things were fine…

But each afternoon, I'd find myself sitting there alone, eating my meal, finished with work, knowing what I could be doing, and knowing the people I could be around… but wasn’t.

I'd see videos of guys sharing the most exciting life together. Sport. Travel. Experiences. Full of camaraderie. That I wanted for myself. But I didn't have my kind of people to do those things with. So I didn't.

I’d often go play sport alone. Or even hold back from things entirely, because doing them alone, or with the wrong people, felt worse than not doing them at all.

I felt like I wasn’t making the most of years I'd only get once.

I looked for something that brought together men like me.

I couldn’t find anything besides “top 1% clubs” or groups that valued what I stood against.

Nothing seemed to exist for the man I was, or the life I wanted — a man who carries a high standard across sport and the life he’s building. A man who chooses to show up with good people, play like a pro, move like a gentleman, and stay focused on what he’s building.

So I stopped looking and decided to build it myself — I called it Progress And Play®.

I felt like I knew exactly what it needed to be. Permanent environments, for this man and way of life.

But I had to actually start from somewhere, with the resources I had. So with a clear direction to build towards, I started bringing these men together online, and working towards hosting a first experience.

In my mind, an experience would be a way to create a temporary version of the future environments.

So that’s what I did.

The first Progress And Play® experience was a week in Queenstown, New Zealand. A world-class sporting environment. Beautiful private home. Shared by men I was meeting for the first time — different backgrounds, different countries, but a shared standard.

Our days were built around progress and play. We played golf. We rode mountain bikes. We trained. We shared ideas about what we were building, and how we were building it.

I walked away from the week feeling more connected, more alive, more capable… and more like myself than I had for a long time.

Today, Progress And Play® is an online directory of the men I wished I'd had around me, and a series of experiences built the way I always wanted to spend my time. Still growing, toward everything I first imagined on those afternoons alone.

Bailey House

Founder, Progress And Play®