Golf has always been a family affair for Mike Rutledge.

The Fall City teen and recent graduate from Mount Si High School is having a great summer season on the course.

Rutledge helped the Wildcats win their first ever state 3A high school boys’ golf championship last spring. Now, he is the winner of this summer’s Washington Junior Golf Association state boys’ golf championship in the 16-to-17-year-old division. This fall, he will play at Bellevue Community College, where he intends to majoring in business.

Mike got his start in the game thanks to his father Doug.

“My dad introduced me to the game and he gave me some tips,” Rutledge said. “I started playing at the golf course all by myself. I just asked if I could get out and go play with some random people. I’ve never had a lesson.”

The person in Mike’s family that really got the golf ball rolling was his uncle, Richard.

Richard Rutledge has been involved in the sport of golf for more than 50 years, first as a player, then eventually getting into the course operation business, building Twin Rivers Golf Course outside of Fall City.

“I was the only one in our family that played golf,” Richard said. “My dad, my mother never had anything to do with golf. All of the golf that has been introduced (in the family) is because of me.”

Richard got his start in golf in a novel way. As a student at Issaquah High School some five decades ago, he became obsessed with the game.

“My friends were playing and I said, ‘What a stupid game. What a stupid game this is.”

His friends talked him into playing a round.

Trouble was, they could hit the ball and Richard couldn’t.

“I am sculling it along the ground and I said, ‘I like this game. You guys better watch out,’” he said.

Richard’s skills grew. He took up the game competitively in 1952, and then won his only title as a competitor the following year, a Seattle city title for golf caddies.

He then continued to stay involved in the sport. Twenty years ago, he embarked on a long process which would result in a lifelong dream — building his own public course — being realized.

Now, Twin Rivers boasts its own champion in Mike Rutledge.

Mike’s involvement in day-to-day operations is limited — he plays and works at times at the course.

But golf enthusiasts should expect more from this budding competitor, especially since the WJGA title was previously won by names such as Fred Couples, Ryan Benzel and Ryan Moore, all of whom have found success as professionals.

“I’m going to do everything I can to get that far,” Mike said. “That’s my goal.”