Shawn didn’t pursue golf seriously until after college. Why? He was too busy playing football and winning Rose Bowl championships. Fast forward several years and at the age of 30, Shawn wasn’t happy with his golf game and decided to switch from swinging righty to lefty! Just like another San Diego area resident, Phil Mickelson, who helped design The Grand’s short-game practice area.

Shawn Cox

Shawn Cox: I was watching a Butch Harmon video where he was saying the ball tells you everything. If you’re a great instructor, you see the ball, you see what it’s doing. You don’t need a Trackman or a device … you know how to fix people’s swings because you’ve given enough lessons and you know about the face and the path.

Golf Conversations: What do you think about that?

SC: I think that there are people that are human Trackmans. Especially in the clubfitting world … there are guys that have fit so many people that they can look at a shot and say, “Ok, that was launched 13 degrees and it was about 4,000 rpms of spin. If you want to get more distance, we’re going to have to try a different shaft.”

A lot of good golf pros are like that, too. They can tell because of the flight of your ball what’s going on with your swing.

GC: What are the implications of all the fitting technology for the average, high-handicap golfer? For the guy/gal who’s shooting 95, does it really matter?

SC: It does.

GC: How so?

SC: Just look at the materials that they’re using on the club heads. I could go into the change in putters – the face technology that helps the ball start rolling faster. You’ve got a lot of Moment of Inertia putters that are very forgiving for the average golfer versus an old blade style putter. Even some of the blades are getting some weight in the heel and toe to make them more forgiving.

GC: How would you compare today’s irons with the irons of four or five years ago?

SC: It depends on which category you’re talking about.

GC: The game improvement category.

SC: Game improvement is probably 25% better.

GC: That’s a lot.

SC: They’ve learned so much from woods. They’ve learned how to get the face very thin. They’ve learned that if they put certain shapes behind the face, those technologies expand the sweet spot. They have an inverted cone behind the face which makes it almost like a driver. And they’re using materials around the head that are improving the MOI.

GC: I ran into a gentleman at your range yesterday who told me an interesting story. He was hitting balls a few weeks ago next to a young girl who complimented him on one of his shots. And then he complimented her on one of her shots. Turned out the girl was Phil Mickelson’s daughter.

SC: That was Sophia. She has a beautiful swing. I’ve given her quite a few lessons. He’s got two girls and a boy: Amanda, Sophia, and Evan.

GC: Are they all golfers?

SC: Amanda is a very good basketball player. And she’s into tennis. Sophia is into competitive dance.

GC: So they’ve got Pop’s athleticism. Change of direction: if you have a member who comes to you and says, “Hey, Shawn, I need some new clubs.” What’s the process you go through?

SC: We have a custom club fitter here, Wednesdays through Saturdays. He used to work on one of TaylorMade’s fitting trucks. We don’t build the clubs here because we’re so darn close to all the club manufacturers, we can have the clubs in two days.

GC: Two days is not fast enough for some desperadoes!

(laughter)

SC: Right! If it’s a stock product like woods, we have them here in the pro shop. Because TaylorMade is anticipating a big sale of all its new equipment, they made us stock up. If you don’t and you go through your product very quickly … and if you call the company in 4 weeks and ask them for more drivers, they say, “Oh, it’s a 6-8 week process.”

GC: Their way of saying “you should have gathered the acorns months ago for the coming winter.”

SC: Yes.

GC: How does your club fitter determine which club manufacturer to use? Or is it the member who says, “I saw those irons that Phil used on TV…”

SC: It’s a combination. We have a launch monitor. He has them try different clubs. What’s kind of amazing is that you can take a 15 handicapper – he’ll hit a TaylorMade, a Ping, and a Callaway. For some reason, one of the companies just fits their swing and it almost sells itself.

We don’t have an allegiance to one of the brands. A lot of people have a favorite brand. Some guys are very loyal to Ping or Titleist. TaylorMade has gotten a lot of everybody else’s business over the last few years. They have some really good technology, they’ve done some great marketing.

Now did Adams have the same type of technology? Yes. Does Adams make a great product? Yes. But TaylorMade’s doing it all. They’ve got the marketing, they’ve got the big players on tour, they’ve got the commercials.

GC: Do you think the average golfer is influenced by which clubs are played by the touring pros?

SC: I do. I really do. I think there’s a lot of factors. I think the club pro has a big influence. If you’re in a private club, you go out and play with your pro and he’s playing a set of Callaways or Titleists or TaylorMade … there’s usually a little bit of an influence there.

GC: “I’d like to play like Shawn.”

(laughter)

“I’d like to be as tall and thin as Shawn.”

(laughter)

SC: I think what’s frustrating for the average golfer is that some of the product lives are so short. You just got the brand-new R11 driver or the new Ping G25 … you’ve had it for six months, you’re really playing well with it … and something new comes out.

GC: I think Mark King, the CEO of TaylorMade, said they’re always trying to come up with a new way to sell their products every year.

SC: I agree.

GC: So you spend $500 for a driver and a year later that driver is being sold at The Golf Warehouse for $129. It makes you feel a little … stupid.

SC: Right.

GC: If money is an issue.

SC: It’s a tough business. Because you always have new people coming into the game. So you want to be coming out with the newest/latest/greatest because you might be capturing a brand-new person. But you don’t want to alienate the guy who bought it six months ago.

Shawn Cox

GC: When TaylorMade came out with that white driver a few years ago … that was pretty smart of them. When you watch golf on TV, you can see which one is a white driver and you know it’s a TaylorMade. Before that, all the drivers looked the same.

SC: It started with the putter. They did the putter first in white. The biggest contrasting color to the color of green – the grass – is white.

GC: What happens with this USGA push to let the courses turn brown? How does white contrast with brown?

SC: White goes with anything.

GC: But not after Labor Day.

(laughter)

Wasn’t there another reason for using the color white?

SC: Yes. Alignment. They brought in some optical experts and got them involved with the putters first. Then TaylorMade threw a Hail Mary and said let’s try it with the woods.

GC: Remember years ago they had that Burner Bubble which was copper colored?

SC: Yes. And if you put that brown club down and put the white club down and saw which one you could aim better, I guarantee you would aim the white one better because of the contrast to the color green.

GC: Speaking of color, what’s your opinion of the yellow balls?

SC: The Srixon yellow ball is a little firmer ball and goes a little further. A lot of the women are playing that.

GC: Watch it, Shawn, there are some men in this room who play that ball, too.

(laughter)

SC: I’ve played it before. It stands out. The yellow ball contrasts nicely with the sky. One of my members just told me that you can make the new Callaway driver any color you want.

GC: We should go up to Carlsbad right now and see how they’re doing it.

(laughter)

SC: We should. We’re in the golf Mecca here in San Diego because of our proximity to the club manufacturers.

GC: Shhh, you can’t say “Mecca.”

(laughter)

SC: I got to know some of the guys who deal with the tour pros, from club fitting to fitness to instruction. You go up to Callaway, they have a world-class practice facility. We took a lot of their ideas and used them for our teaching center here.

GC: I was at the Callaway practice facility two years ago. They were nice enough to put my swing on the Trackman and not burst out laughing.

(laughter)

Ok, that’s enough about the equipment manufacturers. What about you, Shawn? How did you get started in golf?

SC: I started playing when I was six years old. My mother was the Arizona high school state champion. I was born in Phoenix and my mom played golf at Arizona State.

GC: What’s your mom’s name?

SC: Linda Kaufman. She grew up right across the street from The Wigwam. My mom’s dad bought me my first set of clubs and took me golfing a lot as a young kid.

I still remember my first round of golf: I hit a driver on a par-3, 115 yards. Two-putted for a par.

GC: What a great memory! Let me ask you about that shot. Do you remember if you fixed your ball mark?

(laughter)

SC: I don’t.

GC: I’ll bet you did!

(laughter)

SC: I also played baseball, basketball, and football. In the 6^th grade, we moved to Seattle.

GC: Who was teaching you how to play? Your mom?

SC: She did a little bit. But it was mostly my grandfather.

GC: So your grandfather passed the good golf genes on to mom. And what about dad?

SC: He wasn’t that great of a golfer. We played golf every vacation. But I was also excelling at baseball. I went to the University of Nebraska to play baseball my freshman year.

GC: You got recruited by Nebraska to play baseball?

SC: Yes. But I got a little bit homesick for Seattle and transferred back to the University of Washington, where I played football and baseball.

GC: I’m going to guess the position you played in football. I would say – because you’re a smart guy – you were a quarterback or a wide receiver.

SC: I was a wide receiver. I walked on to the football team and the first year…

GC: Which year?

SC: 1988 in Nebraska, 1989 at the University of Washington. We were on the upswing then and we had a game in the Freedom Bowl in Anaheim. We were playing the University of Florida against a running back named Emmitt Smith. We put 9 guys on the line of scrimmage to stop him and held him to about 20 yards in his last college game.

The next year we went 10-2 and won the Rose Bowl against Iowa. The year after that we went 12-0 and beat Michigan and Desmond Howard in the ’92 Rose Bowl.

GC: And you were on the team?

SC: Yes. At that time I was a defensive back. And in the spring I played baseball – third base – for the Huskies. I had a couple of injuries and graduated from college.

GC: And where was golf through all this?

SC: Playing it for fun.

GC: Playing it for fun? What about high school? Did you play golf in high school?

SC: I was too busy playing football, baseball, and basketball. This was before Tiger Woods. In the state of Washington, junior golf didn’t have that many tournaments. Golf wasn’t huge.

GC: What did you major in at college?

SC: I was a sociology major. I was going to maybe go to law school. Maybe go into the FBI. I had a couple of fraternity brothers and we moved to San Diego. The first place I went to look for a job was Torrey Pines.

I was fortunate to walk into the pro shop the day after a couple of guys got into trouble for having some beers in the cart barn the night before. And the manager asked me when I could start.

GC: And you said, “I’m looking for a job, I’ll do anything”?

SC: Yes. The next day I was in the cart barn. I was parking carts and started working on my game and playing after work. I got a job in the pro shop within about six months. Then they decided to start a junior golf program and I was appointed the director.

One girl who I taught was Charlotte Mayorkas. She was an All-American at UCLA and then went on the LPGA Tour. Then I went to the La Jolla Country Club and worked there for
9½ years.

Shawn Cox & Derek Uyeda (Lead Staff Instructor)

GC: Obviously, you’re a PGA member.

SC: Yes. I’ve done a lot of other things: I’ve been through the Jim Hardy School, all the levels of the Titleist Performance Institute, I’ve studied under a guy named Mac O’Grady.

GC: Oh, really? He’s the teaching guru of the desert. Ambidextrous.

SC: Yes. In baseball, I batted left-handed. And every time I hit a golf ball left-handed, my golf pro friends would tell me my swing looks better left-handed than it does righty. So I switched after being in the golf business for seven years … at age 30.

GC: That’s amazing!

SC: I putt right handed but I do everything else in golf left handed.

GC: But when you sign a check…

SC: Right handed. I felt like I had more potential as a lefty. And I wanted to become one of the better playing professionals in my PGA section. In year two of the switch, my driver was struggling, so I teed off right handed and I played the rest of the shots left handed.

I was playing in a US Open qualifier at La Jolla Country Club and on the third hole, the guy I was playing with said to me, “What the hell are you doing?”

(laughter)

GC: So you’re like Mickelson. He’s a born righty but learned lefty.

SC: There are so many lefties that play righty and righties that play lefty.

GC: Hogan was a lefty.

SC: Johnny Miller. A lot of it has to do with the patterning of your hips and that comes from what sports you played as a kid.

GC: But now if you find yourself stuck behind a tree you have an advantage because you can hit the ball righty or lefty.

SC: Yes. I keep one right-handed club in the bag – a 6-iron.

GC: Which club are you keeping out of the bag to make room for that 6-iron?

SC: I drop a wedge. But Pelz makes a pretty good point that the more wedges you have the better.

GC: Yes. This is why I took the 1-iron out of my bag.

SC: Yeah, right.

(laughter)

GC: So you were the assistant pro at La Jolla Country Club.

SC: Then I moved up to be the First Assistant. I was on the greens committee, the golf activities committee. Then the job became available here at The Grand to become the Director of Golf. That was in the beginning of 2006.

I came over about four months before we closed the course to the public and became a private club. The resort was already under construction and it opened a year later.

GC: It had been a public course?

SC: Yes. This was a high-end, daily public facility open since 1999. We went private July 1, 2006. At that time, we did a bunker renovation, we built a million dollar-plus water feature on the 18^th hole.

GC: Did Tom Fazio, the original architect, do these renovations?

SC: We had him come back and approve it. The superintendent, David Yanez, and I, went over to Bighorn and The Quarry over in the desert to look at the Fazio water features there.

GC: So the course is a private club but guests of The Grand Del Mar resort can play here. Is that right?

SC: Yes. The beauty of this place is that the resort is 400 yards from the pro shop. So the guests can be shuttled up here in 2 minutes and you’re ready to go hit some balls.

GC: The resort is beautiful. I was in a suite last night that was just spectacular. Spectacular!

SC: In southern California in the summer time, we have a very interesting climate. If it’s 75 degrees at the beach, every mile that you go inland, it gets a degree warmer. We’re about 3 miles from the ocean so we get that coastal breeze. We stay away from that marine layer that you get at the beach. And we’ve got this 380 acres that we’re on, surrounded by the Los Peñasquitos Preserve, so there’s not a lot of homes on the golf course. We’ve got coyotes, bobcats, and deer.

GC: Well, as you know, where you have deer, can the deer antler spray be far behind?

(laughter)

SC: I did some research about it.

GC: About deer antler spray?

SC: Yes. The two guys that own the company that makes this stuff are fitness trainers. They have full-time jobs because they don’t make enough money on their deer antler spray.

GC: They didn’t make enough money! I think they charge $3000 or so for this stuff. You think the mark-up on drivers is big? Deer antler spray is where it’s at!

(laughter)

I have to tell you, I am really impresssed with your practice facility here. It is certainly among the top-three of all the golf resorts I’ve been to. I do have, however, but one criticism. I see that you use Pro V1s as your range balls. About two weeks ago, Titleist came out with the new generation of Pro V1s so you guys are really behind the times.

SC: There are brand-new ones coming in the next few days.

(laughter)

GC: Serves me right for being a smart ass.

(laughter)

You mentioned to me that Phil Mickelson was involved with designing some of your practice facilities.

SC: I said to Phil that we were going to build a short game area … “What are your thoughts?”

He asked, “When are you doing it?”

I told him, “We’re starting tomorrow. We have a shaper who worked for Fazio; he’s flying down from Seattle to start moving all the dirt and the sand.”

He goes, “I’d love to help.”

GC: When was this?

SC: Five years ago.

GC: How had you known Phil Mickelson?

SC: He’s a member at the club I used to work at, La Jolla Country Club. We became friends there. The day he came by here, he was working with Dave Pelz on his short game.

He wanted to help and he said, “I’ll meet you tomorrow morning at 7:30.” He came out the next day and explained to the shaper all the undulations he wanted. It took us two days; we got it all shaped out.

GC: This is the short game area we’re talking about; not the entire range?

SC: Right. It was a three-time visit: first, to show us what he wanted; second, to come and say it wasn’t quite what he wanted; and third, he came out to see the finished product. He said, “Oh, my gosh, this is so cool. This is perfect!”

He would show up on Mondays a lot of times because typically, most private clubs are closed on Mondays. He would practice his short game around those little greens. Then Tuesday he’d fly out to the next tour event.

GC: Speaking of flying, why don’t we zip up to your teaching area at the other end of the range? I want to see that amazing video camera you’ve got up there.

SC: Ok, let’s go.

Wolfie

“Hello, I’m Kevin the Caddie. Welcome to Whistling Straits golf course!”

“Thank you, Kevin. I’m Mama Mimi and this is my dog, Wolfie.”

Wolfie wagged his tail at Kevin the Caddie. He was happy to be at a new golf course that was green and pretty.

“Does Wolfie play golf?” asked Kevin the Caddie.

Wolfie knew this was a joke because both Mama Mimi and Kevin the Caddie laughed.

“Wolfie doesn’t play golf,” said Mama Mimi, “but he loves to come with me when I play golf. He likes to feel the wind blowing through his fur.”

“Yes,” thought Wolfie, “I like breezies.”

“He also likes to hear the birds chirp.”

“Oh, yes. Chirpies,” thought Wolfie.

“And running in the soft, cool grass. When Wolfie is at the golf course, he lopes down the fairways,” said Mama Mimi.

Wolfie loved to do lopies. And he was eager to do lopies now!

Kevin the Caddie took Mama Mimi’s golf bag, slung it over his shoulder and said, “Let’s play golf, Mama Mimi!”

Wolfie looked up at Kevin the Caddie with a worried expression.

“And you, too, Wolfie!” said Kevin the Caddie.

That made Wolfie happy and the three of them walked to the first tee.

Mama Mimi placed her golf ball on a wooden peg. Kevin the Caddie told her to hit the ball towards the big lake way off in the distance. She swung her golf club and the ball soared through the bright, blue sky.

“Nice shot!” said Kevin the Caddie.

“Thank you,” said Mama Mimi. “Alright, Wolfie. It’s time for you to do … lopieeeeeeeees!”

And off Wolfie ran down the fairway, zigging and sagging, this way and that.

I love to do my lopies,
On grass that’s green as snow peas.
Winter, spring, summer or fall,
It’s fun to find Mama Mimi’s ball.

And Wolfie did find Mama Mimi’s ball, sitting in the middle of the fairway. He sat down by the ball, proud that he was helping Mama Mimi play golf. As he waited for Mama Mimi and Kevin the Caddie to arrive at the ball, Wolfie’s ears perked up. He heard someone crying in the distance:

Baaaaaa, baaaaaa,
Is what I shout.
Baaaaaa, baaaaaa,
I can’t get out!

“Someone’s in trouble!” thought Wolfie.

He left Mama Mimi’s ball and went running in the direction of the cry for help. Bounding over big hills with wispy grass, Wolfie arrived at a big hole in the ground, filled with sand. The hole was encircled by eight sheep.

“What’s wrong?” asked Wolfie.

“My baby, Lena the Lambie, fell into this sand hole and can’t climb out,” said her mother.

Wolfie looked down into the hole and saw a little lamb who cried:

Baaaaaa, baaaaaa,
Help me now.
Baaaaaa, baaaaaa,
Get me out – do you know how?

“Why can’t you climb out by yourself?” asked Wolfie.

“I’m just a baby sheep and my legs are too small,” said Lena the Lambie.

“And she’s too big for me to carry out in my mouth,” said Lena the Lambie’s mother. “What can we do?”

Wolfie saw a rake at the bottom of the sand hole and had an idea.

“I know,” he announced to the sheep, “we’ll use that rake to push Lena the Lambie out of the sand hole. Come on everyone, follow me.”

Wolfie led the eight sheep down the side of the sand hole. Lena the Lambie shrieked in delight when her mother reached her:

Baaaaaa, baaaaaa,
Mommy’s here at last
Baaaaaa, baaaaaa,
Take me home … and fast!

“Here’s the plan, sheepies. I’ll hold the small end of the rake in my mouth and use the big end to push Lena the Lambie. And you eight sheepies will help by pushing me,” said Wolfie.

And that’s what they did. The sheep pushed Wolfie … Wolfie pushed the rake … and the rake pushed Lena the Lambie up and out of the sand hole!

“Oh, thank you, Wolfie!” said Lena the Lambie’s mother. “You helped save my baby.”

She nuzzled Wolfie with her fuzzy head and Wolfie thumped his tail to show he was happy. Then he turned around and did lopies down the fairway in search of Mama Mimi and Kevin the Caddie.

He found them on the third hole. Mama Mimi saw him and cried, “Wolfie, you’re back! We were worried about you. Are you ok?”

Wolfie fell down in the grass and rolled over this way and that way. Mama Mimi knew that meant Wolfie was fine.

“Ok, Wolfie, watch me hit this golf ball.”  Mama Mimi swung the golf club and it went sailing off to left, landing in a large sand hole.

“Oh, no,” cried Mama Mimi. “I’ve hit my ball into a sand trap! Wolfie, are you going to find my ball?”

Wolfie thought about this for a while and decided he’d let Kevin the Caddie find Mama Mimi’s golf ball. Wolfie had seen enough sand for one day!

***THE END***

Chuck Bennell

Golf Conversations: Chuck, your golf course is a family-owned operation. Are you the second-generation of owners?

Chuck Bennell: I like to tell people that through the miracle of nepotism …

(laughter)

… I’m the third generation president of a small business that owns and operates a golf course. The history is fascinating; if we rolled the clock back to the early part of the 20th century, my great-grandfather – a gentleman by the name of George Frease – owned the local newspaper, the Canton Repository.

He had a silent partner in the newspaper, Albert Dueber. The Dueber family owned a watch factory in Canton and a small share of the newspaper. The Frease family and the Dueber family also were investors in commercial real estate during the post-World War I era through the 1980s. The golf course is the only remaining investment that these two unrelated families still own together.

My great-grandfather had a daughter named Nell who did what all daughters of successful guys should do: she married a brilliant husband, Tom Harris, who was a real estate developer.

He developed Tam O’ Shanter public golf course with two 18-hole courses. He opened the Dales course in 1928 and the Hills course in 1931. Just about the time that America was experiencing its so-called first golf boom.

Mr. Harris thought that offering country club amenities for the ordinary golfer would be a winner. That’s what he wanted Tam O’ Shanter to be. And it was successful.

The extended Frease and Dueber families found themselves still owning a 36-hole public golf course through the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, and into the early ’80s. At which point, the notion of the affordable, upscale daily-fee course came back into vogue.

GC: How did these two families manage to be in business together for all those years and not go at each other’s throats?

CB: I’ve looked at many board meeting minutes and internal memos and letters over the years, and I can’t find any infighting.

GC: Amazing. That’s un-American!

(laughter)

CB: We probably have a dozen or so shareholders. None of them – except me – is active in the operation of the business. They’re scattered from Ohio to the West Coast to New England.

GC: And these are all family members?

CB: All family members or descendants of the original families. We essentially have two board members from the Frease family, two board members from the extended Dueber family … even though nobody’s name is Frease or Dueber anymore. And one board member from our bank.

GC: When you grew up, did you play golf at Tam O’Shanter?

CB: My parents belonged to Brookside, a nice private club. So I had the advantage of growing up at a great place in the 1950s when private clubs were places where families hung out together.

I suppose, in retrospect, it was snooty. But we never knew it was snooty. I learned to play golf in a junior golf program conducted by a great old golf pro. Then I played golf at the Tam O’Shanter courses. I used to root around in the hedges looking for lost balls.

GC: Chuck, I have a feeling you still do that.

(laughter)

CB: For me, at least, a good round is still a round where I find more balls than I lose.

GC: I’m with you on that.

CB: I’m a guy who still hopes to shoot consistently in the high 80s instead of the mid-90s.

GC: That four-letter word “hope” is what keeps us all going in this game. When you were growing up, did you have any idea that one day you would run Tam O’Shanter or did you have other career aspirations?

CB: I had no idea. My first career was as a high school English teacher in Pittsburgh. Then I moved back to Canton and got a job as a salesman. I worked for Diebold as a marketing manager and sales trainer. Then I worked for a local advertising agency that was owned by my uncle, Bill Frease, and his partner Joe Shorr.

GC: When did you become involved at Tam O’Shanter?

CB: My other uncle, George Frease, who was a real estate broker, had been in a leadership position at Tam O’Shanter. He died in the middle 1980s. At that point, I wasn’t a shareholder; my mom held some shares.

I was asked to join the business by one of our other shareholders, Bob Joliet. Bob is from the Dueber family side. Bob was a bank president. We said to the shareholders, “If you want us to sell it, we’ll sell it. If you want us to try to make it better, we’ll try to make it better.”

So the decision was made to keep it going and try to make it better. Bob and I worked together from the middle 1980s until the middle 1990s. I moved around to some other positions but always maintained my connection with Tam O’Shanter.

When Bob died in 2007, I told the shareholders that if they wanted me to be president, I’d do it. And there wasn’t a long line of people who wanted the position. But I wanted the board’s backing in saying to the employees, “The owners are no longer considering this a hobby. It has to make money.” It always sort of made money.

GC: I was looking at the Tam O’Shanter web site. The two courses look lovely to me. And the greens fees seem very reasonable. Do you offer honorary out-of-state memberships?

CB: Absolutely. As long as you promise never to come to Canton.

(laughter)

If it would not compromise your journalistic ethics, we would probably not give you a complimentary membership, but we would certainly send you a complimentary ticket to say, come look at the place.

GC: That’s very kind of you, Chuck, but A): I have no journalistic ethics…

CB: That’s right!

GC: And B): Could you throw in a hot dog with that complimentary ticket?

CB: Absolutely.

(laughter)

The golf writers from the local papers will not accept our hospitality and we think they’re right to do that.

GC: It’s guys like that that give freeloaders like me a bad name.

(laughter)

Chuck Bennell & Robert Blumenthal

CB: I was thinking about the stuff I’ve read on your web site regarding dogs and golf… I’d like to invent a “Dog-Am” event.

(laughter)

It might mean that the hospitals that have therapy dogs can have a golf event to raise awareness of their therapy dogs.

GC: That’s an interesting idea. I like that, Chuck.

CB: With hospital therapy dogs and seeing-eye dogs and emotional support dogs … I think there’s a whole dog-related group of people who would think, “What a great idea!”

GC: I know you’ve heard me talk about how certain courses in the UK allow you to bring your dog on the course. As a golf course owner, can you see something like that happening on your course?

CB: I think it would be a really interesting experiment. As an example, we’ve said on weekends for the past couple of years, “after three, kids play free.” It would be interesting to do that pet experiment perhaps on nine holes of one of the courses at a slow period of time. You could figure out how to make it work. The dog has to be on the leash, the owner is responsible for whatever the dog leaves behind. But people who have well-behaved dogs want other people to enjoy their dog.

GC: That’s correct.

CB: And they want their well-behaved dog to meet other well-behaved dogs.

GC: These are the people who go to dog parks.

CB: Yes, that’s why dog parks are successful and they’re not blood baths. I think it would be loads of fun. And it will get your name in the paper. We understand the value of good public relations. And I’ve spent enough time in the advertising and public relations business to understand that our job is to help the reporter write something that he thinks his audience is going to be interested in.

GC: Chuck, I like the way you think. Make sure you have a limo pick me up at the Canton airport.

(laughter)

When you take a vacation, do you make it a golf vacation?

CB: Not really. My wife and I don’t take golf clubs. But we always take a glove, a sleeve of balls, and some tees in a baggie, just in case.

(laughter)

You never know when you’re gonna find a place that will be fun to play nine and you hope they’ve got rental clubs.

GC: And you don’t want to have to buy tees. As a golf course owner, you know what the outrageous mark-up is on those!

(laughter)

CB: When we travel, when I see a sign that says “golf course,” I like to drive down that driveway whether we play or not. First of all, it’s fun to meet other guys in the business. You can always learn something from them. If I’m not going to play golf, I’ll buy a shirt from him just to say thank you.

GC: Yup.

CB: If I AM going to play golf at somebody else’s golf course, I never tell him I’m in the golf business until after the round. Because I want to pay. There are too many people in the golf business who expect a comp wherever they go.

GC: Hold on, Chuck. You’re on thin ice here!

(laughter)

CB: I believe that at every golf course, there’s some hard-working guys sweating on the tractors. And my greens fee is how the owner pays them. So I refuse to accept a comp unless it’s somebody I know well and he practically forces me and I can’t play otherwise.

GC: You don’t think less of me, do you Chuck, for accepting freebies?

CB: Not at all. You’re not in the golf business. You’re a journalist. You’re allowed to shamelessly go after freebies.

GC: And the key word here is “shamelessly.”

CB: Shamelessly is important.

(laughter)

GC: But I know you guys aren’t getting rich running a golf course and I agree with you that people need to start paying for stuff. Which is the problem with this stupid Internet: nobody wants to pay for anything.

CB: Oh, yeah. I have to tell you that nothing makes me happier than to introduce people to our golf courses as my guest. My bias towards paying is always when I’m somewhere else.

GC: I understand completely. You’re a class fellow, Chuck. Next time I’m in Canton, I’m coming to Tam O’Shanter. With a baggie full of tees.

(laughter)

CB: I’ll look forward to it.

Commissioner Tim Finchem

Tim Finchem: Robert, thank you for this opportunity to set forth the PGA Tour’s bifurcation policy. I’m excited to apprise you of this new development that we think will be a win-win for everyone, including our players and our corporate and title sponsors.

Golf Conversations: I guess breaking the news on GolfConversations.com is like floating a trial balloon. Just a few thousand people read this … not the millions who log onto ESPN.com or PGATour.com.

TF: Don’t sell yourself short. We’ve had our eye on you for some time now. Your story about how Julius Boros and George Soros traced their roots to the same Hungarian village was fascinating.

GC: I appreciate the compliment, Commissioner, but let’s get to your announcement.

TF: Certainly. Several months ago, the USGA proposed a change to Rule 14-1. You and your readers know this as the so-called “Anchoring Ban.” The PGA Tour’s players and Policy Board reviewed and discussed this rule and concluded that it was was arbitrary, capricious, and deleterious to the financial well-being of our members.

We have the utmost respect for the USGA and its unique role in the game of golf. However, we as an organization would be remiss in our fiduciary duty if we permitted another organization to impact the ability of our players to make a living as golf touring professionals.

After extensive consultations with our attorneys, the PGA Tour has determined that it will institute its own set of rules, which will govern play during all official PGA Tour events.

GC: In other words, bifurcation.

TF: Yes. A set of rules that differs from the USGA’s Rules of Golf. But we prefer not to use the word bifurcation because many of our players who are active on Twitter have trouble spelling it.

GC: Aye-yi-yi.

TF: Therefore, going forward, the PGA Tour’s golf rules will be known as THE Rules. And anchoring of the putter will be permitted at our tournaments.

GC: A bombshell, for sure.

TF: Yes, we realize that this is a controversial move but it’s one that ensures the viability and long-term growth of the PGA Tour.

GC: So anchoring is ok. Do THE Rules differ in other ways from the USGA’s rules?

TF: Yes. Our players requested the inclusion of several rules that are germane to their particular needs and concerns as touring professionals.

GC: Such as?

TF: Small things. I have a list here. Shall I read some of them?

GC: Sure.

TF: Rule 89-4f: COURTESY CAR CONTINUITY. When inclement weather causes tournament play to be suspended, players must be removed from the golf course in the identical courtesy car with which they were provided during the tournament week. Furthermore, the courtesy car shall be driven by the identical volunteer who picked up said player at the tournament site’s airport. In no case shall the player be driven off the course in a “van,” “SUV,” or other multi-seat utility vehicle.

GC: Interesting. I’m surprised the USGA never addressed that issue.

TF: That’s what we thought, too! Amazing, isn’t it, how some things that are so obvious can sometimes escape our attention?

GC: Indeed. What else?

TF: Rule 37-2p: PUNISHMENT OF GOLF COURSE ARCHITECTS. If any player in the Top 100 on the PGA Tour Money List deems a tournament course to be “unfair,” “tricked up,” or “goofy golf,” the architect who designed said golf course shall be removed – for a period of five years – from consideration from future PGA Tour new course commissions. In addition, the offending architect will be required to play the 18^th hole at Tony’s Putt-Putt in Sparta, New Jersey until he successfully negotiates said hole’s windmill feature.

GC: Again: tough but fair. One more of the PGA Tour’s THE Rules and I’ll let you go.

TF: Rule 56-3: COMMERCIAL AIR TRAVEL BAG SEAT. If a player does not travel to a tournament site via a privately owned jet, charter flight, fractional ownership, etc. – and is forced to fly via a commercial aircraft – the Tournament Director must purchase for said player two first-class tickets. One ticket is to be used for said player; the other is to be used for the player’s golf bag.

[Addendum: if hot towels are dispensed to first-class patrons at the beginning of the commercial flight, Tournament Director is to inform the airline that the flight attendant must use one (1) hot towel to clean the player's golf clubs. Furthermore, it is the flight attendant's responsibility not to remove or detach any lead tape that might be adhered to the player's clubs. If he/she does so, it will result in the player's refusal to provide to the flight attendant the Tournament Director's cell phone number to call in an attempt to get a free grounds pass for the tournament's practice rounds.]

GC: Commissioner, I don’t think any reasonable person would object to any of those rules. Thank you for using GolfConversations.com to break this important story.

I also want to thank the Tour for putting me in touch with MetLife a few years ago. They allowed me to ride in the MetLife Blimp during the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. I got some great video and it was one of the more popular stories that I’ve done on GolfConversations.com

TF: You’re welcome. It was our pleasure to help. And please let us know if there’s anything else we can do for you.

GC: Actually, there is something. I’ve always wanted to interview the guy who dry-cleans Augusta National’s green jackets. Any way you can make that happen?

TF: You’re right: we are having unseasonably cold weather for this time of year.

************************************

The preceding was a bit of April Fool’s Day nonsense.

Thank you one and all for continuing to visit GolfConversations.com

Pebble Beach and Pine Valley are pitch-and-putts compared to the golf courses I build.

My hotel gift shops mark up tampons 500%. Dollar for dollar, it’s our most profitable item.

My company has declared bankruptcy four times and the banks still fight with each other to lend me money.

If I devoted my time to golf the way I’ve devoted it to business, I could beat Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, AND Byron Nelson – 3 against 1 – in a best ball match.

Over and over, the above quotes from the late Donald Trump echoed throughout the ten-story atrium. A 50-foot wide hologram of Trump’s face spanned the ceiling’s expanse. A waterfall cascaded over a pink marble cliff onto the men and women assembled in the wading pool below.

Floodlights perched on the walls illuminated their expressionless faces. They sloshed through the pool in perpetual motion; their water-logged clothing clung heavily to their exhausted bodies.

Welcome to Golf Hell, a joint venture of the PGA Tour, the USGA, the R&A, the PGA of America, and Augusta National Golf Club. The facility was created in 2048 to deal with the growing number of people who were ruining the game of golf.

Golf Hell first turned its attention to the fans attending golf tournaments who yelled “Get in the hole!” immediately after a player struck his golf ball. This sad state of affairs existed for decades on the PGA Tour until some of its players started complaining to Commissioner John Daly.

Daly addressed the problem by convening a blue-ribbon commission with headquarters at the Bellagio IV Hotel in Las Vegas. While playing $10,000 a hand at the blackjack tables, Daly concluded that something had to be done about the out-of-control fans at PGA Tour events.

Several “Get in the hole!” screamers were gathered and brought before Daly for questioning.

“Why are you guys screaming ‘Get in the hole!’ all the time?” Daly demanded. “You guys are killing the golden goose! The corporate dudes are getting sick of hearing your bullshit.”

One of the fans responded: “Oh, yeah? Well, we’re sick of hearing about how excited and thrilled they are to be part of the tournament … and how it’s all about giving back to charity … and how it’s all a ‘win-win’ for their customers, employees, distributors and shareholders worldwide.”

“Hey, man, they’re putting up the bucks. Let ‘em yak on TV for 30 seconds,” said Daly.

“No! Get in the hole!!!”

“Shut up with that crap! The question is: What am I going to do with you jerks? You’ve become a real pain in the ass. Uh, honey … let’s split those 10s.”

Daly eventually took the advice of his fact-finding commission: Partner with the aforementioned golf organizations and create a “Golf Hell” where “Get-in-the-holers” – a.k.a. GITHers — could be assembled and punished for their transgressions.

Everyone agreed that Golf Hell should be located over a federally-designated toxic waste dump. Atlantic City came to mind immediately. To blend in with the historical architecture of that city, architect Bubba Jones, Jr. poured over the original blueprints for one of Donald Trump’s bankrupted casinos: the Taj Mahal.

Jones noticed that the original architect had handwritten the following note on the first page of his design: “Use faux gold, pink marble, and the color purple everywhere!”

Eureka! Jones had found his inspiration: he would create the Golf Hell edifice as a tribute to the late 20^th century’s “Bad Taste is Good and Expensive” school of design.  By strictly adhering to this architectural movement’s principles, Jones was able to complete Golf Hell’s design in 20 minutes.

Commissioner Daly signed off on the plan while also signing for some markers at the Bellagio IV. Ground was broken for construction soon thereafter. Six months later, Golf Hell opened to great acclaim. One prominent golf architecture critic proclaimed, “This is a layout where it’s mandatory to walk … and walk … and walk. As for shot values … well, if you try to escape, you’ll be shot!”

With Golf Hell completed, it was now time to round up the inaugural group of GITHers. The PGA Tour swooped down on the Wasted Phoenix Open and corralled 2,500 offenders celebrating around the 16^th hole.

Tournament officials lured the GITHers into a beer truck, slammed shut the rear door, and headed east. Three days later when the truck arrived in Atlantic City, the partiers were backed into the loading area of Golf Hell and rolled into the Trump Dump Pool.

Still drunk from having tapped beer kegs during their cross-country trip, the GITHers were thrilled to have a place to instigate a “Wet T-Shirt” party. But as their inebriation dissipated, they noticed the huge Donald Trump hologram displayed on the ceiling.

Many of them screamed in horror as Trump’s comb-over was digitally removed from his forehead, revealing the bald tycoon’s massive pink scalp.

“No, no!” they cried. “It is beastly … verily, it is a countenance as wicked as Lucifer’s!”

But that was just the beginning of the horror as the voice of Donald Trump filled the atrium of the anguished:

Pebble Beach and Pine Valley are pitch-and-putts compared to the golf courses I build.

My hotel gift shops mark up tampons 500%. Dollar for dollar, it’s our most profitable item.

My company has declared bankruptcy four times and the banks still fight with each other to lend me money.

If I devoted my time to golf the way I’ve devoted it to business, I could beat Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, AND Byron Nelson – 3 against 1 – in a best ball match.

The screaming grew louder as the voice of Trump droned on … and on … and on. When the GITHers realized that the voice would never stop … that they would have to listen to Donald Trump forever, the screams turned into terror-stricken, unrelenting moans.

Commissioner Daly was so pleased with the incarceration of the Wasted Phoenix Open GITHers that he expanded the program to include offenses committed by the PGA Tour’s own players. These included the serial expectorators, the obsessive-compulsive pre-shot routiners, the spike-mark tampers, the “Be-Right” murmurers, the “C’mon-wind!” implorers, the swaying-fescue hearers, the gallery-shadow noticers, the caddie castigators, and the “Bite!” beggars.

Daly’s crackdown resulted in so many PGA Tour members banished to Golf Hell that tournament fields were reduced from 144 to 16. Last-place finishers complained that too much money — $20 million — was being awarded to the tournament winner and not enough for the 16^th spot: $975,000.

***************************

PGA of America officials sent to Golf Hell their members who endorsed and foisted “training aids” on gullible and desperate high-handicappers. Plastic wrist stabilizers, vests with gliding rails and bungee cords, laser pointers, hinging drivers, “swoosh” sticks, heavy-weighted clubs, light-weighted clubs, clubs with teeny-tiny heads, clubs with over-sized heads, putters with grips the size of watermelons, left armpit towels, right armpit towels, putting rails, putting arcs, putting mirrors, putting analyzers, putting apps, putting metronomes, putting cup reducers, putting cup enlargers, energy wrist bands, energy necklaces, copper bracelets, magnetic bracelets, compression boards, PVC-tube slice preventers and swing plane circles, high-impact bags, low-impact bags, no-impact bags, swing simulators, course simulators, laser finders, range finders, green finders, bunker avoiders, GPS units, etc., etc.

If you had hawked any of this stuff in magazines or infomercials, you were tossed into the Trump Dump Pool, condemned to wade forever with your ex-customers.

Pebble Beach and Pine Valley are pitch-and-putts compared to the golf courses I build.

My hotel gift shops mark up tampons 500%. Dollar for dollar, it’s our most profitable item.

My company has declared bankruptcy four times and the banks still fight with each other to lend me money.

If I devoted my time to golf the way I’ve devoted it to business, I could beat Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, AND Byron Nelson – 3 against 1 – in a best ball match.

***************************

The USGA embraced the Golf Hell concept without hesitation.

The CEOs of all the club and ball manufacturers were invited to attend a get-together at Merion Golf Club by the USGA’s President, Jordan Williams. The pretext for the meeting was to play Merion’s venerable pitch-and-putt course and discuss the 2050 “Decisions on the Rules of Golf.”

After cocktails and dinner, Williams shouted, “Now!” and a driving range net dropped from the ceiling, ensnaring the CEOs like dolphins in a tuna haul.

Williams then made the following announcement:

“You gentlemen and your companies have been ruining the game of golf for the last 40 years with your hot drivers and long-distance golf balls. In 2012, the average driving distance on the PGA Tour was 287 yards. Today it is 1,386 yards. The only areas in the world that have golf courses long enough to present a challenge to your equipment are located in the Gobi Desert and the Bonneville Salt Flats.

“The USGA has been warning you for decades about this but you kept threatening us with law suits. We couldn’t justify spending tens of millions of dollars in legal costs to fight you when those monies were needed to mail out our ‘For The Good of the Game’ stuff. So now it’s payback time, gentlemen.”

And with that, USGA President Jordan Williams ordered the equipment manufacturers to spend the rest of their natural days in Golf Hell’s Trump Dump Pool. A compassionate man, Williams allowed the club CEOs to use their drivers’ headcovers as flotation devices.

***************************

Augusta National Golf Club began shipping up its undesirables captured during Masters week. The club’s Chairman, Colonel Jackson Walker explained:

“It’s Augusta National Golf Club’s policy not to discuss Club policy. However, it was becoming increasingly difficult to administer the Masters Toonamint because of the attitudes and behavior of some of our … well, I can’t even describe them as “patrons.” So excuse my French when I refer to these people as ‘fans.’

“Why anyone would want to wear their golf cap backwards is beyond me. The purpose of the cap’s bill is to shade the wearer’s face from the sun. When our ‘backwards’ younger fans developed severe sunburns on their foreheads, they overwhelmed our First Aid stations. Our Aloe-Vera moisturizing lotion expenses went through the roof!

“This was a cost that could no longer be borne by our members. Something had to be done. So yes, we shipped ‘em up to Atlantic City. We also dispensed with those fans who insisted on running away from the Pinkertons who were looking to stun them with cattle prods. They were forewarned: there is no running at the Masters. And the patrons who stood behind the 16^th tee box wearing Cliff Roberts masks – well, you knew they weren’t long for this world.”

So Colonel Walker packed the offenders into pimento cheese-laden freight cars and they were shipped north. “Thanks for comin’ to the Toonamint. Say ‘hey’ to them Yankees in Atlantic City!”

***************************

Not to be undone, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club rounded up the American golfers who descended on Scotland each summer. Ian Pennington, R&A Chairman, staked out his organization’s position thusly:

“Of course, we’ve relied on the Yanks for decades to support our classic courses during the summer months. But their conduct had become outrageous and it was clear that the R&A had to step into the breach.

“We had to take a stand, similar to what our chaps did at El Alamein in ’42. We polled each of the club secretaries at the UK’s courses and learned which behaviours they found the most egregious.

“Interestingly, urinating on gorse bushes was not included in what you Americans call ‘The Top 10.’ Rather, what drove most of the clubs quite mad was the incessant plumb bobbing. Whether two feet from the hole or eighty feet away, Americans love to plumb bob! I’ve sat in the R&A headquarters in St. Andrews and watched Yanks plumb bob from within the ‘Valley of Sin.’ Whatever are these chaps doing? I say, plumb bobbing! It’s quite ludicrous.

“Of course, there were other offenses against good taste and decency. The constant criticism of our cuisine became tiresome. What gives Americans the right to denigrate our food when they ingest McDonald’s and Taco Bell as if it were mother’s milk?

“Then there were the puerile demonstrations of machismo-isms such as the incessant slapping together of hands – ‘high-fiving,’ I believe, is how you refer to it. And its poor relation: the ‘fist bump.’ I say, you American golfers do like to touch each other. And the snide references to kilt wearers ‘going commando.’ Really, it had just become too much to bear and decisive action had to be taken.”

These unfortunates were shipped across the pond to Golf Hell via a Panamanian-registered fishing trawler, the S.S. Haggis. Outraged when they arrived in Atlantic City, they demanded to speak to the head of the travel agency that had booked their golf vacation. But they soon learned that “McCormick-Colt Scottish Links Expeditions” was a front for a gentleman named Joey Fusco of South Philadelphia. And Mr. Fusco had skipped town a long time ago.

***************************

The GITHers, the training aid pushers, the club and ball manufacturers, the Augusta National undesirables, the Ugly Americans in Scotland … they all ended up in Golf Hell.

And the words of Donald Trump droned on for eternity, a constant reminder to the saturated inhabitants of the Trump Dump Pool that they had brought disfavor to the great game of golf.

Pebble Beach and Pine Valley are pitch-and-putts compared to the golf courses I build.

My hotel gift shops mark up tampons 500%. Dollar for dollar, it’s our most profitable item.

My company has declared bankruptcy four times and the banks still fight with each other to lend me money.

If I devoted my time to golf the way I’ve devoted it to business, I could beat Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, AND Byron Nelson – 3 against 1 – in a best ball match.

Anne Broholm

I had a chat with Anne Broholm, CEO of Ahead USA, at the PGA Merchandise Show in January, 2013. Ahead makes some good-lookin’ hats, apparel, accessories, and other golf goodies. In the following hard-hitting interview, I grill Anne mercilessly on the subject of golf headwear.

Golf Conversations: What’s going on with Ahead? You guys are the top hats in town?

Anne Broholm: We are. The company was founded 18 years ago and is still going strong. Golf is our core market. We just had one of the most significant product launches of the company’s history this past summer.

GC: How so?

AB: Just the amount of new product and some of the new fabrications and trends that are happening in headwear have made it an exciting year for us.

GC: What are the trends in headwear?

AB: Much like apparel, headwear is following a trend of technical fabrications becoming more important to the overall mix. Lightweight, wicking, polyester vs. cotton hats. And in the cotton category, for those purists who still want cotton fiber on their head, we’ve introduced a lightweight cotton.

GC: When you say “technical fabrication,” you mean polyester?

AB: Yes, it has the quality of wicking, it’s quick dry and cooler than a heavier hat.

GC: It’s not that mesh trucker hat?

AB: No, the trucker hat isn’t really a current trend.

(laughter)

GC: What is it about hats that you always get that salt/sweat stain near the bill?

AB: It has to have the correct sweatband in it to prevent that.

GC: Is that right?

AB: Yes. Actually, people’s sweat is somewhat different in composition. So there are people for whom that would be more of a problem than others.

GC: Anne: some people “sweat” … and other people perspire.

AB: Or glow. Women glow and men sweat or perspire.

(laughter)

GC: Hey, do women get that? Do women’s hats get salty?

AB: I’ve never seen a woman that has had a salty hat. I think if one were to get that way, I think women would move on to the next hat.

GC: Quickly.

AB: I don’t think women would put up with wearing a hat that had that stain.

GC: This is why you guys are a superior species. I’m sure you’ve seen in the last 20 years or so, you’ve got all these people wearing their hats backwards. I see you’re rolling your eyes.

AB: Yep.

(laughter)

GC: I’m rolling my eyes too. I never understood the idea behind the backwards hat. If the bill is backwards, you’re saying to the world, “I want my hat without a bill.” So, Anne, have you ever considered making a hat without a bill … or a removable bill?

AB: We haven’t and part of the reason is because…

GC: It’s a stupid idea!

AB: … a trend like that tends to be more specific to markets that we’re not in. Golf is our core market; that’s a more young, urban, hip-hop type of trend. So we don’t tend to play into those trends…

GC: I don’t know, Anne, I see a lot of non-hip-hop nitwits playing golf with their hats on backwards.

(laughter)

AB: Ok, you get that patent and we’ll be your partner in that.

GC: Yeah? “Removable bill”?

AB: Sure. Go get the patent and we’ll be your partner in that project.

(laughter)

GC: You think Pine Valley would go for that idea?

AB: Uh, no.

(laughter)

GC: Only kidding, Pine Valley! You know I love you. Wow, partners with Ahead. So there is hope that one day I could make money from this stupid web site.

(laughter)

Anne Broholm & Robert Blumenthal

Ok, back to the real world. How many different types of golf hats do you sell?

AB: Dozens. Probably 50 or 60 styles, multiple colors. It’s quite a broad assortment.

GC: I know you have different types of fasteners in the back of your hats.

AB: Correct.

GC: Do you find that one fastener is more popular with your customers than another?

AB: Velcro tends to be pretty popular.

GC: I’m a Velcro man myself.

AB: It’s easy to adjust, clean, it tends to be at the top of the list.

GC: And you can rip it in someone’s back swing and unnerve them. Do you sell to private clubs, public courses…

AB: Everybody. Public, private, resorts. We also sell to mini-tour events and major events in the merchandise venues on site. We also outfit volunteers for tournaments. We had over 40,000 volunteers wearing our hats in 2012.

GC: I’ve been a volunteer at a PGA Tour event. I don’t like the fact that the winner gets $1 million and I have to pay for my hat and shirt. I’m not blaming you, Anne.

(laughter)

But if you wanted to protest this policy, this is your opportunity to do so.

AB: Ok.

(laughter)

GC: Getting back to the world of chapeaux, do hats still come in sizes like in the old days? 6¾, 7, 7½?

AB: Fitted hats do. Most of our hats are “one size fits most.”

GC: I love that phrase. It used to be “one size fits all” and then the lawyers got involved.

AB: We have two different fits in our headwear line. We have a classic fit, which tends to be a little deeper crown for a larger head. And we have an extreme fit, which is a little shallower crown, a little tighter to the head.

GC: Anne, you’re a hat expert. Just by looking at my head, can you tell what size I take?

AB: I cannot. Nor would I want to guess.

(laughter)

Thankfully, we’re adjustable so we can fit you.

GC: I don’t do “adjustable.” I’m a fitted guy. A real traditionalist.

AB: Our fitteds are stretch fits; they’re small, medium, large/extra large. I think you’d probably be a large/extra large.

GC: But they don’t come in, say, size 7?

AB: No.

GC: Between you and me, I’m a 7¾. So you know your heads, putting me into a large/extra large. They don’t make heads like this anymore.

(laughter)

So things are busy here at the Show?

AB: Yes, we’re busy, the Show’s been good. We’re about to have a little reception here in our booth. So we’ll have a lot of customers coming by to enjoy a beverage with us.

GC: There’s no beverage like a free beverage, I always say. How did the company name – Ahead – come about?

AB: I think there was something to be said for the company beginning with the letter “A,” because it appears first in every search. And there’s a lot of tag lines: “Get ahead,” Stay ahead,” “Be ahead.” And it was an acronym. I’m not sure what it was.

GC: An acronym? Hmmm, let’s see, “Anne helps … every … American … duffer…”

AB: I’ll get that answer for you.

GC: Don’t like that, huh?

(laughter)

AB: I’ll get that for you because it’s quite a good one. I should have committed that to memory.

GC: You SHOULD know that! Shame on you!

AB: I should, I should, I should!

(laughter)

GC: Get the P.R. person in here!

(laughter)

Anything else you want to get off your chest?

AB: Nope.

GC: You angry about something? What do you think about this “anchoring” ban?

AB: I think it gets a lot of people talking about the game. Which, in that regard, is not a bad thing.

GC: Well, aren’t we the diplomat.

(laughter)

Do you play golf?

AB: Not well. But I do.

GC: I’m not going to ask you if you wear a hat when you play. How often do you play?

AB: Not as often as I’d like.

GC: What’s the average life span of a hat?

AB: Oh, gosh. I think if you want to stay current and promote the logo or the last place you played, I think you can never have too many hats.

GC: You could have knocked me over with a feather.

(laughter)

Anne, thank you for your time. I tip my hat to you. I’ll let you know about that removable bill idea, pards. This could be the Mother Lode!

Ann Loughlin

Golf Conversations: How did you get your start in golf?

Ann Loughlin: I went to school at the University of Iowa; got my master’s there. I grew up in Iowa — came from a family with a father and grandfather who were lawyers.

I always loved sports. I had an uncle who was the captain of the Georgetown golf team; the other uncle was the captain of Notre Dame golf team. Jack Donahue and Phil Donahue were my uncles. I never got to play with them.

I grew up in a little town an hour from Sioux City. I went to school before Title IX; there were no sports for women at the University of Iowa. It was the early ’70s; I was frustrated because I had no outlet for playing anything. Nothing in high school either.

GC: Wait a minute, Annie. While you were in college, weren’t you taking Home Economics classes and learning how to cook and sew?

(laughter)

Don’t tell me you can’t darn socks.

(laughter)

AL: I took a Home Economics class in the 8^th grade and it’s the only “D” I ever got.

GC: If it makes you feel any better, I could never get my Suzy Homemaker oven to work right. No wonder my parents were worried about me.

(laughter)

So no sports in college.

AL: The woman that went on to be the Athletic Director at Iowa – Dr. Christine Grant – was instrumental in getting Title IX implemented. I had a part-time job in college working at a parking ramp and she would park her car there and say, “Come on, Ann, we’re trying to start a golf team; come on over to the golf course.”

So I went over there; I don’t think I had clubs.

GC: Had you played before?

AL: Yeah, my dad gave me a cut-down 5-iron with electrical tape on the grip. I hit balls in my back yard. We belonged to the country club and I’d go out there and play.

GC: How old were you when you started?

AL: I was probably twelve.

GC: This was where?

AL: Cherokee, Iowa.

GC: So Pops cut down the 5-iron; then what?

AL: I’d hit balls into my neighbor’s garage across the street. I had that as a target. It was an era when … in high school, I’d be shooting free throws in my driveway. If I’d hear a car coming by, I’d do a layup and keep on going into the garage so that the people wouldn’t know that a girl was interested in sports.

GC: That’s terrible.

AL: Isn’t that terrible?

GC: Did your parents encourage you?

AL: They both encouraged me; they both played. But it wasn’t something that had any outlets. So I got my masters in Education. When I was in my early ’30s, I decided I wanted to be in golf.

This was in the early 1980s. I wrote letters to various companies and got a job with a golf tour in California as a Rules Official. So I went out there and traveled around the country working for a woman’s mini-tour and that’s how I got my start.

GC: You didn’t know very much about the rules, did you?

AL: I was kind of self-taught but didn’t have any rules background. I was one of those fortunate ones who got the job and was able to work my way up with it. I realized I wanted to play and compete more. So I played on the mini-tour one year and got myself a job in Austin, Texas as an assistant golf professional. That’s when I got into the LPGA and the PGA.

GC: Where were you working in Austin?

AL: I was at Lakeway Golf Club on Lake Travis.

GC: To have played on one of the mini-tours, you must have been a decent player.

AL: Yeah, I knew I had an innate ability for golf; I had it in my blood from my uncles and my dad helping me. I was kind of a natural athlete. Not to brag, but I think I could have gotten a scholarship in tennis, basketball, golf … pretty much any sport. But there wasn’t any opportunity.

GC: Don’t take this the wrong way, Annie, but I really hate people like you.

(laughter)

You and your natural athletic ability! And your genes!

(laughter)

Ok, you’re an assistant pro in Austin. Were you selling sweaters and visors at the shop?

AL: I was, Robert. I put 2 years into the shop and I thought, “I’m not a retail person. I like teaching.” That was my first love. Through the mini-tour, I had come in contact with a golf professional in southern California that knew of someone in the Bay Area that she was looking to pass her teaching business on to and mentor.

I met with this woman named Barbara O’Brien. I eventually moved out to the Bay area and taught with her. We worked together and taught golf schools. That’s where I finished up my LPGA and PGA qualifications for Class A membership. I taught there for 10 years.

GC: This was in San Francisco?

AL: The San Jose area.

GC: Barbara was your mentor. She taught you how to teach?

AL: Yes. She was the president of the Western Section of the LPGA. She passed some of her students along to me.

GC: When did you go out to San Jose?

AL: 1989.

GC: What was your first reaction when you met Barbara?

AL: We hit it off because I could tell she really liked golf. She was a good instructor. This was a great opportunity for me.

GC: Did she have a particular kind of instruction theory or method that she imparted to you?

AL: Not a method teacher. No, she just took the student at face value and tried to work with the person.

GC: How did you like living in the Bay area?

AL: It was great to be there but as time went on, Barbara and her husband moved to Arizona and I stayed on. I ended up getting so busy. I had one day, Robert, where I gave 17 half-hour lessons.

GC: Wow! When did you pee?

(laughter)

AL: I don’t know if I did and I don’t how I got home that day!

(laughter)

GC: You must have been doing something right, Annie, to have all those students.

AL: I think I was, Robert. I think I was helping people. That’s always been my goal – to help people and help them improve. I loved that but I thought, “Oh, my gosh, I can’t do 10 more years of this. This is a little much.”

It was kind of like a treadmill. A half-hour is not a lot of time to get people relaxed, hit some balls, then help them with their golf swing.

GC: To your point, it took me about 12 years to get relaxed with golf.

(laughter)

AL: In my book, there’s the story of the woman who came in for a lesson with the one high-heel shoe. The pace of the Bay area, as you know from living in NYC, is a little hectic.

GC: This being the Bay area, are you sure that the student who came in with the one high-heel shoe was a woman?

(laughter)

Could have been a man — you never know!

(laughter)

Not that there’s anything wrong with that! A golfer is a golfer as far as I’m concerned.

(laughter)

Ok, so there you are … you’re getting burned out in San Jose.

AL: Yes, I had visited Montana and really enjoyed it. I had a grandmother that came from eastern Montana. I always thought there was an allure to Montana. I wanted to get to a place where I wasn’t teaching on mats. I wanted to get back to the real thing and give a longer golf lesson.

So I came up here in the mid-’90s, stayed for two years, and went back to California. Then I came back here in 2000 and have been teaching here ever since.

GC: Annie, it took a lot of courage to go from the big city to Montana.

AL: It did. There’s no other teaching professional here in Missoula. We have golf pros but everybody has their own shop. I’m really the only one that strictly focuses on teaching.

GC: Where do you teach?

AL: I teach at the University of Montana golf course. And I teach at a resort course called Canyon River, which is east of town. I can give playing lessons and course management lessons there.

GC: Anything in your Montana course management about grizzly bears?

(laughter)

AL: There is a course up by Glacier National Park where they do occasionally see a grizzly. At Canyon River we have a lot of foxes and deer. They have a few black bears out there. But not the grizzlies; they stay up there in the park.

GC: I went to Glacier National Park with my wife. We spent the first night in a B&B in Kalispell where I read a magazine about grizzly bear attacks in the park. So the next day, I bought a pepper spray canister in Kalispell for protection against a grizzly attack. We drove to Glacier and reached the parking lot near the trailhead. I leaned over into the car’s back seat to get something and the canister went off. I got pepper spray all over me and everything was burning. And I do mean everything!

(laughter)

AL: Oh, no! I saw some grizzlies when I was in Glacier Park.

GC: They are unpredictable. You never know what they’re gonna do. Kind of like a 28-handicapper.

(laughter)

AL: Right!

GC: So you like Missoula?

AL: This is my home base, Robert. I’m kind of a dying breed: an independent contractor golf professional. That’s how the industry began: you had the pro that was mostly on the range teaching. Then it morphed into a retail business, and it’s become more of a retail industry than anything else. I like to stay creative with what I do. I do trips, take groups to Coeur d’Alene…

GC: How do you get your clients?

AL: I’ve never advertised. Knock on wood, I’ve been really lucky. I’ve always tried to give an informative and entertaining golf lesson. All my business has been word-of-mouth.

GC: What do you do in the winter when the bears are hibernating?

AL: Traditionally, I’ve gone to Tucson, Arizona and have had students come from California and Montana to take a golf trip. So I’d arrange their golf outing and give them lessons and take them to the golf course. [EDITOR'S NOTE: Annie is presently in Rancho Mirage, CA]

GC: What prompted you to write “The Golf Letters: Tee Tales”?

AL: I had kept notes through the years after I’d give a lesson. So I had 16 years’ worth of index cards. About three years ago, I picked out the most interesting things that I thought would make a good book. I spent a year or so writing it.

GC: It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it.

AL: Thank you.

GC: As one of the last of the “independents,” can you offer any advice for my readers?

AL: Get out and enjoy this game. Don’t beat yourself up. And be thankful that we have it. Don’t worry about your score.

GC: I agree. I think most golfers read too many magazines where the touring professional is idolized and everything is about “going low” and “mega distance.” That’s how people have grown into the game. And I think it’s done the game a disservice.

AL: Yes, the distance thing in the last four or five years … that’s all everybody talks about.

GC: You are not Tiger Woods, you are not Phil Mickelson. You will never be them.

AL: No.

GC: Yet people delude themselves, “Gee, if I had just the right driver with the right shaft I could hit it another 30 yards…”

AL: I think you’re right on that, Robert. As an industry, people have been taught to believe that they don’t have it and they always have to search for it. As a teacher, what I try to do is let them know they already have what they need and just guide them in that. So that they don’t feel like they’re constantly searching. You don’t want to spend your whole life in golf that way. It’s very frustrating to think that way. It wouldn’t be fun.

GC: You’re right, Annie. And let me further add that that if I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard. Oh, Auntie Em: there’s no place like home!

(laughter)

Are you taking any clients to Ireland this summer?

AL: My plan is to go to Scotland. My client wants to go to Scotland. I haven’t been there and I’m looking forward to going to the birthplace of golf. I’m 100% Irish, so I just absolutely love Ireland … but I can do Scotland, too.

GC: Annie, looking at your photograph, I never would have guessed you’re Irish.

(laughter)

Ann Loughlin

AL: I’ve been told that I have the map of Ireland on my face.

GC: [affecting an Irish brogue]: I dun know what county yer from, but I’d say ye certainly look like yer from the ol’ Emerald Isle.

AL: I’m not good on the brogue; you’re very good at that, Robert. But the O’Loughlins are from County Clare. And Mother was an O’Donahue and that’s County Clare as well.

GC: We Blumenthals hail from County Bronx.

(laughter)

I would love to go to Ireland … play some golf, drink some Guinness.

AL: There are a lot of signs over there that say, “Guinness is good for you.” I think it is.

GC: Can you find Guinness in Missoula?

AL: Yes. There’s an Irish studies program here at the university where they teach Gaelic. Notre Dame is the only other school that does.

GC: Holy shillelagh!

(laughter)

Ever since I saw that John Wayne movie, “The Quiet Man,” I’ve wanted to go to Ireland. It was full of stereotypes but I loved it.

AL: Oh, yeah. Ireland’s a magical place. You won’t be disappointed. It’s really like that; there are still places in Ireland that are special like that.

GC: Annie, it was my great pleasure having this golf conversation with you. May the wind always be at your back.

AL: Thank you, Robert

Golf Conversations: I have to ask you about the deer-antler spray. Did you know it contained a substance banned by the PGA Tour?

Vijay Singh: I’ll repeat the statement I issued two weeks ago: “While I have used deer-antler spray, at no time was I aware that it may contain a substance that is banned under the PGA Tour Anti-Doping Policy.”

GC: Ok, but exactly why were you using deer-antler spray? The speculation is that you were using it to rehab from an injury.

VS: Actually, I was taking it because I wanted to grow my own antlers.

GC: Come on … be serious!

VS: It’s true. In my birthplace of Fiji, the most respected elders of the community have wild boar tusks attached to their heads. I’d like to think I’ve reached a similar level of respectability here in Ponte Vedra Beach … but there are no wild boars around here.

GC: Obviously, you’ve never attended a Tim Finchem press conference.

(laughter)

VS: Don’t dis the Commish, bro. He pays for my Media Relations Consultant.

GC: Well, the word on the street is that he’s gonna suspend you for using this deer-antler spray.

VS: That is so bogus, man.

GC: It’s for the integrity of the game, Veej.

VS: “Integrity of the game”??? What about those freakin’ clown pants John Daly wears?

GC: I believe that Daly’s pants would fall under the PGA Tour’s “Crimes Against Humanity” infraction. So you weren’t trying to cheat by using deer-antler spray?

VS: I told you, bro, I was trying to grow my own antlers. If I’d wanted to cheat, I’d have snorted ground rhinoceros testicles.

GC: Rhino testicles?

VS: Next to Srixon, they’re the best balls in golf.

(laughter)

GC: Stop it, you’re killing me! Ok, let me get this straight: you sprayed yourself with this deer antler stuff to emulate a Fijian elder?

VS: I am an elder, bro. I’m turning 50 on February 22^nd. I’ll be eligible to play the Champions Tour.

GC: I thought you said you weren’t gonna play that tour.

VS: That’s before I started growing antlers. On the Champions Tour, I’ll be one of the young bucks. Get it … bucks?

(laughter)

GC: Oh, deer … I get it!

(laughter)

VS: Hey, that’s good! I’ll bet we can come up with a lot of these!

GC: Absolutely. I’ll start: your favorite movie of all time?

VS: Bambi.

GC: Worst movie ever?

VS: The Deer Hunter.

GC: Do you socialize with other players and their wives?

VS: Never. We always go stag.

(laughter)

GC: Biggest pet peeve?

VS: Flying commercial. I know that’s not deer-related but it is my biggest pet peeve.

GC: Ok, here’s another: what’s your favorite song?

VS: From The Sound of Music: “Doe-a- deer, a female deer…”

GC: You’re good at this, Veej. Alright, here’s the last one and it’s a toughie: Your son, Quass, asks you the following question: “Dad, what’s your favorite city in Italy?” What’s your response?

VS: That’s a gimmee, bro. I tell him, “Venice, son.”

(laughter)

GC: Brilliant! However, let’s get back to this deer-antler issue. What will you do if the Commissioner suspends you?

VS: Don’t need the drama, man. I’ll retire.

GC: Retire? All you know is golf. You practice and play 12 hours a day. What else would you do?

VS: Augusta National wants to hire me as a locker room attendant so the members can hang their green jackets from my antlers. Not for those new women members, though.

GC: Oh? Where are they supposed to hang their jackets?

VS: On the point of a bayonet.

(laughter)

GC: Seriously, you’ve made millions of dollars in your career. Why would you want to be a locker room attendant at Augusta National?

VS: Not for the money, bro. For the bennies. Chairman Billy Payne told me that when I’m not working, I could eat all the rhododendrons I want.

GC: Well, that is a deal clincher. But just remember: at Augusta National, there is no running. You start running through the woods and they’ll send the Pinkertons after you.

VS: Yeah, I know. I’ve read the rules sheet about no running. But guess what? The rules don’t say a thing about “prancing.” I’m gonna prance all over the 12^th green the night before the Masters. Mickelson’s gonna have a coronary when he sees my hoof marks!

(laughter)

GC: Will they still invite you to the Masters Champions dinner?

VS: I hope so. Nothing better than sitting around the table with Jack, Arnie, and Tiger … swapping stories and chewing my cud.

GC: Well, good luck with growing those antlers. How big do you want them to get?

VS: Huge, man. I wanna be able to bend over and stroke in some putts with these bad boys. Let’s see the USGA rule against that.

GC: OH, NO! VIJAY! I can’t believe you just…  Geez, couldn’t you control your … pellets?

VS: That’s nature, bro. And another reason why Augusta National wants to hire me: free fertilizer.

Bill Price

Mizuno Golf has invented a nifty little device called the Shaft Optimizer that it uses in its Performance Fitting System.

On January 23, 2013, GolfConversations.com got to see the Shaft Optimizer up close and personal in Orlando at the PGA Merchandise Show’s Demo Day.

Mizuno’s Bill Price described how the Shaft Optimizer reveals the five components of a golfer’s “Swing DNA”:

• Club Head Speed: How fast the club head and shaft are moving during your swing.
• Tempo: How quickly you transition from your backswing to your downswing.
• Shaft Toe Down: Measures how far the shaft bends in a downward direction during your downswing.
• Shaft Kick Angle: Measures how far the shaft bends forward during your downswing.
• Release Factor: How and when the club head and shaft are released during the downswing.
  In the following video, Bill explains how the Shaft Optimizer works and its role in Mizuno’s Performance Fitting System: 

  With an understanding of the Shaft Optimizer’s technology firmly under my faux-alligator belt, it was time for me to “swing into action” and put the Shaft Optimizer through its paces.

  

  Mizuno's Shaft Optimizer

  Bill had me warm up with several practice swings using a 6-iron. Then I made three “for-real” swings. After each swing, Bill examined the results displayed on the Shaft Optimizer’s LED screen and did a fine job of containing his laughter.

  Also on hand to witness my “ball striking” was Dr. Gary Wiren, Master PGA Professional, teacher, speaker, inventor, collector, Renaissance Man, and all-around good guy. Gary, who’s close to 77 years young, can still boom it 300 yards. Amazingly, Il Dottore achieves his incredible length without the application of deer antler spray.

  WARNING: The following video contains graphic images of Robert Blumenthal swinging a golf club. Viewer discretion is advised.

  As Bill mentions at the end of the above video, Mizuno’s fitting process also includes determining the proper length, lie angle, and grip for the golfer. Then the clubs are custom built at Mizuno’s headquarters in Georgia in approximately two days … and shipped to the customer who is eagerly awaiting their arrival.

  Mizuno’s web site provides comprehensive information about their golf division. And the following video describes their Performance Fitting System in its entirety:

Joe Riekena

Golf Conversations: Where did it all begin, Joe?

Joe Riekena: I grew up in Minnesota. For some crazy reason, I went three hours north of Minneapolis to go to college in Duluth. So we had some pretty short golf seasons.

GC: When did you get the golf bug?

JR: I got that bug when I was eight years old. My dad was a schoolteacher and a coach. And he started running this golf course on the weekends as the golf pro.

GC: Where was this?

JR: Outside of Minneapolis. And when school was out, my brother and I would go with my Dad to open up the golf shop.

GC: Was your Dad a PGA pro?

JR: No. He ended up getting his apprentice card but it was more like a summer job for him. He started to teach golf and I kind of picked it up that way.

GC: Your Dad must have played a little golf before he started this job.

JR: Yeah, he was a good player. I was doing everything at the course — driving a tractor and mowing fairways when I was thirteen years old … finding golf balls in the cornfields.

GC: I have to ask: what were you getting for a used golf ball back then?

(laughter)

JR: I think we were selling them for a quarter a ball. After college, I kind of dabbled around. I was working as a framing carpenter in northern Minnesota. It was one of the coldest winters on record and I said to myself, “I’ve had enough of this.”

(laughter)

GC: What year was this?

JR: This was the winter of ’95. It was so cold that you couldn’t even stand on the scaffolding for very long.

GC: You were working outside?

JR: I was building someone’s home in the middle of the winter.

GC: What were you building? Igloos?

(laughter)

JR: Felt like it!

(laughter)

So I got to the point where I said, “I’m outta here!”

GC: You said you started in golf at a young age. Did you progress in the game – become a good junior?

JR: Yes, a pretty good junior. In high school, I didn’t live up to expectations; I didn’t make it to the state tournament. If you don’t do that, you don’t get a lot of looks from colleges. I went to the University of Minnesota-Duluth; I was on the golf team there.

GC: While you were in college, did you know that you wanted to pursue a career in golf?

JR: I did. When I first went to school, I was going to follow in dad’s footsteps. I had a Secondary Education major. As time went on, I altered that a little bit to more of an Adult Fitness major. And at that point, I knew I wanted to get in the golf business.

GC: When was your last year of college?

JR: 1988. You have to get lucky to get an apprentice job in golf. It took me two years to get a job at a golf course.

GC: In Minnesota?

JR: Yes.

GC: You’ve got a short golf season there.

JR: Yes. One winter, I got a job in Phoenix and opened up a golf course called Terravita. They wanted me to stay there but I went back to Minnesota. One of the guys that was at Terravita got the opportunity to move to South Carolina and open up a new facility. Have you heard of Del Webb?

GC: Of course.

JR: That fall, I said, “This is my opportunity to…”

GC: Escape frostbite.

(laughter)

JR: That and hopefully move up in the company. So I moved to South Carolina, just outside of Hilton Head.

GC: In Blufton?

JR: Yes. Mark McCumber designed the course. It was one of these huge retirement developments. I was there for about 4½ years. And the same guy that opened up that place … he got an opportunity to open up a country club in Las Vegas: Anthem Country Club.

So I moved from Hilton Head to Las Vegas. Spent a couple of years there; it was Del Webb’s first property that wasn’t a retirement community.

GC: What did you think of Las Vegas?

JR: Living there for two years was plenty.

GC: You didn’t get involved with gambling, did you?

JR: Nope.

GC: Look at me in my good eye.

(laughter)

Pro football parlays on Sundays?

(laughter)

JR: Maybe a few hands of blackjack.

(laughter)

But nothing that got me in trouble.

(laughter)

I left in ’98. Back then, it was just starting to go crazy; they were building a lot of golf courses and golf was becoming very expensive there. Steve Wynn turned the Desert Inn course into what’s now called The Wynn.

GC: A win for him.

JR: It’s $500 a round.

GC: Is that all?

(laughter)

I wonder what they’d get for a round at Cypress Point. Just open it up to the public for 2 weeks. It would pay for their maintenance costs for a year.

(laughter)

JR: Even if they needed to, I don’t think they ever would.

GC: So you were counting cards in Vegas and working at the Anthem Country Club.

JR: The general manager that I worked for there took a job in Stockton, CA at Brookside Country Club. He offered me the position of head golf professional.

GC: Nice. Had you entered the PGA program?

JR: Yes, I got my membership in the fall of 1998.

GC: What about the PAT (Player’s Aptitude Test)?

JR: I passed that in Minnesota; at a place called Stillwater Country Club.

GC: Minnesota? Were you using golf balls or a hockey puck?

(laughter)

Was the PAT a little nerve wracking?

JR: It’s extremely nerve wracking. When you start thinking about it … this is career changing, life changing … some guys can go out and shoot 73 day in, day out. All of a sudden at the PAT, they’re shaking, going double bogey, double bogey to shoot 81 and miss it by a stroke. But that’s part of the program of becoming a PGA member. Only about 15% of the people pass the PAT.

After you do the PAT you start doing all the book work … everything from cart maintenance, to tournament operations, teaching, and merchandising. Their program should take you between a year and two years to complete each level.

GC: You might as well go to medical school with all the time it takes.

(laughter)

JR: I put more work into the PGA program than I did in college.

GC: Well, you weren’t drinking as much beer.

(laughter)

JR: That’s true, I was motivated!

(laughter)

GC: How much does it cost to go through the PGA program?

JR: There’s a $500 orientation fee to get started that will allow you to take your PAT. Then each level probably costs – without travel – about $700.

GC: Did you pass your PAT on your first attempt?

JR: No. I missed the first one and got it on the second one.

GC: Good for you.

JR: What a feeling to pass it and to move on. I was fortunate that I’ve worked at all different types of golf courses: resorts, country clubs, a retirement community, and a municipal course like this.

GC: What happened after Stockton?

JR: I was at Brookside Country Club 5½ years. It was a good gig; good membership, not a snobby country club. Then they decided to do a cost-cutting thing and they saved $25,000 by giving my job to my assistant.

That turned out to be fortunate for me. If you remember how badly the housing market collapsed in that area…

GC: Yes, Stockton was the poster boy for house foreclosures.

JR: A year later, I would have been upside down.

GC: When was this?

JR: Spring of ’06. Through the PGA, we have a job search database. One for Pacific Grove popped up and my wife and I thought, “Wouldn’t that be something?” I got an interview in the fall of ’06. Thirty-five candidates applied for the job; it got down to seven that they interviewed. And I started here the beginning of October, 2006. The city took over running the whole operation on January 1, 2007.

We do a pretty good job here. We’re doing 60,000 rounds a year. We still get write-ups…

GC: I think you were in this month’s Golf Magazine.

JR: Golfweek had us in its top 50 municipal golf courses in the country. We were 37^th. Gary Van Sickle from SI Golf has this quote, “PG gets my vote for most fun-per-dollar in America.” I think that’s pretty good.

One of the draws, obviously, is the value.  A lot of people that are low handicappers think they’re going to come out here and tear it up. And they usually don’t; the course still handles itself pretty well.

But for the higher handicappers … all of our holes, except for 17, you can run a golf ball up on to every green.

GC: Beautiful.

JR: That’s the way it should be.

GC: Absolutely.

JR: These architects are making bunkers you can barely get out of.

GC: It’s impossible.

JR: It doesn’t make golf fun.

GC: “Fun” is the key word here, Joe.

Joe Riekena & Robert Blumenthal

JR: Short as we are, from our back tees, we’re just under 5800 yards. We’re looking at this “Tee It Forward” program to build more tees. I go out and play with my ladies once in a while … on our par five 5^th hole, none of them can get home in three. So we’re gonna build a new tee box to make it easier.

GC: I interviewed Cathy Harbin; she was the head of that “Golf 20/20” program. She left that job right after I interviewed her. I have that effect on people.

(laughter)

JR: Ok, this is over!

(laughter)

GC: Here’s my idea: bring your dog to the golf course to attract new people to the game.

JR: That’s a great idea. There was someone just here who was chipping over there; she had her dog right next to her.

GC: That’s what I do. I bring my dog, Wolfie, with me when I practice my blading.

(laughter)

So that’s my contribution to Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links.

JR: I think it’s got potential.

GC: Does the pro shop at Pebble Beach ever call you and say, “Hey, Joe, I’ve got a foursome that wants to get on to your course. Can you squeeze them in?”

JR: Yup.

GC: And then you turn around and call them, “Hey, I’ve these two guys who’ve just come down from Salinas in a beer truck…”

(laughter)

JR: We’ve got a lot of people who come down and they’re playing Pebble Beach one day, Cypress Point the next day, and they come over here in the afternoon. There are still ten other courses in the area they could have played but they come here to check it out. It’s pretty neat when you can look out from the golf shop and see whale spouts.

GC: It’s wonderful. I’ve heard that one of the advantages your course has over Cypress Point is that you can’t get a hot dog at Cypress.

(laughter)

You can wait for the beverage cart forever over there.

(laughter)

Ok, you have whales here. But what about my favorite … otters?

JR: You can see them from the 13^th tee box or the 17^th tee. They’re just 100 yards off shore.

The Back 9 at PG Golf Links

GC: Time for otter trivia, Joe. What do you call a group of otters?

JR: Hmmm, I don’t know.

GC: It’s called a raft of otters. Obviously, you haven’t been spending enough time at the Monterey Aquarium.

(laughter)

Do you get a chance to play much?

JR: Not as much as people think. I’m running this place and going to city council meetings. I don’t play a lot anymore. I still love to play; maybe I’ll be able to play some senior events for our section in the future.

GC: Is there a season here?

JR: Our busiest time is June through September when people are getting away from the heat. And in the summertime when the fog comes in, I’m selling hand warmers, blankets, and sweat shirts. People show up in tee shirts and shorts and they’re freezing. I sell sweatshirts/fleece outerwear 10-1 over golf shirts.

GC: Joe, it was lovely chatting with you. Thank you for the hospitality.

JR: Thank you.

Jacobsen manufactures more kinds of turf equipment than you can shake a rake at. The president of the company, David Withers, took time from his busy schedule (David spends one third of his time in Europe) to chat with me about the orange machines that keep golf courses lean and green.

David Withers

Golf Conversations: The word on the street is that you’re a “turfie.”

David Withers: Yes, I’ve been in the turf equipment industry for a while. I’ve just celebrated my 20^th year with Jacobsen.

GC: Congratulations.

DW: I’ve been in the industry 20 years with Jake. Before that, I worked for a company called Charterhouse — it’s owned by Redexem … the VertiDrain people.

GC: I’m not familiar with them.

DW: You know aeration?

GC: Like the back of my hand.

DW: They do deep tine aeration. I started selling and demonstrating those things back in the late ‘80s.

GC: This was in England.

DW: In England.

GC: Where are you from in England?

DW: Originally from Surrey, not too far from Heathrow Airport. Jacobsen owned a small distribution company in the UK. I worked there; I was a territory sales manager for those guys covering the southeast of England.

Then I had the opportunity to do corporate accounts and moved up to Kettering in the East Midlands. Within 2 months of moving there, Textron bought Ransomes in 1998. We shut that place and moved down to Ipswich where Ransomes had a manufacturing plant. Moved there in ’99 and worked in a variety of different roles in sales or sales and marketing.

GC: You would go to individual golf courses?

DW: With dealers. I’d spend a lot of time setting up dealers. Also working with the big corporate accounts that were, at that time, outposts of the American companies. American Golf had an American Golf UK; ClubCorp had a set-up over there.

GC: These are companies that own many, many golf courses.

DW: Right. Initially, I was just in the UK. Then it was Europe as well. And then the rest of the world outside of the US. I ended up as Managing Director of the Ipswich operation. That’s called Ransome-Jacobsen; it sells to municipalities and golf courses in Europe.

I ran that for 6 or 7 years and got the opportunity to be President of the entire company in September of 2011 and moved over here about 15 months ago. So I’m becoming an honorary Carolinian.

GC: Welcome to the neighborhood. Tell me about Jacobsen. I know they make all sorts of turf equipment.

DW: Jacobsen manufactures with two facilities; one here in Charlotte and one in the UK.

GC: You actually make things here in the US?

DW: Absolutely.

GC: Wow! Not in China?

DW: No, no. Bare metal comes in one end and mowers come out the other. Most of the products we manufacture here in Charlotte are for the American golf market. Probably 75% of our business for this facility goes to the American golf market; the rest would be for the municipal market. Parks, open spaces.

GC: Cemeteries?

DW: Big cemeteries might use our equipment. Generally speaking, our stuff is at the upper end. You won’t see any of our equipment in Home Depot or Lowe’s. Our cheapest ride-on mower is probably $25,000.

Robert Blumenthal Kickin' the tires at Jacobsen

GC: No Yard Man, Club Cadet type stuff.

DW: We’re not into that side of the market.

GC: And I thought the English class system was dead.

(laughter)

DW: The smaller cemeteries, generally speaking, are using the commercial stuff that you see guys running around with on the back of their trailers.

GC: In other words, Jacobsen wouldn’t be caught dead in a cemetery.

(laughter)

DW: I don’t know if I’d go that far!

GC: Ok, but feel free to use that at the next sales meeting.

(laughter)

DW: I will do that! But golf is where we’re best known. That’s always been the case. Jake has been a very strong, global golf brand … Jake was started in 1922 up in Racine, Wisconsin. We moved to Charlotte from Racine in the ‘90s.

GC: Who are your competitors?

DW: Our big competitors would be Toro and Deere. Both are very good companies and good competition. That makes us all better. Wherever you are in the world, normally it’s the three of us.

GC: The Kazakhstan Open?

DW: The Kazakhstan Open will be either Jacobsen, John Deere, or Toro. I can’t tell you off the top of my head which brand they’ve got.

GC: Do you know who owns the dealership there?

DW: In Kazakhstan?

GC: Yes.

DW: Actually, we do a reasonable amount of business in Kazakhstan, believe it or not. Almaty is the capital there and they’ve got three or four golf courses.

GC: If you say not another word during this interview, I will be forever impressed with you for knowing the capital of Kazakhstan.

(laughter)

Very impressed. That’s why you’re President of this company!

(laughter)

DW: So there is business in the developing countries. Actually, if you look at where there is growth for golf, it’s more in the developing countries than it is in the established countries.

For example, in North America, because of the overbuilding that happened in the ‘80s and ‘90s – we’re seeing a contraction of about 100 golf courses a year. China, the Eastern Bloc of Europe, Latin America … there is still growth in new golf courses. Many of them real estate related. But that gives us good opportunities to sell more product.

GC: Approximately how many dealerships do you have worldwide?

DW: Between two and three hundred.

GC: How many different kinds of turf equipment does Jacobsen manufacture?

DW: Different models?

GC: Obviously, there are guys mowing the fairways. But you have different models for the greens…

DW: Yes, but just stick with fairways for a second. We sell 13 different fairway mowers.

GC: I apologize for being so turf ignorant, but why would you need 13 different types of fairway mowers?

DW: How wide do you want to cut? Some people like a narrow stripe, some people like a wider stripe. The actual reel that cuts the grass has different diameters. If you have a links-type course, which tends to have a lot of movement in the fairway…

GC: Like a Bandon Dunes?

DW: Bandon Dunes would be a great example. Bandon Dunes has a lot of movement in the fairways and it’s not what I would call a grass factory that grows grass like mad. They would want the smallest possible cutting unit on their fairway mower so that it can follow the undulations as well as possible.

I think I’m right in saying that Bandon Dunes uses one of our fairway mowers which is called an “1880,” which is only an 18-inch wide cutting unit – as opposed to 22 or 26 inches.

The diameter of the cylinder also makes a difference. A bigger cylinder won’t follow the ground as well as a smaller cylinder. So they would have a 5-inch diameter reel.

If you take an area like Germany or Scandinavia where operating costs are very high … what they want is productivity. So they want it as wide as they possibly can. And they have parkland-style golf courses so they don’t have the same amount of movement in the fairway that a Bandon Dunes or St. Andrews would have.

All of these things require different power to drive them. Therefore, I need to make a different tractor to power them. I don’t want to put a huge engine in one that doesn’t need it. So I have umpteen different engine sizes as well that fit into these fairway mowers.

So just fairway mowers, there are 13 different models. And you can even accessorize them: do you want smooth front rollers? Grooved front rollers? Do you want something to clear your rear-roller brush? Do you want to groom your fairways? Do you want to verti-cut your fairways?

GC: GPS?

DW: Well…

GC: I was kidding! Don’t tell me you sell mowers that have GPS units!

DW: There are some GPS…

GC: Come on, you’re pulling my front roller!

(laughter)

DW: We have got products out there on trial that do it automatically, driven by GPS.

GC: You mean you don’t have an operator?

DW: You wouldn’t have an operator.

GC: Holy Hydraulics!!!

DW: But they’re very, very expensive right now. And that’s just fairways. You can duplicate what I’ve just said for rough, for tees, for greens. So we would have – just for golf – 60 models.

GC: For a municipal course that doesn’t have a large budget, is there a one-size-fits-all machine for the rough and the fairway?

DW: No, but they would probably typically go for the lower-cost models. We have a “Good-Better-Best” within that category. Greens mowers as an example, we have ride-on greens triples.

GC: Is that where the guys are going back and forth?

DW: Yes, they’re riding and cutting the greens. In that area, we would have three different platforms, each of which has different variations. One would be an older design, probably designed 20+ years ago. Very reliable and basic. It will cut the greens – that’s Price X. Then you can move up to something that’s got a little more sophistication, a little bit more feedback to the operator, the ability to service it easier. But still a mechanical hydraulic drive.

Then you go up to our “best” which is an all-electric drive; there isn’t any hydraulics on it at all. It might have an engine driving a generator but fundamentally everything on it is controlled by RCUs and little baby computers.

GC: What’s an RCU?

DW: I knew you were going to ask that. Hmmm, can’t remember what the “R” stands for…

GC: “Royal”?

(laughter)

DW: Nah, it’s not “Royal”!

(laughter)

GC: Little gizmos. We’ll get back to that.

DW: Yes, so they control the whole thing; it’s the brain within the product. It’s very sophisticated. The superintendent can set it to do what you want it to do. Someone would still operate the machine but only under the settings requested by the superintendent… I’m sorry; I’m kind of going on here.

GC: No, please.

DW: Don’t forget, I’m a “turfie”!

GC: That’s why I’m here. Do you come out with new models every year, similar to what the car companies do?

DW: Yes, but you wouldn’t necessarily have a new product in each category every year. So next year we’ll have a new fairway mower and a new greens mower, but we haven’t got a new rough mower.

GC: Is it four product categories?

DW: No, there’s more than that. There’s greens, tees, fairways, rough, and then you get into the product maintenance side which is trucks, aeration, trap rakes for the bunkers. You ride on a little machine that rakes the bunker.

GC: That gives me an idea. You know how it’s a big problem that players never rake the bunker? Maybe the raking process would be more fun if, instead of using a hand-held rake, the player could ride inside the bunker on a Jacobsen machine and smooth it out. This is a multi-million dollar idea, David!

(laughter)

Jacobsen's "Groom Master II"

DW: I don’t know if we’d want Joe Public driving these things.

(laughter)

Have you seen these little automated lawn mowers that go around like sheep…

GC: Is that like that automated cat litter thing with the rake?

DW: Yes. I like something like that rather than having somebody driving an expensive, complicated piece of equipment …

GC: I’m trying to increase sales for you. Come on, three machines per hole times eighteen holes … what does one of these machines go for?

DW: About 15 grand.

GC: 54 times 15 grand. You do the math. Another great idea for your next sales meeting.

(silence)

This is why I don’t work for turf equipment companies. Do you have some notable golf course clients that you can mention without being turned into a pumpkin?

DW: Pebble Beach pretty much uses all of our equipment. They’re a great outfit. That’s such a stunning piece of land.

GC: What is the typical life expectancy of a mower? Can you trade them in every few years and get a new one?

DW: It’s very similar to cars in that you have, I would say, three lives of a mower. I’m generalizing but the higher-end clubs will buy new equipment and switch it out every 3-5 years. At the end of that 3-5 year period, that product will get re-worked.

GC: What does that mean?

DW: You bring them back in, check them over, strip them down, fix anything that needs fixing, re-paint it and sell it again with a warranty. Generally speaking, it’s not manufacturers who do this, it’s dealers. But we’re experimenting with doing it ourselves as a service to our dealers.

So that will get sold to a lower-budget club; they’ll run it for another 3-5 years. That’s the first life and second life. And then it will often go to a third life…

GC: In Kazakhstan.

(laughter)

DW: …which is often at the home of its second life where it’s now a back-up machine.

GC: What’s the maintenance like on a typical mower?

DW: You have to touch it every day.

GC: Every day?

DW: You should pump some grease into it or check its oil and tires. They’re working in a fairly hostile environment. And you are engaging the ground. You want to get the water and grass off of your machine, so you’ve got to wash it off when it comes in. The cutting interface acts like a pair of scissors. You have to keep it sharp.

GC: How do you sharpen the blades?

DW: There’s a machine that sharpens both sides of what are like a pair of scissors. We call that a reel.

GC: Does each golf course have a sharpening machine or do they take it to the dealer?

DW: I’d say more than half the golf clubs in North America would have their own sharpening machine.

GC: What are the blades made of?

DW: Steel. A specific steel that’s heat-treated. It’s a precisely made blade and it’s the secret of these machines. Most people, regardless of whether they buy our machines or not, will say that Jacobsen gives the best cut. And that’s all to do with how that cylinder is ground, what are the angles on the cylinder, and the interface between the reel and the bed knife.

GC: Is assembling one of your machines similar to the process of a car assembly?

DW: It’s more manual than a car assembly is. For example, BMW down in South Carolina is probably making 700,000 to 800,000 cars a year. We’re probably going to build 5,000, 6,000 … maybe as high as 10,000 units. But it’s not millions; therefore, when you look at the investment that’s required to fully automate which is what the car guys do, you get one answer. When you divide it over 10,000 mower machines, you’ll get a different answer.

GC: So you don’t have robots making these things?

DW: We don’t have robots making them. We do have some robots doing the welding but generally speaking, the actual bolting of things together is done by guys like you and me.

GC: Guys like you. I break out into hives when I see a wrench.

(laughter)

David Withers & Robert Blumenthal

And the quality of your steel that’s used for your blades…

DW: We don’t mine the iron ore or anything like that. We get it in a strip form and then we do various processes to make them how we want them. It’s an American supplier that we use to provide us with the steel. And in the UK, we use a British supplier.

GC: How do you like it here in the States?

DW: Great! Good so far. It’s difficult to stay thin.

GC: Tell me about it!

(laughter)

DW: The portion sizes are a little on the high side. The food is very, very good. The service is very, very good. The weather’s nice. As with anything, there are differences.

GC: You go back and forth to Europe?

DW: I still run the European business as well, so I spend two-thirds of my time in the U.S. and a third of my time in Europe.

GC: That’s a lot of countries for one man.

DW: And we have big business in Asia; I was in Malaysia three weeks ago. I try to get around and know everybody. At the end of the day, this is a people business.

We talk here about the three B’s: 1. Building relationships with our customers. 2.) Build a good machine that does what we say it’s going to do. And 3.) Back it up for the whole of its life.

If we focus on the 3 B’s of our business, we’ll do fine. If we don’t do any one of those 3, we’ll fail.

GC: Don’t forget the 4^th B: Blumenthal is bad news — keep him out of your office. David, thanks for your time today. It was fun!

DW: You’re welcome.

Ken Woods

Golf Conversations: I’m always interested when I talk to golf pros as to how they got into the business. Did your family introduce you to golf?

Ken Woods: My dad got me involved. He was a longtime golfer – not a golf pro – but a weekend golfer. He worked at IBM for 35 years. When I turned 10, he bought me a set of clubs and I had no interest. I’m thinking, “What are these? Where are the video games?”

When one of my good friends started playing at 11, I joined him and fell in love with the game. Completely hooked. So then my Dad and I had a common thing we could do together.

I started taking golf lessons and I got a job at the Seascape Golf Course in Aptos, CA. I had been surfing and playing baseball but I dropped everything and concentrated on golf.

GC: Were you a good baseball player?

KW: Not really. Which is kind of surprising because a lot of baseball players are good golfers.

GC: Yes, many of the golf pros I’ve interviewed had been good baseball players.

KW: I think my hand-eye coordination was there but I was afraid of the baseball. I was a little guy and I got plunked a couple of times. I thought, “This is no fun.” I’d rather hit a ball that’s stationary than something that’s coming at me.

So I started playing and progressed pretty quickly. I played on the varsity golf team my freshman year in high school when I was 14.

GC: This was in Aptos?

KW: Yes. I played 4 years of varsity golf, then collegiate golf at Cal State-Stanislaus in the San Joaquin Valley. I turned pro when I graduated in ’91 and got a job working at a golf course in Ukiah, CA.

GC: You knew in college that you wanted a career in golf?

KW: Yes. Of course, I thought I was gonna play … be on the Tour and have people give you all kinds of money to go play. But I realized that there were a lot of guys that were as good as I was. I knew that if I wasn’t going to be on the PGA Tour, I was going to be somewhere in the industry.

GC: Did you try the mini-tours?

KW: Not really. I did a couple of Monday qualifiers. I qualified for the Nike San Jose Open. I qualified in Windsor one year for a Ben Hogan event. I chased it a little bit but knew that my career would be in the golf shop as a golf professional.

I jumped in and got my schooling to get my Class A membership through the PGA of America. And I came back down here.

GC: You didn’t stray too far from home.

KW: I grew up in this area. I worked here as a kid doing carts.

GC: Here? At Pasatiempo?

KW: Yes. I worked for Jack Doss who was the pro at the time. Then I worked for Greg Colip, then for Shawn McEntee who hired me as an assistant pro here in 1997. I worked for Shawn for 5 years and was hired as the head pro at Poppy Hills down at Pebble Beach. When Shawn left in ’04, I came back here as the head pro.

So I went from striping range balls here – before you bought range balls with stripes, you’d put them on a little spinner machine and use a paintbrush to paint on the stripes – to being the head pro.

GC: Ken, you bring new meaning to the phrase, “I striped the ball.”

(laughter)

When you were working the carts here, were you aware of Alister MacKenzie’s prestige and stature in the world of golf?

KW: I realized that it was a special place based on the other courses that I had played. But I didn’t understand the connection with Augusta, Cypress Point, Royal Melbourne, and all the other courses MacKenzie designed. I knew this was the best course in the area and rivaled courses like Spyglass and Pebble Beach … but linking the MacKenzie history? No, probably not until I was in college.

GC: How do the members here feel about the MacKenzie connection?

KW: I think they’re all aware of it. I think they enjoy the challenge of the golf course. But some people have sold their membership just based on this golf course being too tough. You look at the difference between the middle tees and the back tees here, there’s not that big of a difference.

But most of the members like the community and the club atmosphere. Even though we don’t really have a strong social membership – like tennis, swimming pools, dinners …

GC: Fashion shows?

KW: Fashion shows and couples functions and that sort of thing. We’re really a golf club. There’s no food and beverage minimum.

GC: I like that. But no fashion shows? That’s a problem!

(laughter)

KW: When we do a survey of public golfers as to why they came here and how did they hear about us … it’s either through a Golf Digest rating or it’s because we’re an Alister MacKenzie design.

GC: Do you think the Golf Digest ratings have become a little too political?

KW: I think so. The thing that probably frustrates me the most is that you can improve the golf course over a year, but they’re using ratings from four years ago to accumulate your rating for this current rating cycle.

For example, if you’ve lost a superintendent and you bring someone in who’s making improvements, I don’t know why he should be penalized in the ratings for what’s happened in the past.

Golf Digest says, “We understand your water situation and green isn’t the answer – the course doesn’t have to be all green.” But then Augusta gets number one and they’re all green. To their credit, Golf Digest is the barometer. In Golf Magazine, we’re in the Top 70 in the U.S. but in Golf Digest we’re out.

GC: When I buy things on Amazon, I read what other people have to say about a particular product. I find those “ratings” more informative and important than what one particular “expert” says. I think the ratings for golf courses need to go in that direction. What does the average golfer shoot? 100? 105?

KW: I think the average handicap is like 19 or 21 … mid to high 90s.

GC: Ok. Talking about ratings from golf magazines … what does the average golfer know about “shot values”? And most of the other criteria they use? Perhaps low handicappers and golf course architecture mavens care about that stuff. But the typical lousy golfer doesn’t care about the “MacKenzie bunkering.”

The average golfer wants to advance the ball without too much difficulty, be in a pretty setting, and have good customer service. Those are the people who make up the majority of the paying customers. And I think they’d be interested in “ratings” from people who play the game the way they do.

KW: We’re going through a period of transition at Pasatiempo from wall-to-wall green to native grasses. Every inch of turf used to be irrigated. It’s going to be another 3-5 years before we see a consistent look in some of these areas, and I’m sure it’s hurt us in the ratings.

GC: Well, you need to start telling people, “Do you know that we spend $350,000 a year — or whatever it is — on our water bill? And xx% of the greens fee accounts for that cost? And having some native grass isn’t going to affect your golf game.”

KW: I can count on both hands how many members care about the Golf Digest ratings. No one is saying, “Oh, we really need to get back in the Top 100, this is a huge thing for us.” There’s a handful of guys who are driving that but the other members are saying, “Just keep the golf course the way it’s conditioned. Have the staff in the pro shop be friendly. Have great service in the restaurant.”

GC: I know you have a lesson in 15 minutes. Do you enjoy teaching?

KW: Absolutely.

GC: Because a lot of pros don’t.

KW: There’s no way I could be the Director of Instruction at XYZ Country Club and teach all day long. But to be able to get outside, to help people with their game, it helps me to understand my own game as well. When I help people tinker with their swing and help them figure it out, it helps me figure out my swing.

GC: Then you say to yourself, “I gotta start listening to myself more often!”

(laughter)

KW: I enjoy it. You give them two things and all of a sudden they’re just striping it all over again.

GC: Golf instruction is a tough nut to crack. Words have different meanings to different people. What does “turning” mean? Am I turning my shoulders? Turning my hips? And every month in one of the golf magazines …

KW: Contradiction.

GC: Contradiction. Page 12 says this. Page 39 says the opposite. I’ve always thought that the golf magazines should have a little slug at the bottom of every page, “NOTE: There are many ways to swing a golf club; there is no ONE way to swing a club.”

Do you have a particular “swing theory” when you’re working with a beginner?

KW: I try to get people to swing the golf club. There’s the ball, here’s the club, swing through the ball. I have them make full swings at half speed to hit the golf ball, to accelerate through the ball. It’s a full-range of motion but a very slow motion to try to get that feeling.

The basic for me is swinging the club, which is kind of an old method that Ernest Jones used.

GC: Swing the club head with the pen knife and the handkerchief.

KW: Exactly right.

GC: I saw you have the Manuel de la Torre book – Understanding the Golf Swing – here. You don’t see that very often in a pro shop.

KW: It’s funny. I don’t know if you know the history … de la Torre’s father was the first head pro here.

GC: I didn’t know that.

KW: Yes. So Manuel ended up having that philosophy that he learned from his father who learned it from Ernest Jones. Manuel de la Torre was the longtime head pro at Milwaukee Country Club. We were looking at adapting his philosophy. I flew back to Wisconsin and spent 3 days talking with de la Torre.

GC: When was this?

KW: Three years ago. And then we had him out here and he did a clinic. It was spectacular. I remember one of the funniest things he said to me … it was October, we were sitting in his office … he said, “People get so worried, don’t hit it left, don’t hit it right, don’t hit it out-of-bounds, don’t hit it in the hazard … instead of trying to execute … trying to make the correct swing to hit the right shot.”

He said, “Do you shop?”

I said, “Yeah, I grocery shop.”

He said, “Do you make a list of all the things you don’t want to buy?”

I said, “No.”

And he said, “Why do you do that in the golf swing? Why do you say, ‘Don’t come over it? Don’t hit it left?’ You put the golf club in your hand, you pick your target, you swing the club, you don’t worry about your left arm breaking down, and swing the club head towards the target. If you swing the club head towards the target, where’s the ball most likely going to go?”

He had some very simplistic ways about teaching which is fascinating to me.

GC: I think what he was teaching is very similar to what Bob Toski and Jim Flick teach.

KW: Correct.

GC: Golf instruction has gotten very complicated and difficult.

KW: Yes.

GC: Do you know the trick-shot artist Chuck Hiter?

KW: Yes.

GC: Well he balances himself on a unicycle and hits a driver 200 yards off of a 4-foot high tee. Is he thinking about turning his shoulders or restricting his hip turn? No, he’s smashing the ball with his hands and arms. That says to me, the golf swing is all about the hands and arms. And, of course, eye-hand coordination.

KW: No doubt. I teach swinging the club head. In order to do that, you have to use your hands, wrist, fingers, and arms. I’ll have people hit a golf ball with their feet touching together. In order to maintain balance and not fall over, you have to hinge and you have to release. If you hinge and then you hold on to it, you’re gonna fall forward. Having the feet apart is basically giving you some support and a way of not falling over.

GC: I think we do a disservice to the majority of golfers by telling them to rotate their “big muscles” to play golf. Most people aren’t that flexible, they don’t have time to practice, they just want to come out and have a little bit of fun and advance the golf ball reasonably well.

I don’t know who the culprit is. Is it the golf magazines and books that hold up these touring pros as the gold standard that we should all emulate? Or is it because we’re all so inept and insecure that we look to the “stars” as the people we should copy? I don’t know which it is but it’s not working for the average golfer.

KW: Exactly right.

GC: We’re having problems keeping people in the game and attracting people to the game. It’s so damn hard the way the game is taught, it’s no wonder we have a problem. Well, I’ll get off my soap box now. Ken, I enjoyed my round here at Pasatiempo. It’s a fun, beautiful golf course. Thank you for your hospitality.

KW: You’re welcome, Robert.