The longtime Niners QB and three-time Super Bowl champ was never confused about which side of the ball to play on — until he picked up a club.
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GOLF: How’s your game?
Steve Young: I think I’ve finally unraveled it.
G: It was tangled?
SY: I grew up on the mean streets of Greenwich, Connecticut. I caddied but I didn’t play much. I just grabbed my dad’s righty clubs and started whaling away. But when you’re left-handed playing righty, you have some fundamental problems.
G: So you play lefty now?
SY: My wife wants me to do that. She said, “If you’re going to suck this badly, you should switch to lefty.” But I said, No, I can fix this. I finally capitulated and asked for help.
G: Who’s your guru?
SY: [Former Tour player] Keith Clearwater is a buddy. I send him videos. We go back and forth. The problem with golf is you’re never doing what you think you’re doing. I look at my swing and I go, What? No frickin’ way!
G: Where’s the fix?
SY: At the American Century tournament in Tahoe, I show up and I get a tip from Annika Sorenstam, so I try that. Then Peter Jacobsen tells me, “It’s not a pendulum game. It’s an around game. You’ve got to swing around.” And I try that.
G: What’s more stressful: playing golf in front of a crowd or a blind-side blitz?
SY: When you’re an expert in something, the stress levels are lower, even if you’ve got Reggie White coming at you. I had some expertise in football, but you put me on a stage where I don’t have that confidence, that’s another level of stress. The key, to me, is you have to have played competitive golf as a kid.
G: It’s like a language — learn too late and you always have an accent.
SY: No doubt. Jerry Rice picked golf up later in life and wanted to go pro. I said, “Jerry, that’s impossible.” He said, “I can do it.” And then finally he said, “You’re right.”
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G: Any particular course you’re dying to play?
SY: Augusta is one. I’ve had many invitations but haven’t done that yet.
G: That’s not something I’d say around other golfers.
SY: I know. No sympathy.
G: What’s the strength of your game?
SY: Everything is relative, but I’ve been driving it pretty well. If I’m going to have my name on a board at a celebrity event, I’ve got to keep getting better.
G: Or at least beat Larry the Cable Guy.
SY: Exactly. I’ve been thinking that I should start playing both ways, with lefty and righty clubs in the bag. Maybe that becomes my shtick. You’re allowed to do that, right?
G: Who am I to say no? Then you challenge Tony Romo in that format and see who wins.
SY: I like your thinking. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll just go to lefty, like my wife says.