Tim Herron spent over two decades competing on the PGA Tour, amassing four career wins. These days, he plays on the PGA Tour Champions, where he’s notched four top-10 finishes.
On this week’s episode of Subpar, Herron revisited the highlights and amusing anecdotes of his professional career this far with hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz — including why his practice group is among the most coveted on tour.
“Our group is Carl Pettersen, George McNeil, [Tom] Gillis and myself. That’s our group,” Herron began. “We’d play a no-bogey game, and it got pretty batty. We had alternates. And sorry to say, Jason Bohn, you’re first alternate in our four-banger. So, if all four weren’t playing that week, Jason was the fourth guy. Sorry Jason, you’ve always been first alternate. So then there’s a fifth and sixth. We had [Henrik] Norlander, great kid, but he couldn’t give it. He could take it. He couldn’t give it. He’s a big guy, nice kid. And [Tom] Hoge was good too.”
So what was it about Herron’s group that makes it so appealing? Turns out, it’s more than just the “no-bogey” game.
‘It’s gonna stick’: How Tim ‘Lumpy’ Herron got his famous nickname
“Why people wanted to get in our group was we’d have a fake laugh,” Herron said. “See, people didn’t even know that. We’d give it the [laughs loudly] HAHAHAHA! And everyone’s like — see how you laughed? So then we’d all start laughing because someone would give a fake laugh. We’d do it throughout the whole course.
“Nothing was funny,” Herron continued. “We just laughed like we were having the most fun, so everyone wanted to get in our group.”
So what was it that prompted the fake laugh scheme? According to Herron, it was just a simple need for amusement.
“Practice rounds get boring,” Herron said.
For more from Herron, including how he got his famous nickname, Lumpy, check out the full interview below.