The post 68-year-old pro breaks PGA Tour record that stood for over 4 decades appeared first on Golf.

The post 68-year-old pro breaks PGA Tour record that stood for over 4 decades appeared first on Golf.

All of the warm, fuzzy, feel-good feelings were gone now. Son had left dad a 4-footer. 

You likely haven’t heard from a Haas in a while. Sixty-eight-year-old Jay hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since the Clinton administration. Bill not since early 2015. But then son asked dad if he wanted to play in this week’s team event on the PGA Tour, the Zurich Classic, and both were again getting Golf Channel airtime and the pre-tournament press conference treatment. 

The father-son angle? That was cute. But a 68-year-old father? If you thought that was at least a little crazy, well, you weren’t the only one. 

“I think my first thought — again, like I said, I said, are you sure?” Jay Haas said in that pre-tourney presser. “I don’t want you to waste a week just to play with me. We can play any time.”

News

By now, you can maybe tell where this is going. We would turn the other direction if Team Haas went 75 and 75. During Thursday’s first round at TPC Louisiana, where best ball was in play, the Haases shot a respectable 65. Thirty-five teams were worse. Dad even birdied four times. 

They didn’t stop Friday. In alternate-shot play, they birdied 1. Then 2. A bogey at 3 was offset by another birdie, at 7. And everyone was typing, “Who’s the oldest player to ever make a cut on the PGA Tour?”

That would be the legendary Sam Snead, who, at the age of 67 years, two months and 23 days, reached the weekend in August of 1979 at the Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic. Jay Haas had him beat. On Friday, he was 68 years, four months and 20 days young. And after another birdie on 11, he could see Saturday. 

You probably know where this is headed, too. Golf isn’t easy. Father and son three-putted the 14th. Dad made a 3-footer for par on 15. Son made a 6-footer for par on 16. Then Bill dumped his tee shot into the water on 17. On 18, the scoreboard read this way: Bill Haas-Jay Haas eight-under, projected cut line eight-under. They couldn’t drop another stroke. 

On the par-5 finisher, dad drove it in a bunker. Son hit out. Dad hit his iron on, but his ball was left and 47 feet away. Son putted it 43. 

Over 799 Tour starts, Jay, how many putts like that have you stood over?

“Way too many, I know that,” he said. “That was probably as nervous as I’ve ever been over a putt of that length certainly. It sounds silly just to have a chance to make the cut. However, there’s a lot of circumstances here that it kind of made it doubly important in my mind.

“Again, we were right there. We had a big — not a big cushion but a cushion, and it didn’t feel like we had it made by any means, but to somehow shake that putt in on the last hole was something I’ll never forget. But just the whole week, playing with Bill, getting texts from all my kids, it’s just been a real charge.”

The new record-holder, yes, had rolled in the 4-footer. 

“Yeah, just wanted to put him on it,” Bill joked afterward. “No, I told myself walking up, I said, let’s just get this thing down close and let’s tap it in and hopefully that’ll be good enough. … 

“But fun to hang on, fun for him to make that last putt. I’d feel sick to my stomach if I would have left it short there and we missed, especially hitting it in the water on 17 — you just feel like you want to take all the blame if something doesn’t go right. I know if he’d have missed it, I wouldn’t have cared, and if I’d have missed it, I would have felt horrible. I’m just glad he made it and we don’t have those feelings.”

The week isn’t over, either. As for the record, you won’t hear Jay talk much about it. Slammin Sammy, he said, didn’t set his mark in a team event. In fact, according to golf stats guru Justin Ray, Snead made the cut three times at age 67, including at the PGA Championship. 

But ask Bill, and he agrees with what his dad said earlier. Father and son could play anytime.

But he wasn’t wasting a week. All of the warm, fuzzy, feel-good moments are back now.

“I want to make the cut so bad,” the younger Haas said. “Again, I don’t think we showed up just to try — we wouldn’t have been so nervous if we just didn’t care. But he can shoot a good score. The ball doesn’t know who’s hitting it, and he played amazing yesterday. I was getting stretched this morning, and Charley Hoffman was raving about how good he played yesterday, and I just kind of said, well, I see it all the time at home. This isn’t anything new.

“It is long; that’s the big challenge I think for myself but definitely for my dad is it’s a very long course, and he’s hitting woods. We joked that he hit six par-5s in two yesterday, because he’s hitting a lot of woods and hybrids in and he’s hitting them inside our 7-irons and 6-irons.

“Again, if you hit a good shot, which he did all day yesterday and today, it doesn’t matter how old you are.”

The post 68-year-old pro breaks PGA Tour record that stood for over 4 decades appeared first on Golf.

The post Copy these 6 moves from Tour pros to get the most out of your swing appeared first on Golf.

The post Copy these 6 moves from Tour pros to get the most out of your swing appeared first on Golf.

Modern research has been a boon to instruction. Science now tells us what works and why. Yet sometimes it’s worth looking at ways players got things done before all this data began piling up, or how they “felt” their way to perfection. Here’s what to copy.

1. Sam Snead’s sequencing

All great drivers follow a sequence using what I call the “dance move.” Sam Snead may have done it best. Make a big turn on the backswing, plant yourself on the ground, then rotate hard with very little lateral movement. As part of this transition, your right knee will kick in, your right heel will begin to lift and your lead hip will stay well inside your lead heel — just like The Slammer. Boom!

2. Jack Nicklaus’ internal turn

Certainly you’ve been told to “turn” on your backswing, but what does that really mean?

Your swing has an “engine” — your middle. How you move your middle — pelvis, hips and upper legs — ultimately decides the quality of your turn. Check out how the great Jack Nicklaus is turning his pelvis clockwise in the photo above. Also notice how his right hip has remained inside the heel of his right shoe. This is important, because turning your right hip internally like this gives you a full range of motion (and Jack is certainly “ranging” here). Too much side-to-side sliding restricts your backswing turn and costs you power.

Copy Jack to properly keep the middle of your swing centered while maximizing your turn. Nicklaus’ hallmark front-heel lift happens because he’s turning freely, with no hint of tension, but his middle always stays centered.

3. John Daly’s long, free-flowing backswing

Just like a plane uses a lengthy runway to build speed before taking off, a longer backswing increases swing speed and adds power to your drives. It’s really that simple. Here we see a young John Daly, one of the longest hitters in history, ready to let one loose. Not only is his backswing long, it’s way past parallel, something that even Ben Hogan proved was perfectly suited for the power game a generation prior.

The idea that a shorter, more “controlled” backswing is better isn’t what we see from the world’s best — not in this generation or the past. Some say it may improve your accuracy in the short term, but it robs you of distance. And if you swing hard from a shortened backswing, you’ll risk an injury. A full, unrestricted turn with a long backswing is better for your drives — and for your body.

4. Bubba Watson’s “no-slide” transition

Just as in the backswing, sliding too much on the downswing limits your ability to rotate through the ball and create enough clubhead speed. If you look at long drivers throughout history, such as Sam Snead, Justin Thomas or Bubba Watson, you’ll see how their front hip remains well inside their front foot as they swing through impact. If you slide and move your front hip over or outside your front foot, your turn will stall — and your swing speed will plummet.

Do this: As you start your downswing, shift your weight slightly forward, but as you near impact, favor your rear side as Bubba’s doing here. It’s this “backward” shift near the moment of impact that allows you to continue to rotate and hit up on the ball with maximum velocity.

5. Tiger Woods’ AOA

Most of today’s big bombers — McIlroy, DeChambeau, Rahm and even Tiger Woods — optimize launch angle off the tee. One of the ways to do this is to purposely hit up on the ball, or increase your AOA (angle of attack). Modern drivers are built to encourage an increase in AOA without adding too much spin, producing a high launch that maxes out carry. For decades the goal for any elite player was to get the ball on the ground and running quickly. Not any more. Some pros swing up as much as 4 degrees. That’s taking serious advantage of the modern driver design. Tee it high, picture the clubhead moving up on the ball and watch it fly

6. Ben Hogan’s perfect tempo

We know the best and most dominant golfers of all time swing fast. An overlooked component of swinging fast is tempo. What is tempo? In a word, it’s the pace or speed of the swing measured in time. A good way to think of the tempo of your swing is to look at the ratio of backswing time to down – swing time. According to Tour Tempo, the magic ratio is 3:1, meaning that your backswing should be three times longer than your downswing. In other words, if your backswing takes three seconds, your downswing should take just one second.

Try it yourself and you’ll realize that 3:1 is fast! But none other than Ben Hogan and a young Nicklaus instinctively applied this ratio. The key here is to make sure your backswing isn’t too slow — a lot of rec players I see swing more like 4:1 or even 5:1. Low and slow won’t cut it. Add a little speed to your backswing and see if you don’t see a bump in accuracy and distance.

The post Copy these 6 moves from Tour pros to get the most out of your swing appeared first on Golf.

The post Higher Learning: What growing up around Tour legends taught me about golf and life appeared first on Golf.

The post Higher Learning: What growing up around Tour legends taught me about golf and life appeared first on Golf.

There is never a good time to get the shanks, but some occasions are more traumatic than others, like, say, during the pro-am at the 1966 Doral Open.

It was there that I witnessed a poor fellow hit one mortifying hosel rocket after another. I’ll never forget it because not only was I that player’s caddie but I was also his son. Needless to say, the experience did not become one about which my father and I warmly reminisced at holiday gatherings.  

The other two amateurs on our team that day winced every time Dad sent another ball skittering off his club like a wounded quail, and it was clear the spectacle was affecting their own play. The same could not be said of our pro, Chick Harbert, who even while trying to offer my father advice stayed laser-focused on his own game. Harbert — winner of the 1954 PGA Championship and six other Tour titles — signed for a cool 66, besting every other pro in the field, including Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. 

After the round, Harbert, sensing I was rattled, pulled me aside. 

“Don’t get down on your dad,” he said. “Time and again I’ve known some really good amateurs who don’t perform well with the added pressure and excitement of a PGA event. It’s not the same as playing with the fellas at your home course.”

After thanking Harbert for his kind words, I asked how he could play so well in the company of another player melting down.

“Whatever the stakes are, to consistently perform at a high level I take a deep breath before each shot, exhale slowly and then think of only one thing: tempo,” he said. “If I let muscle memory take over and swing with my regular tempo, it doesn’t matter what others are doing.”

That pearl of wisdom was one of many that I gleaned from golfing greats during my youth, a bedrock of game-improvement knowledge and lessons in human nature that I still lean upon today.

My access to the titans of the game came through the military clout of my father, Lt. Col. Joseph D. Kelly. In the 1960s, Homestead Air Force Base — just south of Miami and about 20 miles from what was then known as Doral Country Club — sported a nifty little nine-hole course. No expense was spared to keep it in Augusta-like condition, thanks largely to the fact that my golf-addicted father (he was a 10-handicapper when not shanking!) served as Deputy Base Commander.

Dad offered select pros who missed the cut at the Doral Open each March a weekend fete at the base; the invitations were extended through Frank Strafaci, Doral’s then-director of golf. The pitch: A military limo would pick up the pro at Doral Friday evening, deliver him to the base, put him up at the ritzy Visiting Officers Quarters, provide all meals at the Officer’s Club, drop him off at the airport Sunday or Monday if he flew in, and hand over a check from Uncle Sam for $500. In return, the pro would put on a clinic Saturday morning and play nine holes with military brass that afternoon. 

Features

The same “weekend bash” offer was also made at other times throughout the year via Strafaci to men and women pros he knew who were visiting South Florida. In return, Strafaci enjoyed base privileges whenever he wanted to get away for a few days with friends. 

That’s where I came in. Besides having an after-school job at the base course cleaning clubs and retrieving range balls, I caddied for the visiting pros. Also through Strafaci, I looped for a few players who needed a hand at the Doral Open. Nepotism has its benefits. 

Here are a few of my more memorable encounters from those halcyon days:

Gary Player

On Doral’s long par-3 12th hole, Player badly pulled a long iron left of the green and in the rough. From his lie, the pin sat on a piece of the green sandwiched between bunkers short and long. I watched Player walk to the green and carefully survey the situation, and I gasped when he intentionally chipped the ball into the front bunker. Player blasted to about three feet and made the putt. 

Walking to the next tee, I saddled up to him and asked why he didn’t try to lob the ball onto the green. He smiled, put his arm around my shoulder and spoke to me not condescendingly as a teacher might instruct a student but instead respectfully, golfer to a golfer. 

“The grain was going away from me on the green and the chances of stopping the ball before it ran into the far bunker were slim to none,” he said. “So instead I chose a flat portion of the front bunker and skipped the ball into there so it wouldn’t as likely bury. I’m a very good bunker player, so I was pretty sure I could get up and down from there in two.”

Lesson learned: Play the odds and don’t get greedy. There’s no shame in taking bogey if it means avoiding the potential for a double bogey or worse. 

Marilynn Smith

Smith helped form the LPGA and won 21 titles on the ladies’ tour, including two majors, so she certainly didn’t need my help when I landed on her bag during a round on the base course. While walking the fairway on the 2nd hole, we heard a staff sergeant in the gallery make several unflattering remarks about Smith, inferring she wasn’t ladylike. I felt like dropping Smith’s bag and clocking the dimwit, but Smith calmed me down. “I’ve found it best just to ignore people like that,” she said. “Men like him usually have endowment issues — and I’m not talking about money.” We shared a big laugh, but it didn’t stop me from glaring menacingly at that sergeant to quiet him the rest of the round.

Lesson learned: People can only get to you if you let them. 

Jay Hebert

The most personable pro I’ve ever met, this amiable Cajun won the PGA Championship in 1960 just as his brother Lionel had done three years earlier. The 4th hole at the base course was a straightaway par-4 with a firm, elevated green. Hebert had an 8-iron to the flag, and he asked where he should aim. Figuring all tour pros can back up or cold-stop iron shots at will, I told him to fire at the pin. His ball landed next to the flag and ran over the green. After getting up and down for par, Hebert said to me, “Doug, this green is like a billiard table and you have to hit it short of the pin and let it run — there’s no other way.”

Lesson learned: Not even pros can defy topography, so take what each hole gives you and don’t expect more

Bob Toski

A regular winner on the Tour in the 1950s, by the mid-1960s he was mainly a teaching pro based at the exclusive Ocean Reef Country Club in Key Largo. After toting his bag and watching his play at the base course, it amazed me how far such a short, slight fellow could boom the driver but not his irons. 

At the 6th hole, a 160-yard par 3, Toski asked for his 5-iron. He noticed me cringing and asked why. 

“Mr. Toski, I usually hit an 8 here,” I said. 

Toski smiled. 

“That’s because you probably swing the same way with all your clubs. I don’t hit my irons very far but watch as I cut this 5 into the right-to-left wind so it holds direction and stops dead.” He did exactly that, delivering a gorgeous fade that fluttered to the green like a leaf and settled four feet from the pin.

Lesson learned: After observing Toski, I realized that I swung my irons like battering rams. I slowed down my tempo with my irons and started hitting more greens in regulation. 

Another lesson learned: After finishing the round, Toski asked me if I wanted to have either his 1 iron or $10. I took the $10. The next day I told a friend about it. 

“Are you crazy?” he said. “I’d have given you $50 just to say I owned one of Toski’s clubs.” 

I’ve made smarter choices since then. 

Arnold Palmer

The King was renowned for taking his time to sign autographs. I’d heard other celebrities at times gripe about signing autographs and how they avoid them by walking quickly, because if stopping the crowd keeps getting larger. 

At one point I found myself next to Palmer in the Doral locker room. I asked him if he keeps moving when seeing autograph seekers. His brow furrowed. “Why would I do that?” he asked. I told him the reason I’d heard and he shook his head. “No, I do the opposite — I stop and sign every single autograph requested unless I have a good reason to leave,” he said, “and on top of that I don’t just scribble my signature, I take the time to write it neatly.”

Lesson learned: Be humble, thankful and thoughtful of others, even when it might inconvenience you. 

Patty Berg

Another LPGA pioneer, Berg won 15 major titles in her incredible career. She was conducting a clinic at the HAFB driving range with about 250 onlookers. “Tee it high and let it fly,” she’d say just before whacking several 250-yard drives. 

Being a smart-ass 15-year-old, I woofed to a friend in the gallery that teeing it too high will result in skied drives.

Berg heard me. “Okay, young man, step up here.” 

I did as she asked and she handed me her driver. “So, show us how you do it.” 

My hand shook as I tried to plant the tee. I took a swing and the clubhead hit about four inches behind the ball. Everyone got a good laugh at my expense. Later when caddying for Berg, I apologized and she said, “We all live and learn. Whenever I get a heckler during a clinic, I let him feel how different it is hitting a shot with a lot of people watching — he always duffs it.” 

Lesson learned: First off, never interrupt an instructor. Second, performing under pressure in front of a large group isn’t as easy as it looks.

Julius Boros

I never caddied for Boros, but as I walked up the 18^th fairway looping for Tommy Jacobs at the Doral Open, I saw Boros fishing near the 10^th green. Fishing! I bid farewell to Jacobs after the round, raced to my car to fetch a rod and some lures, and joined Boros. At that time they allowed fishing in the Doral lakes, and many Tour players took advantage. 

Boros was receptive to my joining him and we chatted while casting and occasionally catching and releasing small bass. Soon enough, Sam Snead came barreling toward us in a golf cart sporting several rods and a tackle box. 

Boros laughed and I asked what was so funny. 

“Sam’s ego is such that he can’t stand to lose whether it’s golf, Ping-Pong, fishing or anything else — I’m that way, too.” 

Indeed, Sam out-fished us and playfully made that clear by the time darkness settled in. 

Lesson learned: Ego can be a good thing when channeled positively; it can separate good players from great players. 

Speaking of Sam Snead…

I enjoyed being in the players’ locker room at Doral as much as being on the course. After a Thursday round looping for Dave Marr when I was 19, I sat on a bench as Marr changed shoes. Snead was sitting nearby and talking to his nephew J.C. Snead, who wasn’t playing too well and complaining about having the yips. 

Sam said, “I notice you spend a lot of time on the practice range but hardly at all on the practice green. We all get the yips at times, so practice your putting more and quit bitching — all that does is make the short ones get into your head even more.”

J.C. left the locker room and hit the practice green for hours. The next day, in the second round, he needed just 25 putts. 

Lesson learned: When the voice of success and experience speaks, heed it. 

Jack Nicklaus

The Golden Bear is often described as austere and all-business on the course, but I’ve observed a different, lighter side of him. 

I once saw Nicklaus hit a drive on Doral’s par-5 1st hole into the left rough. Obscured by trees, his next shot, a punch-out, ran through the fairway and into the rough on the right side. 

As Nicklaus strode to his ball, I heard him call out to his playing partners, “How are the fairways today?” 

Features

On another occasion, Nicklaus faced a delicate pitch to a tight pin and someone in the gallery blurted, “Looks like a tough shot.”

To which Nicklaus replied, “Not to worry, my sparkling wedge game will save the day.” 

We all laughed, and then naturally Nicklaus went into full concentration mode and stoned it.

Lesson learned: Even the greatest player the game has ever known engages in self-deprecating humor at times. Between shots, keep the mood light. 

Not all my memorable repartees with the pros occurred during my wide-eyed teen years. Having moved from Miami many years after my dad retired from the Air Force, I happened to be in the city on a business trip during the same week as the Doral Open. I couldn’t resist dropping by. 

It was a hot, sweaty afternoon and I noticed Bob Goalby walking off the 18th green with an uncharacteristic frown. In an effort to cheer him up a bit, I moseyed over and said in a commiserating tone, “Hey, you don’t look so good.”

Goalby glanced at me and retorted, “Neither do you.”

Lesson learned: Pick your moments.

Doug Kelly lives in Clearwater, Fla.. He is a long-time journalist, the author of three books and the co-host of a Tampa Bay radio show. 

The post Higher Learning: What growing up around Tour legends taught me about golf and life appeared first on Golf.

The post Music not only transports golfers, but it can also transform them. Ask Disco Dick appeared first on Golf.

The post Music not only transports golfers, but it can also transform them. Ask Disco Dick appeared first on Golf.

They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues

Depending on your DOB, you won’t need this reporter to tell you that those lines are from the cryptic and spectacular 1977 Steely Dan hit “Deacon Blues.” It was a staple of my senior year of high school, a time when music settles in for good.

They do call the Alabama teams the Crimson Tide, and Alabama was a football powerhouse then, as it is now. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons were not, though they always had good golf teams, from the Arnold Palmer era on. Were the composers, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, goofing on Wake, much as R.E.M. goofed on Elvis years later? Were they making a reference to the outsized defensive end Deacon Jones, the epitome of SoCal NFL cool?

Discuss amongst yourselves. [Circular hand motion, like you’re spreading red sauce on an uncooked pizza dough.]

Justin Thomas, who played on the Alabama golf team for two fast years, knows about as much about Crimson Tide football as anybody in Monday night’s broadcast booth. Jerry Pate, winner of the 1976 U.S. Open, was recruited to Alabama’s golf team from the Florida panhandle in the early 1970s by Bear Bryant, Alabama’s legendary football coach. And now I’m wondering: What was Jerry’s go-to get-in-the-mood song when he was driving to the Atlanta Athletic Club on Father’s Day 1976? In those days, your options were more limited. Typically, you hit buttons on your radio, trying to find “Shake, Shake, Shake” or some such thing.

Or how ’bout Thomas, driving to the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, summer of ’17, fourth round of the PGA Championship, looking to win his first major? (And he did.) What was he listening to, with every song under the sun a voice-command away.

By the way, they were both, Jerry and JT, trailing the leader by two through three rounds.

Justin, if you can hear me, kindly let me know.

Can’t you hear me knockin’?

How ’bout those Stones, still doing it after all these years?

Fred, Barney.

(Thank ye kindly, Steven Wright.)

I would very happily play any number of Rolling Stones or Steely Dan songs en route to the course while in contention for a major. A man can dream, and music, like smell, is singularly transporting.

This subject has interested me for a while. In 2014, when covering Rory McIlroy’s British Open win at Hoylake for Sports Illustrated, I slipped this in, with a nod to Rory’s father, Gerry:

Rory drove to the course each day in his black Range Rover. He geared up for work by listening to high-volume dance hits by David Guetta, Avicii and Sigma. Gerry, once a scratch golfer, could handle it. Listening to 50 Cent for several years prepared him for anything. The music is Rory’s Red Bull.

The headline for the story, funnily enough, was this: “You Say You Want a Revolution?”

You say you want a revolution?
Well, you know
We all want to change the world.

Twenty years before Rory’s win, I went to see Sam Snead, both at the Greenbrier and at his home over the border in Hot Springs, Va. Snead told me how he could play various instruments by ear and that his innate golf ability and his musical aptitude came from the same place. I wish I had gone deeper. He also told me about the pleasure he got, combing his grandmother’s hair. Should have gone deeper on that, too. He was an interesting man.

Instruction

One year at Augusta — I believe in 2005, the only year I ever caddied in a Masters — I saw Jerry Kelly on the practice putting green, behind the 1st tee, earphones, or some sort of listening contraption, on his head. My guy (Stuart Wilson, the reigning British Amateur winner) was paired with Tom Watson and Jim Furyk. Watson walked past Kelly on the green, removed his listening device and took in a few bars of something. He then smiled widely and said something like, “That’s what I’m talking about.”

“He might have just said, ‘Yeah,’ Jerry Kelly told me by phone the other day. “But I remember him doing that very well.”

I was so struck by it, in part because it seemed so unlikely, everything about it. Jerry said he felt the same way.
 
He can’t remember what he was listening to, but he has listened to music while practicing for years. I wondered if it was country and Jerry said that that was a good guess. Might have been country, blues, rock, classical, jazz. He cited Billie Holiday, too. How many players are going to cite Billie Holiday? He said he grew up in a house where music was always playing and that in his early years as a professional golfer, when he and his wife, Carol, drove everywhere, their whole life had a soundtrack. Their son, Cooper, in college now, hopes to have a career in music.

News

“I liked listening to music when practicing especially when I was going bad,” Kelly told me. It helped him clear his head and think about. . . nothing.

Curtis Strange told me the other day that he couldn’t imagine, for himself, listening to music on the way to the course to get in the mood. Curtis, in his prime, didn’t need anything to get him in the mood. He was thinking about shots before his feet hit the floor.

I mentioned to Curtis that the first person I saw with headphones on a practice was Mac O’Grady in 1985 or ’86. But Curtis remembers the Canadian golfer Richard Zokol listening to music some years before that. I’m glad Curtis told me about that because it got me to an interview Zokol gave the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, to which he was inducted in 2011.

Zokol was asked, “Disco Dick? Who gave you that name?”

His answer:

“It was the first round of the 1982 Greater Milwaukee Open, my rookie year on the PGA Tour. I was paired with Larry Rinker and Ronnie Black, we tee-off the 10th tee in the morning of the first round. I didn’t pull out my Sony Walkman until I got down the fairway, away from the clubhouse. I was concerned what others veteran Tour players might think but took on the risk anyway.

“As we walked down the fairway, Larry Rinker turned around and saw me rocking the Walkman and said, ‘Hey, Disco Dick.’ I shot seven under par, 65, wearing the Walkman (see photo at top of article) between shots in PGA Tour competition.

“Coming down my last hole wearing a Walkman while leading the PGA Tour event caught a great deal of media attention. It was such a radical move the PGA Tour officials had to call the USGA to see if listening to music was legal in the rules of golf. For a moment after the round when the PGA Tour officials asked me what I was listening to, I thought I might get disqualified. The pressroom was abuzz with this radical Canadian rookie wearing a Walkman in competition and being the 1st round leader. ‘Disco Dick Leads GMO’ made the headlines in newspapers across the country.

“Listening to music while on the golf course made a huge difference to calm my hyperactive mind and freeing me up to play the way I knew I could. It was a tremendous learning experience for me.”

Curtis said, “Those Canadians, they can be a little different.”

Indeed they can!

In the next edition of this occasional and continuing series, Greg Norman will offer his go-low soundtrack.

In the meantime, and I’ve cited this before, the 1957 album “Music for Tired Golfers,” by Larry Clinton and His Orchestra, features a song called “Sometimes I’m Happy.”
 
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael_Bamberger@Golf.com.

The post Music not only transports golfers, but it can also transform them. Ask Disco Dick appeared first on Golf.

The post Sam Snead: This is how to get more ‘firepower’ in your golf swing appeared first on Golf.

The post Sam Snead: This is how to get more ‘firepower’ in your golf swing appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to Play Smart, a new game-improvement column that drops at noon (ET) every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from Director of Game Improvement content Luke Kerr-Dineen to help you play smarter, better golf.

I’ve been on a Sam Snead kick recently because, after all, once you get a fresh look at that silky smooth golf swing, how could you not fall in love with it? And so, in addition to his 82 PGA Tour wins, seven major championships, four Vardon Trophies and Hall-of-Fame induction, I decided to hand him the high honor of making him the focus of back-to-back Play Smart columns, the first time such a feat has been accomplished.

So congratulations, Mr. Snead. If you’re looking for the article I published earlier this week, it’s right here. If you’ve already read it and/or are more interested in this one, just keep scrolling!

While the previous post featured a rarely seen video from the 1960s, this one jumps forward into the ’90s, when Snead sat down with GOLF Hall of Fame Teacher Jim McLean for a fascinating chat about the golf swing on the Golf Channel. More than anything else, what stood out to me was how innovative and far ahead of his time McLean and Snead were, especially when the pair start talking about using your backswing to add more power.

1. Keep weight on the inside of your trail foot

Snead starts by explaining a swing feeling that has become an important part of teaching nowadays, as teachers use state-of-the-art technology to track how golfers use ground reaction forces during their swing. Snead says that on your backswing you want to make sure your weight remains on the instep of your trail foot. If you let it slide on the backswing, and your weight drifts outside your trail foot, you’ll never be able to move it all the way back in time. You won’t like the results.

“If you slide over [your trail leg], you’ll spin out almost every time,” Snead says as he talks about turning around the inside of your trail leg. “That gave me more firepower in pulling down as you can really turn. You watch all your big-hitters, that’s where they are.”

2. Turn, turn, turn

And once you do that, all Snead wants you to do next is turn. Turn, turn, turn, as much as you can. Remember, don’t slide — keep that weight insight your trail foot — but TURN.

“I got everything behind it,” Snead says. “My left heel came up and my shoulder came past my chin.”

Snead goes on to say that it’s easier when you’re young, but no matter what age you are, turning around your trail leg will help power-up your swing.

You can watch the full video below:

The post Sam Snead: This is how to get more ‘firepower’ in your golf swing appeared first on Golf.

The post Best Masters Par 3 Course Moments appeared first on Golf.

The post Best Masters Par 3 Course Moments appeared first on Golf.

A win in the Par 3 Contest won’t earn you an emerald club coat or a sit-down with Jim Nantz in Butler Cabin, but some of its moments are absolute aces.

The post Best Masters Par 3 Course Moments appeared first on Golf.

The post This exclusive golf club’s members have won an insane number of major titles appeared first on Golf.

The post This exclusive golf club’s members have won an insane number of major titles appeared first on Golf.

There’s been much talk of late about Seminole Golf Club, with pundits waxing on about its history, Ben Hogan, and all the heavy-hitters who have haunted the club’s hallowed grounds.

We understand the gushing, and we’re not here to throw shade on what does sound like a darned cool place.

But with Seminole set for a televised star turn during this Sunday’s high-wattage charitable skins game, we’d like to pull the veil back on another South Florida club that many of us have us have never seen and likely never will — a club that stakes its own claim to fame.

Drive 40 minutes south from Seminole on I-95 and you enter the orbit of Pine Tree Golf Club, home to a 1961 Dick Wilson design that has long been a darling of golf architecture buffs. Though it can’t top Seminole in prestige, or outrank it on Top 100 lists, there is one category in which Pine Tree blows Seminole away, as it does every other golf club we can think of.

Over the course of Pine Tree’s history, its members have won more major golf championships than the members of any other golf club. Their collective total is 50.

Fifty!

By our count, no contender comes close.

Before we dive into the details, we should clarify our terms.

For the purposes of this record, we are including winners of both men’s and women’s majors. But we are not including clubs that grant honorary memberships to winners of majors staged on their own courses. So, Augusta National, for instance, is not in the running.

We’re talking about full-fledged, dues-paying members: golf luminaries who wanted in and were willing to plunk down their own dough to join.

In Pine Tree’s case, the names of those members, with their major championship tallies, goes like this:

Sam Snead (7)
Tommy Armour (3)
Gary Woodland (1)
Mickey Wright (13)
Louise Suggs (11)
Karrie Webb (7)
Meg Mallon (4)
Joann Carner (2)
Beth Daniel (1)
Lauri Merten (1)

A casual reader of that roster might get hung up by the first name on it: Sam Snead, owing in large part to Snead’s reputation as a man whose wallet was a musty, cobwebbed object that rarely opened to the light of day.

Are we really to believe that Snead shelled out?

It’s true. He was tight.

It’s also true that in 1965, when Snead asked to become a Pine Tree member, he figured he’d be granted the same honorary status that he enjoyed at many other clubs.

Sorry, he was told. At Pine Tree he would have to pay like everyone else.

And so he did.

The club has correspondence from Snead to prove it, along with a check for his membership dues.

Snead was fond of Pine Tree for a lot of reasons. He liked playing cards in the clubhouse. He liked kibitzing with the membership, though kibitzing is not a word Snead would have used. He liked the money game. And, above all, he liked the course, a stout challenge with testy, pushed-up greens set at compelling angles on what was otherwise flat terrain.

It was a tough track then, and it’s a tough track now, which helps explain why a modern-era bomber like Gary Woodland has also paid to join.

Pine Tree is what golfers like to call a “player’s course,” a well-worn term that is no less meaningful for being overused: its membership is stacked with single-digits, young and old, male and female. As one Pine Tree member told GOLF.com, a team composed of Pine Tree’s top women players would likely dust an all-star men’s squad from almost any other club, on any course, from any tees.

Among those female members is Karrie Webb, who won seven majors.

Another of those members was the late, great Louise Suggs, whose 11 biggies included four wins in the Titleholders Championship, an event that was not a major in its day but which was later designated as such.

Yes, in our record keeping, we’re counting those.

Is there any other club that rivals Pine Tree’s major count?

As records go, it’s hard to verify but also difficult to dispute.

In our search for a club that might top Pine Tree, GOLF.com asked scores of golf history buffs and members of prestigious private clubs around the world.

None could come up with another winning answer.

Pine Valley? Please. Arnold Palmer was a member, and Gary Player belongs. So, too, do Darren Clarke, Nick Price and Ben Crenshaw. But the roster of major winners grows pretty thin from there.

Shinnecock? No.

Winged Foot? Oakmont? Sorry. Nope.

In Florida, where Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam all reside (that’s 43 majors, if you’re keeping score at home) some obvious contenders captured out attention.

Isleworth. McArthur. The Medalist. The designers of those clubs (Palmer, Nick Price and Greg Norman, respectively) account for 12 majors, and the memberships include a constellation of Tour stars. But rare is a Tour pro who pays full freight, and, besides, none of the above clubs sniffs a collective 50 majors titles anyway. The closest we could find to Pine Tree’s tally came from the Bear’s Club, whose reported membership claims 32 majors. Credit Nicklaus with 18 of those, while Shane Lowery, Justin Thomas, Louis Oosthuizen, Dustin Johnson, Keegan Bradley and Charl Schwartzel contribute one a piece. Rory McIlroy and Ernie Els also belong, and with them we can add another eight.

Not bad at all, but still a long way to go.

The traditionalist might ask: What about the amateur championships (the men’s and women’s U.S. Amateur and British Amateur) that used to qualify as majors but no longer do? Did you count those?

No, we didn’t. But even if we had, no dues-paying total would have surpassed 50.

Not that we can think of, anyway.

We offer all of this as cocktail party conversation, or fodder for a question on trivia night. And we’d be more than happy to be corrected, so please advise us if we need setting straight.

In the meantime, enjoy the competition at Seminole this weekend. The coverage starts at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday. There’s something else you should know, though. The Tuesday afternoon skins game at Pine Tree is serious business, too. You’ll just never see it on TV.

The post This exclusive golf club’s members have won an insane number of major titles appeared first on Golf.

The post The 7 coolest golf items being auctioned right now appeared first on Golf.

The post The 7 coolest golf items being auctioned right now appeared first on Golf.

The PGA Tour may be shut down for now, but golf memorabilia is just hitting its stride. The much-anticipated annual spring auction from Golden Age Auctions just went live Thursday evening.

Golden Age Auctions (formerly Green Jacket Auctions) has long saved their best items of golf history and memorabilia for the spring time, and this year they’ve done it again. More than 1,000 items are up for auction throughout the next two weeks. 

Below is a summary of the coolest items your money can buy (or at least bid on) right now. 

Sam Snead’s 1949 Masters trophy

Not everyone knows that in addition to the green jacket, winners of the Masters get a trophy that is a silver figurine of the Augusta National clubhouse. This item will likely earn the biggest bid. Similarly legendary trophies have sold for more than $300,000 in recent years. 

Three (3!) Ryder Cup trophies

All three are individually priced and all are different. There’s Sam Snead’s captain’s trophy (1951), Tony Jacklin’s captain’s trophy (1975) and the 1997 Ryder Cup trophy. According to GAA, the captain’s trophies are more rare. 

Celebrity clubs

The golf clubs of Michael Jordan, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. can all be purchased. All are clearly from another time, when big leather staff bags were in vogue. 

1/5

2/5

3/5

4/5

5/5

Greg Norman’s Claret Jug

Now, this really feels like golf history: the trophy that Norman won from the 1986 British Open at Turnberry. Norman infamously won just two majors despite being the best player in the world for quite some time. You could own a great part of half his major luggage!

Tiger Woods’ locker

That’s right. You can actually own Tiger’s locker from TPC Sawgrass before major renovations took place with the clubhouse in 2007. Locker No. 101 is all yours, but the bidding is trending toward four digits.

Ancient ball marker

Who needs a Vis-a-Vis when you can have this bad boy in the garage? It’s name is the Golf-O-Graph and it feels like the most hipster golf thing money can buy. And with it, you’re buying a golf party trick, too. All house guests will go home with a personalized golf ball!

Augusta National putter

The ANGC logo is unparalleled. It may not be the best logo in all of golf — though it is close — but no logo is more recognizable. So, how great would it be to look down at it every time you had a knee-knocking 3-footer? This wooden Augusta National putter is atop my list. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can afford it.

The post The 7 coolest golf items being auctioned right now appeared first on Golf.

The post PHOTOS: These 16 epic golf artifacts — from a Sam Snead lunchbox to a Tom Kite doll! — are vying for your votes appeared first on Golf.

The post PHOTOS: These 16 epic golf artifacts — from a Sam Snead lunchbox to a Tom Kite doll! — are vying for your votes appeared first on Golf.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

Juli Inkster’s Solheim Cup Hard Hat

As captain of the 2017 United States Solheim Cup team, Juli Inkster passed out hard hats to every player on her team as a reminder of the blue-collar work ethic they would need to win against Europe.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

Charlie Sifford PGA of America Tour Card

Charlie Sifford made history in the early 1960s when he became the first African American to break the color barrier on the PGA Tour.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

Larry Nelson Army Dress Coat

Larry Nelson, who served in the Army during the Vietnam War, did not actually pick up the game of golf until after he left the service in 1968.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

Lloyd Mangrum’s Half Dollar Bill

Prior to the D-Day Invasion of Normandy during World War II, Lloyd Mangrum and a friend tore a dollar bill in half with the promise that one day they would reunite the two pieces.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

Ray Floyd Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat

An avid Chicago Cubs fan, the team issued Raymond Floyd a baseball bat with the engraving “Masters 1976 Champion” following his eight-stroke victory at Augusta National.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

Nick Price Locker Room Key

At the 1978 Open Championship in St. Andrews, Scotland, Nick Price retained his locker room key on the off chance he would never play the Old Course again.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

Sam Snead Lunch Box

Childhood lunch box belonging to Sam Snead, who grew up in Ashwood, Virginia, as the youngest of six children and began caddying by the age of 7.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

Retief Goosen Golf Outfit

While playing golf with his cousin Henri in South Africa, 15-year-old Retief Goosen was wearing these clothes when he nearly died after being struck by a bolt of lightning.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

1999 Ryder Cup shirt

Featuring group portraits from previous U.S. Ryder Cup teams, the much-maligned Sunday shirt reached iconic status after captain Ben Crenshaw’s team came from behind to win the “Battle of Brookline.”

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

Jack Nicklaus by Andy Warhol

As part of his 1977 Athlete Series, pop artist Andy Warhol painted some of the biggest stars in sports at the time including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dorothy Hammill, Muhammed Ali, O.J. Simpson, Chris Evert, and of course, Jack Nicklaus.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

1973 U.S. Open License Plate

License plate from a courtesy car used by Johnny Miller – champion of the 1973 U.S. Open – signed by fellow Hall of Fame members Billy Casper, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and runner-up John Schlee.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

Nancy Lopez’s Barbie Doll

As a young girl, Nancy Lopez’s father Domingo would dangle the prospect of a new Barbie doll for his daughter if she won a golf tournament.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

JoAnne Carner Solheim Cup Rally Cap

With her team tied 5-5 heading into Singles on Day 3, 1994 U.S. Solheim Cup team captain JoAnne Carner doffed this star-spangled rally cap as her team took eight out of 10 available points to capture the Cup.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

Annika Sorenstam ‘59’ Scorecard

Annika Sorenstam cemented her membership into the “59 Club” by shooting the lowest round in the history of the LPGA – a 13-under 59 – during the second round of the 2001 Standard Register Ping in Phoenix, Arizona.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

Tom Kite 1992 U.S. Open Doll

With his distinctive visor, glasses, and red sweater, Tom Kite created a lasting memory at Pebble Beach when he won the 1992 U.S. Open, inspiring a fan to create this doll in his likeness.

World Golf Hall of Fame

---

Ken Venturi U.S. Open Crystal Trophy

The only trophy made of its kind by Waterford in recognition of Ken Venturi’s win at the 1964 U.S. Open and for his humanitarian work on behalf of the handicapped in Ireland and the United States.

The post PHOTOS: These 16 epic golf artifacts — from a Sam Snead lunchbox to a Tom Kite doll! — are vying for your votes appeared first on Golf.

The post Swing Study: Here are the keys to Sam Snead’s powerful and classic swing appeared first on Golf.

The post Swing Study: Here are the keys to Sam Snead’s powerful and classic swing appeared first on Golf.

Sam Snead has one of the most remarkable swings of all time. He used a combination of power and grace that propelled him to 82 PGA Tour wins and seven major championships as he dominated the professional golf ranks for over four decades.

His swing was admired by most and has elements that should be copied by many. To help us study Slammin’ Sammy’s swing, we enlisted the help of GOLF Top 100 Teacher Brady Riggs. Watch the video above or read below for the breakdown.

Setup

Snead had famously bowed legs when he addressed the ball. This squatting posture allowed him to rotate his body efficiently through the swing instead of sliding. His flexed knees gave him the opportunity to snap at impact position and push hard off the ground.

Instruction

6 dangers of using too much lower body in your golf swing

The post Swing Study: Here are the keys to Sam Snead’s powerful and classic swing appeared first on Golf.