walk along and watch, that would be pretty darn cool. I never saw Hogan play, a little bit of Sam—he was ridiculously impressive when you’re a young kid. I saw him in Kenya, way back in ’76 or something. He used to tease us, he would say, “OK boys, what do you want me to hit?” So we’d go, “Hit your 1-iron, hit your 1-iron.” He’d hit this high draw 1-iron which is tough to do. And he goes, ‘That’s nothing.” And he’d rake a driver over and he’d hit a high draw off the deck with his driver and all of our chins hit the floor. And we sulk off and start hitting golf balls. Trevino was great. I spent a little bit of time with him right at the beginning of my career. He made the golf ball
got to be easier ways but then it finally clicked. I went to good old Hattiesburg in early ’87, the week of the Masters. That was very tough because I went to Hattiesburg and other European golfers went to The Masters but I shot four 67s and finished second. My game really clicked and after I was better prepared for the majors.
WHAT ACCOMPLISHMENT ARE YOU MOST
PROUD OF? Ah. . .crumbs. I guess I’m most proud of the fact that with three of my major victories I went there as the favorite with the intention to win. The Masters in 1990 when I went to defend and then went to St. Andrews after I had just missed out on the U.S. Open. I hit the hole at the last to tie, and then I went to the Open with the real intention to win it and then the same at Muirfield. I was world No. 1 and absolutely on my game. That for me was probably the best because it was different, obviously you prepare differently you’re completely in your little world, you’ve got blinkers on doing your thing. That’s pretty rewarding to have that whole buildup in your mind—physically, technically and then go make it happen. I guess those three major wins are what I’m very proud of.
50 NCGA Golf SPRING 2010
WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU COULD GIVE FOR AMATEUR GOLFERS? Gold old club
golfers. . .the one I’m always beating on is alignment. They just do not align, they stand up and their aiming at the trees and they make a nice swing and hit into the trees. It all stems from the range. I beat people up saying you’ve got to put something on the ground— try a golf club it’s as easy as that—and point at your target and then stand and align yourself correctly. They’ll feel hor- rible to start out with but the mind is so good. We don’t appreciate that if we aim over there and look over there the mind will work it out for us. Now I joke—whether its 30 min-
utes on the range or 30 years cultivat- ing, you think, “Boy I was hitting it great on the range, everything was going toward my target,” and then you get on the golf course and you’ve been rehearsing this really weird swing forever. That’s No.1, if amateurs really paid attention to alignment. Maybe get to the practice ground—that would be a big help as well (laughs). Thirty minutes on the practice ground before you go play golf would be a big help.
WHO WOULD COMPRISE YOUR DREAM
FOURSOME? Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Lee Trevino. Maybe I would just
talk to him. He was a real fun guy, very helpful to me. That would be some im- pressive shot-making with those three. Maybe on a good day I could have hung with them.
THERE ARE A LOT OF BIG PERSONALITIES ON THE CBS GOLF TEAM, HOW DOES THAT
DYNAMIC WORK? Really well, you need the personalities. It’s good to have that bubbliness or madness or craziness. I think everyone brings something a little different which is why it works so well here. You don’t want two guys the same. Everybody brings their own views and personality, vocabulary, everything. The last thing you want is to go to another hole and have the same voice and delivery as everyone else. I think that’s why it works because everyone’s so diverse.
WHAT IS ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE YOUR-
SELF? Misunderstood (laughs). Is that a good one or not?
WHY IS THAT? Or misperceived. People
have a perception of me which is pretty terrible because we live on that, don’t we? “Well I think he’s so and so.” Have you met him? “No, I heard it from a friend of a friend of a friend and he did this 45 years ago.” I’m living with that
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