Page 75 - Golf World (February 2020)

Sam Snead. And no one would ever say that Tom looks
like Sam. But, like Lee, he got the best parts right.
Every single teacher is guessing. That’s all they’re
doing. Not one innovation has ever come from teachers.
They all come from players. Teachers only learn from
players, not the other way round. Athletes originate;
teachers copy. That’s why I’d rather sit and watch a
great player than listen to a great teacher.
But I do have a great deal of
respect for some teachers out
there. There’s a handful of guys
that get no credit, but everyone is
stealing from them – the whole
teaching industry. They come up
with things all the time, things that
no one has ever seen. One of them
is a guy called Kelvin Merieara,
who teaches at a little public range
in Hawaii. He is a genius and every
teacher has stolen from him.
He put swing
breakdowns online
– and I know what it
takes to put those
together. I thought,
this man must not
sleep, he must not
have a wife or kids.
And when I met him
I asked if he slept.
He said, “no”. I was
like, I knew it! I
asked him if he had a
wife or kids. And of
course he doesn’t. I
knew that too.
Train like a scientist
and play like an
artist. That is what
sport is. Even 100
years ago they trained as scientifically as they could. So
you would be a fool not to use the information available.
The trouble is there is so much of it around now. That
all has to do with why we have seen such a huge increase
in distance. Balls and clubs have something to do with
it. But more than anything it is because the athlete is
getting bigger.
I think golf course architecture may offer a solution.
There are several architectural ideas I have which will
help solve the problem of distance. One of them is pot
bunkers, which you have here in Great Britain. In the
middle of the fairways, maybe 350-yards off the tee,
those things would make players think about blasting
away. There is one on the third hole at St Andrews. You
can’t see it from the tee, but you know it’s there. Even if
you have played the hole a few times you still wonder
where it is exactly. And it plays bigger than its size.
They all do. So if we have accordion topography or
chocolate-drop mounds out there – or pot bunkers –
we can hold the guy who can hit 350-yards accountable.
Right now, he operates with impunity. He flies
bunkers that everyone else has to work around. But he
can be held accountable by architectural design,
obstacles if you like. We have to give him something to
think about.
We should also see courses as works in progress, not
works of art. They always have been works in progress.
St Andrews wasn’t always 18 holes and it was never as
long as it is now. Shinnecock
Hills was once 4,000 yards and
now it isn’t. Augusta is not what it
was, either. The course is
wherever the tees and greens are
because courses evolve.
Modern equipment doesn’t
allow guys to work the ball like
they used to. For me to hit a
30-yard slice with a 3-wood is
darn near impossible. If I do
everything I can to hit that shot, I
might be able to curve the ball
15 yards. That’s why I harp on
about course set-up. If set-ups
were more punishing to “stray
cats”, guys would get drivers with
less MOI. And they would get
balls that curve more. In other
words, if guys played Shinnecock Hills six times a year
and there was some penalty for missing the fairway,
they would ask for balls that spin more. They would get
drivers with more MOI. And they would curve their
shots more. But they don’t have to do that these days.
One, because they hit the ball so far – they don’t go
around trouble, they go over it. Because they can. Once
they do that, they have shorter irons into greens. So they
don’t have to curve those. It’s harder to curve short irons
anyway. And they can stop it next to the hole.
So it’s a combination of things. The game has
evolved. I can make arguments for and against that
Top: evolution just like you can.
In his now
familiar
position as an I often get asked who is the most underrated player in
analyst on golf. But there isn’t one. We overrate everybody.
the Golf
Channel set. Because we are selling players. We are selling the idea of
greatness. And that is exciting. It’s not exciting to say
Bottom: As a that, when a guy wins an event, it may be the last one he
huge fan of
the Old ever wins. Or that he got lucky. Or that, many times,
Course, winning a Major Championship is a death sentence for
Chamblee
fears for its a career. We never say that. We always say winning a
future in the Major is a launching pad, or that it will open the
modern game. floodgates. There is romance to what we do – and a bit
of PR. I get that. But I also want to believe in it. When
I won on the PGA Tour I thought I would win more.
But I didn’t. If a commentator had said I probably
wouldn’t win again it would have hurt. But 10 years
down the road he would have been right.
Golfers are the only athletes that are never criticised.
Think about it. In every other sport you have a coach
who will be in your face if you make a mistake. But
golfers don’t have coaches like that. Golfers are lauded,
especially if you make the Tour. If you do that, you
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