Q&A with Jeff Sluman

Is Dubai something we should all go see?
You should all go see Egypt. Maybe I'm different than most, but Dubai seems like it's been there for ten years and how long have the pyramids been there?

A few more than ten.
Yeah. A few more than ten. [Laughs.] The Pyramids are one of the most breathtaking things I've ever seen. My wife's claustrophobic so she didn't go, but my daughter and I went all the way up through the tunnel, up the huge ramp, and into where they had the Pharaoh buried. And you look down and see the architecture ... the fact that people could do this thousands of years ago. The symmetry inside, looking down, is like nothing you've ever seen. To me, that's what it's about. And I know everybody's different. But in Egypt we went to the Valley of the Kings, up and down the Nile, the Luxor. It's a place I've always wanted to go since I was a kid -- just to see those things. That's what we like to do for travel. We're trying to figure out where we're going this year.

Are there any leaders in the clubhouse?
I think Istanbul. I'd like to see Petra in Jordan. And Prague they say is beautiful, untouched by the war. Croatia they say is spectacular, down by the coast. We've been to Italy a number of times and you can't go wrong in Italy. I've been throughout Southeast Asia. The place I haven't been very much is South America. I'd also like to go to Saint Petersburg in Russia. I hear great things. I guess I'm not the average golfer.

You guys get deep on your trips.
Well, it's a big world out there. And you should expand your horizons. I'd love to go back through Alaska again. It's unbelievable how cool it was. And it's only truly a vacation for me when the clubs stay home.

Does your wife play?
A couple times a year, maybe. I don't know of any other places. Maybe you can help me out?

Have you done New Zealand and Australia?
I've been there. We were thinking of doing something like that. Where's the golf course Tom Doak and Michael Clayton did?

Barnbougle Dunes?
Yes. I love his work. Visually, Doak's courses look spectacular but I haven't played many of them. Didn't he also open a course near Muirfiled?

The Renaissance Club. I think he's my favorite of the modern architects. And he's from the Pete Dye mold. Have you seen what he did to Pasatiempo?
No. But I'll have some extra days after we play in Seattle and then get into Pebble on Sunday night and we don't play until Friday. I've never played Pasatimepo, but I hear it's awesome.

Doak went hole-by-hole for 10 years. He looked at old pictures and took out trees that were overgrown. For the money, talking strictly public courses, nothing beats Bethpage, but at Pasateimpo you can play an Alister Mackenzie original and a Doak redo. That's not a bad combination. I'd be anxious to hear your thoughts.
You know, in '94 I played the Open at Oakmont. And I played it really well. And I thought this is the most overrated golf course I've played in my life. And I came back a few years ago and they had taken out all the trees and I said, "This golf course is awesome." What they did, whoever made that decision, it took so much courage to pull out all those trees because it totally changed the golf course. And I could see what the architect was thinking when he developed it without trees. People are so hesitant to pull up one tree on a golf course. What did Oakmont remove, 5,000 trees? It's a thousand times better. I left there after missing the cut saying I enjoyed playing this so much more than when I played well. And that goes back to what you were saying about Doak taking out trees at Pasatiempo. It's an unbelievable difference.

Not only does it help the course get back to being played the way it was supposed to be played, it helps the condition of the course.
Exactly.

If you had a three-foot putt for your life, would you putt it yourself or would you call someone to putt it for you?
If it were my life, I'd putt it. Well, if I was like a cat and had a few lives, and I only had one life left, I'd have Tiger putt it.

Will Tiger break Jack's record?
I've always said absolutely, no question about it. He's got a unique ability to do what he needs to do to get it done. And I know him very well and he had no complications with the recovery from surgery. I texted him after the injury was announced. I said, "Sorry about all that. It's going to be a great time because you'll be able to spend so much time with your family." I think it might take longer than he wants, and the public expects, because he has been Superman. He has taken extended time off and comes back and wins right away. Usually when someone takes that much time off, it takes time to come back. He does things no one else has ever done and he makes it look relatively easy. And I think the public expects him to do it all the time.

One course for the rest of your life?
I guess I have to keep sticking with my answer for the last 20 years, which would be Pebble Beach.