I didn't go to church much as an adult, even though my dad was a Sunday school teacher for 50 years. I used to say it was because I was usually playing golf on Sundays. But the truth is, I have a hard time relying on anyone, including God. Deep down I believe, though. I know the Lord's Prayer by heart.
As I get older, I like being taken care of more and more. I like getting my hair cut, my back rubbed, my finger bandaged if I get a cut. My favorite thing is pedicures.
It goes without saying that my biggest disappointment was never winning the U.S. Open. I'm reminded of it all the time. It hurts when people remember you for the things you didn't do, rather than for the things you did do.
People who talk really fast or dart around generally have a hard time playing golf.
Most big-time swing teachers have never been under the gun, so they don't understand how a person's swing changes under pressure. As a young player, the first thing I'd want to know is how to handle the heat.
No doubt about it, a drive that flies dead-straight is the hardest shot in the book to pull off. But I tried to hit it dead straight anyway. That way, if I hooked, sliced, pushed or pulled the ball by 10 yards, it would still be in play.
I have a reputation for being tight with money, and I guess it's accurate. But I can't help it. The biggest Christmas I had as a kid was when I found 15 cents and a pair of socks under my breakfast plate. Poverty will make you respect money.
Tiger Woods is something. But from what I see, he doesn't like putting the short ones. That makes me afraid for him. He's too young for that.
I don't understand how an autograph can be worth money. How can a famous person's signature be worth anything to anyone other than the person who asked for it?
My dad was the best checkers player in the world. He saw at least five moves ahead. I never heard of him losing, and he was a checkers player his whole life.
I detest the fact that I endorsed cigarettes years ago; I didn't even smoke. Lucky Strikes, Viceroys Chesterfields, Granger Pipe tobacco — I endorsed them all. At The Greenbrier they had those ads on the walls as decoration. I made them take them all down.
If you want to know how good you are, go to an empty field with your 9-iron, perch up a single ball, and program yourself to hit the ball exactly 125 yards. Hit the shot, then pace off the yardage. If you came within five yards, you're a player.
I could have been a better father when my kids were young. But I was gone so damned much of the time. It's never too late, though. Jackie and I see each other every day, Terry is nearby, and I can't imagine father and sons being closer than we are now.
Terry is handicapped mentally. He caught a bad fever when he was 2, and he didn't develop normally after that. But having a handicapped child has taught me to look at what they might be capable of, instead of dwelling on their limitations.
Mean dogs and ornery cats are nice to me. I've walked right up to deer and even a bobcat. I trained a bass to let me lift him out of the water. It's just a gift I have. All I do is look at them softly and move in a slow, kind way.
I can't play golf anymore. My legs won't let me walk even nine holes. But I know I'll be able to play again in the spring, after I ride my bicycle through that Bermuda grass they have around my winter home in Florida.
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