The First Tee program may or may not succeed. Why it became necessary to build these facilities for kids is a black mark on the record of all local clubs and courses. If local clubs made an effort to include young people rather than exclude them, The First Tee wouldn't require the huge amounts of money and effort they're putting out. What if every club in America brought kids in twice a year and did all they could to make them feel welcome? The kids would aspire to be a part of that club. They'd study and work hard so the club could be attainable one day.
The game is growing all right — just look at the stomach of your basic country club member. The emphasis on food in clubs is just unbelievable. The chef is praised or vilified more than the head pro.
To get into Champions, your handicap has to be 15 or less. I don't care how much money someone has, what race, sex or religion they are, none of that stuff. All I want are people who have invested a lot of hours in the game. A respectable handicap usually reflects that. I have nothing against high-handicappers, but I don't want them in the majority. It doesn't make a lot of sense filling a yacht club with people who can't sail a boat.
Don't get me wrong: I believe that if you lock a hundred bulldogs inside a yard, you're going to wind up with some funny-looking bulldogs. I believe in diversity. I don't lock the gates. I want all kinds of people from all walks of life, with one thing in common: a sincere appreciation for golf and what it should be. I liken us to Stanford University, or Yale or Harvard. They don't accept D students academically, and we don't accept people with a D average in golf.
At the top of the backswing, imagine your right hand is filled with seeds. You want to spread those seeds on the ground evenly over as wide a distance as you can. Through impact, you can only disperse those seeds properly if you maintain an angle in your right wrist. If you flip your right wrist too soon, those seeds will fly up in your face or go anywhere but across the ground in front of you. I believe in throwing the club aggressively into the ball with your right hand, but you'll only get power and accuracy if you release the club as if you were spreading those seeds.
Most casual golfers aren't inclined to follow the rules. It's a reflection of how society today views rules in general. If the people at Enron knew where the out-of-bounds stakes were, they wouldn't have wound up in a courtroom.
People today ask, "Is it legal or illegal?" We used to ask, "Is it right or wrong?"
A guy presented himself to me as being a "self-made man." I said, "You must be the first SOB who ever came out of the womb self-made." We all learn from other people. We need other people. I've had 30,000 teachers in my lifetime. We all have.
How many weddings were conducted at country clubs in the last year? Is 50,000 a good guess? Golf for some reason was chosen to stage all these things in society — real-estate developments, business meetings, civic functions, weddings and so much else. Country clubs do a hell of a job. It irritates me when someone who doesn't know any better presents golf as the bad guy. The next time Martha Burk wants to throw a wedding, maybe she'll phone a handball court — and send invitations to the 1,000 women who played Augusta National the year before she attacked it.
I like helping tour players with their short games, but the full swing, forget it. I don't want them phoning me and calling me "coach." That is the last thing in the world I need. Or they need.
When a primitive hunter threw a spear at his prey, you better believe he followed through and finished with his weight on his left foot. Reverse pivots in the jungle could be fatal. That saber-toothed tiger would eat you. Any throwing motion requires a weight shift to the left. Stone Age man realized that. Millions of years later, poor golfers do not.
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