My garage looks like an Edwin Watts store. A friend will come over and say, "I need a new driver," and I take him to the garage and he chooses one. I've got 15 sets of irons ready to go at a moment's notice, and a lot just hanging around. Putters? Around 75 or 80, and the number is going up.
I have a putting green at my home ... No, it's not real grass. How rich do you think I am? Vijay Singh gave me the best driving key of all time at the Dunhill Links last year: If you're flaring it out to the right, break your wrists earlier and let your right elbow come away from your side.
Stopping at the turn doesn't work for me. I don't like suddenly having a full stomach. I don't like rushing to No. 10 with my hands full of food, fighting like hell to get my sandwich down before it's my turn to hit. I don't like talking with my mouth full. I don't like having my rhythm broken. I don't like having wet or greasy hands, and looking for something to wipe them off with. I've discovered that with a little discipline, a human being can go four hours without eating something.
Only once did I feel like quitting the game. We played Carnoustie after Jean Van de Velde almost won the British Open there. It was very cold and windy. My feet hurt. The course was hard as hell, and I looked for my ball on probably 12 holes — I hate looking for lost balls. I've never felt so bummed and disillusioned as when I left the course that day. But then it dawned on me that my 85 was four shots better than what Sergio Garcia shot. I realized it was the golf course, not me, that made for such a miserable time. When I got back to the States, I played Spyglass Hill, which is also very difficult, and just sailed around. I felt bad about wanting to quit and promised myself I'd keep things in perspective from then on.
The thing they call "The Zone" in golf has a parallel in acting. Good actors reach moments where a scene happens effortlessly. They get the temperament of the character just right, physically they move easily through their environment and the lines flow from them organically without thinking about it. It's easier for me to reach that place in acting than in golf, because acting is my calling. But I've experienced The Zone in golf frequently enough to recognize the feeling, and I strive to reach it. As we all know, it isn't easy.
I've read about how hard it was to beat Ben Hogan. The old guys talk about how Hogan would give them the silent treatment. If it had been me, I would have fought back. Along about the 15th hole, I would have hidden his cigarettes.
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