Which PGA Tour players are cool off the course? Which aren't?

[Mitchell]

Fred Couples gave me a Cleveland 47* wedge once...didn't change my opinion of him :)

[theshield]

I was at The Homestead in late June of 96 or 97. I had just finished a round on the Cascade and it was about 95 degrees out on a weekday. Place was pretty dead and I was in the locker room washing up, turn around, and there's Sam Snead!! It was surreal. He was looking dapper as always and I said hi to him. We were the only two in the locker room and he started making small talk with me - asking about my round, where I'm from, etc. I was around 16 at the time and I asked him to sign my scorecard. Well he came back and said he should sign my hat instead, it will last longer. So I had two issues with this 1 - I had just bought the hat, liked it, and wanted to wear it again lol and 2 - it was drenched in sweat from my round, brim included. But what the hell am I gonna say, no to Sam Snead??? Ha! So he signed the hat, still have it to this day! Anyway, it was a pretty cool experience I still remember vividly. Best part about that trip was when I got home I found out I was fired from my first job at a local club as a range attendant. Guy I arranged to cover for me just blew it off and we were both fired! Told the pro I was gonna have Sam call him to get my job back! Anyway, lesson learned, things seemed to have worked out ok since then!

[sergio285]

Was at Bridgestone invitational 2009 practice round on 2nd standing all alone next to two kids no more than five years old get signatures from just about everybody Sergio Justin Rose Luke Donald etc then here comes Rocco MEdiate the kids politely asked mr. Mediate could you please sign my hat Rocco turned to the five years olds and was a big d bag said I don't have time for you. As the hit four shots. They were only kids around and he was a complete a** to them telling them to stop asking players they have work to do.

[pga43]

Was at Bridgestone invitational 2009 practice round on 2nd standing all alone next to two kids no more than five years old get signatures from just about everybody Sergio Justin Rose Luke Donald etc then here comes Rocco MEdiate the kids politely asked mr. Mediate could you please sign my hat Rocco turned to the five years olds and was a big d bag said I don't have time for you. As the hit four shots. They were only kids around and he was a complete a** to them telling them to stop asking players they have work to do.

 

Rocco didn't play in the 2009 Bridgestone Invitational

 

 

Greg

[PZero]

Fred Couples gave me a Cleveland 47* wedge once...didn't change my opinion of him :)

 

Did it have his digits on it?

[rony]

Was at Bridgestone invitational 2009 practice round on 2nd standing all alone next to two kids no more than five years old get signatures from just about everybody Sergio Justin Rose Luke Donald etc then here comes Rocco MEdiate the kids politely asked mr. Mediate could you please sign my hat Rocco turned to the five years olds and was a big d bag said I don't have time for you. As the hit four shots. They were only kids around and he was a complete a** to them telling them to stop asking players they have work to do.

 

Rocco didn't play in the 2009 Bridgestone Invitational

 

 

Greg

26 Posts vs 7490 Posts. I guess he fact checks every post! (LOL)

[Forged4ever]

Was at Bridgestone invitational 2009 practice round on 2nd standing all alone next to two kids no more than five years old get signatures from just about everybody Sergio Justin Rose Luke Donald etc then here comes Rocco MEdiate the kids politely asked mr. Mediate could you please sign my hat Rocco turned to the five years olds and was a big d bag said I don't have time for you. As the hit four shots. They were only kids around and he was a complete a** to them telling them to stop asking players they have work to do.

 

Rocco didn't play in the 2009 Bridgestone Invitational

 

 

Greg

Okey Dokey then.......

 

Aside from Greg's excruciatingly important point, and yea, Rocco can get a little edgy, and yea, if you may have seen him during that period, following Torrey, Rocco went through a lot and not all of it positive(for him, not how he treats people. Never ever saw him be rude. That's not to say that it couldn't happen, though not with a little child. No Friggin Way) however a a Father of three Boys, and Maddie can speak better to how the Rockster is with children, well, let me just say that I'm really glad the Greg posts what he did because THIS I would find very very very very difficult to believe.

 

No strike that-

 

As Greg said, he wasn't even there-

 

Nuff said.......

 

I hope that you're well Greg~

 

Safe Travels my Friend :)

 

Fairways & Greens 4ever,

Richard

[BIG STU]

^^^ I know Rocco personally from the old mini tour days and I will bet any amount from here to Rocky Mount he has never been like that I do not give a hoot what kind of personal problems he was going through at the time he would not do any fan like that especially kids

[Forged4ever]

^^^ I know Rocco personally from the old mini tour days and I will bet any amount from here to Rocky Mount he has never been like that I do not give a hoot what kind of personal problems he was going through at the time he would not do any fan like that especially kids

I'd be layin my money right on top of yours-

 

All day, every day!!!

 

I hope that you're well Bro :)

 

Always,

Richard

[Forged4ever]

^^^ I know Rocco personally from the old mini tour days and I will bet any amount from here to Rocky Mount he has never been like that I do not give a hoot what kind of personal problems he was going through at the time he would not do any fan like that especially kids

I'd be layin my money right on top of yours-

 

All day, every day!!!

 

I hope that you're well Bro :)

 

Always,

Richard

LMAO, Bro, my BP bells started ringin(this is great!! I can pick the sound that I wanna hear to tell me that I'm approaching stroke level BP, ie., bells versus buzzer and then some orchestra sounding bells, lmao! 460cc heads, MP irons that look like howitzers, bells chirpin that I'm on the edge, damn, ain't technology grand ;) ) when i was responding to Serg's post, lol

 

Bub, ya post once every two months and you take me to the edge, LMAO!!!

 

Hey Stu, Rats or anyone that knows, I got the 2014-15 Decions/RoG, is the 2015/16 out yet?

 

Thanks much!!

 

Have a nice evening BroMeisters :)

 

Golfingly Yours,

RP

[nikegal]

Was at Bridgestone invitational 2009 practice round on 2nd standing all alone next to two kids no more than five years old get signatures from just about everybody Sergio Justin Rose Luke Donald etc then here comes Rocco MEdiate the kids politely asked mr. Mediate could you please sign my hat Rocco turned to the five years olds and was a big d bag said I don't have time for you. As the hit four shots. They were only kids around and he was a complete a** to them telling them to stop asking players they have work to do.

 

ROCCO DIDN'T PLAY IN THE 2009 BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL

 

 

Greg

This is all that needs to be said though were these two little 5yo boys by themselves? You didn't mention parents, most likely a father if this were non-fiction, and I would think that the fathers' responses would be the most memorable exchange of the whole encounter. Secondly, "Mr. Mediate, could you please sign my hat" is a real mouthful for any 5yo, especially to a stranger, no matter who he/she is. I know as I have one who just turned 6yo. Take care Greg :) Maddie

[sdbisson91]

I've met a few guys from the tour, but the nicest/funniest guy I've met was Dustin Johnson. I went to school with his brother and DJ would visit on occasion. Great guy.

 

On the women's side; Paula Creamer is a treat, so was Stacy Lewis.

[rony]

^^^ I know Rocco personally from the old mini tour days and I will bet any amount from here to Rocky Mount he has never been like that I do not give a hoot what kind of personal problems he was going through at the time he would not do any fan like that especially kids

 

I totally agree. Have seen Rocco at Bethpage Black twice. Nicest, friendliest guy you could ever meet! Will talk forever with anybody! GREAT personality! :yahoo:

[Stensons3Wood]

Played in pro am with Ted Tryba He walked about 30 yards behind the group and read the USA today for most of the front 9. Not very friendly he did hit a few good shots and spent some time bragging on himself.

 

Same pro am the next year played with Tom Pernice Jr. Didn't think it was possible but a bigger tool than Tryba but, I was wrong. He commented on how overweight the fans were , didn't say 10 words and he actually walked off without finishing the last hole of the day ( 9th at English Turn ) He hits a ball in the water and the rest of the group looks for him and he left. The scorer refused to believe it and went after him looking for a scorecard. He played awful.

 

On the other hand played in a pro am with Greg Chalmers and he was the nicest guy you would ever want to meet. He was a lot of fun

[Rob McHugh]

Thanks Rich and VJSwings!!

 

To be honest though, the funniest thing about me is my crap golf swing!!

 

On a pertinent note; I am at present watching re-runs of final rounds in the lead up to the Master's here on Foxtel in Sydney - boy did Verne and the rest of those commenators fawn over Freddie back when!!!

 

Two of the stand-outs were 'he (Freddie) even makes walking look easy' -really, all these years and here is stupid me thinking walking was easy. Second nature to me, maybe I'm a natural athlete type.

The winner though was Verne commenting on 'how smooth' Freddie's putting stroke was!!! Believe me folks, nothing has changed, I know it's 1992 pictures I am watching and they are not HD but even a hack like me can see he has more jab than The Three Musketeers.

 

Kind regards,

Rob

[BIG STU]

^^^ I know Rocco personally from the old mini tour days and I will bet any amount from here to Rocky Mount he has never been like that I do not give a hoot what kind of personal problems he was going through at the time he would not do any fan like that especially kids

I'd be layin my money right on top of yours-

 

All day, every day!!!

 

I hope that you're well Bro :)

 

Always,

Richard

LMAO, Bro, my BP bells started ringin(this is great!! I can pick the sound that I wanna hear to tell me that I'm approaching stroke level BP, ie., bells versus buzzer and then some orchestra sounding bells, lmao! 460cc heads, MP irons that look like howitzers, bells chirpin that I'm on the edge, damn, ain't technology grand ;) ) when i was responding to Serg's post, lol

 

Bub, ya post once every two months and you take me to the edge, LMAO!!!

 

Hey Stu, Rats or anyone that knows, I got the 2014-15 Decions/RoG, is the 2015/16 out yet?

 

Thanks much!!

 

Have a nice evening BroMeisters :)

 

Golfingly Yours,

RP

Do not know for sure on the 2016 Decisions book

[nikegal]

^^^ I know Rocco personally from the old mini tour days and I will bet any amount from here to Rocky Mount he has never been like that I do not give a hoot what kind of personal problems he was going through at the time he would not do any fan like that especially kids

I'd be layin my money right on top of yours-

 

All day, every day!!!

 

I hope that you're well Bro :)

 

Always,

Richard

LMAO, Bro, my BP bells started ringin(this is great!! I can pick the sound that I wanna hear to tell me that I'm approaching stroke level BP, ie., bells versus buzzer and then some orchestra sounding bells, lmao! 460cc heads, MP irons that look like howitzers, bells chirpin that I'm on the edge, damn, ain't technology grand ;) ) when i was responding to Serg's post, lol

 

Bub, ya post once every two months and you take me to the edge, LMAO!!!

 

Hey Stu, Rats or anyone that knows, I got the 2014-15 Decions/RoG, is the 2015/16 out yet?

 

Thanks much!!

 

Have a nice evening BroMeisters :)

 

Golfingly Yours,

RP

Do not know for sure on the 2016 Decisions book

Good morning Stu. You know things are bad when he reads the decisions book for casual reading, lolol. Have a nice day. Fondly, Maddie

[BIG STU]

^^^^ Maddie he is ok he is just looking for something to quiz someone on or to argue with someone about------ That's RP and you know it as well as I and some others do. I need to find one before he does because I will be one of the first he will try to quiz on.

[ryanw21]

Just volunteered as a walking scorer this past week at the shell, and every pro i was with was really cool. Keegan was kinda quiet but was cool when he socialized during the pro-am. Jonas blixt is a funny guy, and patton kizzire and johnson wagner are both really nice. I definitely learned during this that these guys are just people like the rest of us.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

I've got a pretty good story third hand from a former work colleague of my father's so here goes. Back in the 80s, there was a European Tour event at a great course called Bingley St Ives, not far from Bradford (Yorkshire for none Northern Englanders). A good number of top names played there, Palmer, Trevino, Lyle and Nick Faldo. My father's colleague was in the area with work at the same time as the tournament was being played. He stopped off in a place called Shipley (not far from the more well known Saltaire) and parked up by the canal there. He wasn't feeling too good so got out of his car for some fresh air. I don't know how bad he actually was but he was in such a state that a pair of gentlemen came over to him to see how he was. One of them was Nick Faldo who had also stopped by the canal in his car. I am told that they stayed for a bit just to see if he was ok and then went on their way when it was clear that there was no immediate concern for life. My father's colleague knew who Nick Faldo was but had no idea why he would be there at that time until my father told him about the tour event.

 

For me, your story is so completely "local" I have to give it a "like". I hit my first ever golf shot at Bingley St. Ives. It used to be a public course, but I think Bradford council sold it and it is now private.

Saltaire is a world heritage site, and the mill is worth a visit as it has a massive collection of artwork by David Hockney (some really good stuff, I might add), and a good restaurant.

[Rob McHugh]

Oh, that Rocco Mediate - famous for it!

 

How can anyone say a good word about him! Last time I hung out with Rocco he was in the public library ripping the last page out of Agatha Christie mysteries. Have a really close look at the footage - yes my friends there's Rocco on the 'grassy knoll'. Being mean to little kids - all in a days work for Rocco! :-)

 

Kind regards,

Rob

[buckeyefl]

Not to bring this back from the dead but I debated posting earlier and finally had the time and patience to sit down and make some comments.

 

I was lucky enough to work in "Golf Mecca" area with lots of tour players and worked at one of the clubs that many were members of back in the day. One thing I learned is that how you meet someone can have a big influence on your opinion of them and that I would not survive as a tour player when it came to certain things with the fans. As with any profession, golf has its share or winners and turds BUT some are also judged on a five second interaction with little context.

 

I worked at another private club and often played with mini tour and tour players as well as "famous" people but when I interviewed at this club and walked around a corner in the club house to be greeted by portraits of two of their members in their green jackets....well it was a new level. Now I am not overly impressed with peoples money or fame but as a golfer it was still surreal.

 

Some of this will be similar to other peoples experience and some may not simply because I knew these guys at their home which can make a huge difference. Their guard is usually down as we signed a confidentiality agreement ( a lot of that was for the really powerful members who weren't golfers) and went through a background check as well as a playing interview and you had to maintain at least a 4 handicap. All of this made for a unique experience.

 

Ill start with one my favorites, Mark O'Meara. Hands down one of the nicest people Ive ever met. I was sitting with his father one day and told him that I understood why Mark was how he was because HE was one of the nicest people I had ever met, lol. Mark didn't hold the title long. Just super good people.

 

The funniest story I remember with him happened on the putting green as I was practicing. I had to work later but arrived a couple of hours early to do some putting practice and play some holes. So I come whipping up to the green in a cart, parked behind one of the few carts sitting their with a Buick staff bag on it ( everyone had staff bags) and started my practice. I was in my own world but did hear Mark behind me talking to someone. They were having a long conversation and at some point the other persons voice sounded familiar so I turned and looked and here it was a young successful player who he had taken under his wing. I laughed at myself for not putting the bag with the player and thought "pretty cool" and went back to practicing. I had met Mark and spoke with him previously ( conversations with pros was rarely about golf as conversations with CEOs was rarely about business unless you wanted to be escorted out) and then I remembered my boss saying that one of the reasons they had the handicap rule for employees is because sometimes members and even the tour players would ask to join up if you all were heading out at the same time. I told my roommate later that some day I would look back and remember what a cool day that was and how lucky I was to be at such a place at that particular time in golf history. He worked at our sister course and couldn't agree more. We were both right.

 

John Cook was a great guy as well. We probably hit it off because I was from Ohio and little older than much of the golf staff. The week I was leaving that job he came up to me and said "You use my name however you have to in order to help with your career" and handed me his number. He then called his dad and said "Buckeye is moving back to Ohio and lives near Firestone. Can you make a call?" He then handed me his phone and I spoke with his father about who I needed to speak with back home.

 

One day John comes rolling up and asked about the keys to the club repair room. I took him down and he asked if I wanted to help him re-grip his clubs. Ummmmm yep I sure did. I didn't know at the time but someone told him I had been doing a certain members clubs ( extremely picky, extremely good and unaware that it was me and not an outside club guy doing the work) and I guess that John figured I wouldn't screw his up.

 

About 6 months after I left the club I took my uncle to Muirfield to see the tournament and to meet John who happened to be his favorite player. I don't now how it is now but back then Jack kept the fans pretty far back and didn't really want people asking for autographs on the course. I saw John in the fairway and yelled his name and he came over and talked for a couple of minutes and shook my uncles hand. He still hasn't forgotten that day.

 

July of that year a foursome showed up and I recognized all of them immediately. One , Donnie Hammond, was a member. Peter Kessler I new through a mutual friend and Fulton Allem who I knew from my old job. Donnie shook my hand, I jabbed Peter about not inviting our mutual friend and Fulton came up and nearly bear hugged me. The fourth walked over and said "Hi Buckeye, my names Retief Goosen"

 

Well I had been mesmerized by his performance in the US Open, so much so that Craig Parry and I sat and talked about it for half an hour the week after Retief won. I kind of laughed to myself "does he actually think I don't know who he is?" He was that unassuming and genuine. Oh and his rental car was a Chevy Malibu which I thought fitted perfectly. My roomate met him a week later and said he walked up and asked if he thought it would be OK if he hist some range balls. My roomie responded "You are the US Open champion, you can do whatever you like."

 

Just a side note about him hitting range balls. One of the things he really liked to do was take a BIG bucket of balls and just thrown it amongst the trees and spend his time hitting shots out of them. It explained a lot about his abilities. Super nice guy.

 

Since I mentioned Fulton...he is who he is and you never knew who you were going to get. I was happy to never be on the wrong end of one of his moods because they were epic.

 

Craig Parry, one of my favorites. Honestly out of all of the players I met he would be the one I would want to play another round with because it was that fun and educational. Ill share one story just for Johnny Miller fans.

 

Our range was double sided with members on one side and ourselves and the tour players on the other. ( not a rule per se but that was pretty standard) I was out one morning and saw Craig on the back of the range all by himself so I swung by to say hi since we had gotten to know each other pretty well. I noticed he had several clubs still in plastic leaning up against his cart and he was making his usual awesome swing to a distant target. I asked him what was with the clubs in plastic.

 

"Well my contract is almost up..."

 

THWACK

 

"So I went to all of the companies..."

 

THWACK

 

"and told them to give m their 1 iron because if can hit it I figure I can hit anything they make"

 

THWACK

 

Yep he was stripping 1 irons one after another. He had a little divot spot going and he turned to me and started talking about his swing.

 

"You know I grew up playing some goat ranches but it made me a better player because i learned to deal with adverse conditions"

 

He rolled a ball into his divot and took another swing with his 1 iron, then another, then another and another. They all looked exactly the same and I think you could have made one swipe with a picker and you would have gathered up all of his shots.

 

Awesome guy with an incredible short game. If memory serves I think he went a whole season with no 3 putts.

 

Oh I almost forgot, I was playing behind him and a friend one day and after the round he made the trip back to the 18th and asked me what I shot. I had just finished my first even par round at the course and had to hit driver/driver on 17 to set it up. He said "I kept turning and watching and knew you had a really good round going which is why i didn't wave you up. That's a hell of a score considering how high the rough is and the greens" ( It was around US Open time and they would do all they could to get the greens fast for the players) One of the biggest compliments I ever received on the course.

 

I saw his name in the senior tour event this past weekend so I hope hes going to compete here so I can possibly catch up with him.

 

Next was a couple of Aussies who were best friends that people sometimes gets confused. Definitely different personalities ( at least in my experience) but both were always nice to me. They were the first players of that level I practiced with and I learned a ton from them about how and what to practice. To this day I am still surprised neither won a major.

 

The first time I met them was on the driving range when I had to hit balls between them. I was brand new and nervous so I took out my sand wedge and hit 3/4 shots for what seemed like half an hour. I would hit a lot more with them and had a lot of laughs. The one who is known for not being the nicest came up to me right before Firestone and said his buddy had told him that I was from Ohio and was going to be up there that week and he wondered if I needed tickets. I told him thanks but I could get some back home. He gave me his phone number and told me to call him the Monday of the tournament and he would have my tickets. He did what he said and when I went out on practice day to thank them they stopped signing autographs to come over and talk to me for a minute and meet my daughter and gf. That's when I saw how they went into autograph mode and how some people could come away with players not being friendly enough. It was confirmed later that day just how crazy fans were when they nearly trampled my daughter and I to get to another of our members. Speaking for myself , I really don't think I would handle that life very well.

 

Scott Hoch was another who has a bad reputation but was always good to me. The stories about his ball striking were true and I loved watching him hit shots. His distance control was incredible. His buddy was telling me that back in the day he used to tell his caddy to to give him exact yardages such as 163 yards and two feet. Now obvioulsy he wasnt that accurate but in his mind he felt like he was and it gave him confidence knowing the exact yardages.

 

Grante Waite. ust met him a couple of times. Super quiet but damn could he hit an iron.

 

Lee Janzen was also quiet but never came off as a bad guy. He even went out of his way to come over and say HI while I was playing in a tournament at a course down the road. I was just as surprised as the guys in my group because even though we had met a few times and I saw him on the grounds, I never expected him to drive over and say hello.

 

I remember him hitting tee shots off of 10 one day and one of the staff turns to me and says "That's disappointing, i can hit it longer than him." I told him to look at the 5 balls he just hit. You could have thrown a sheet over all five of them. I told the guy "Thats why only one of you has a US Open trophy"

 

Finally the most famous member we had. Ill keep it short and sweet. He was always good to me, although he was very careful around people. Once I was around him I saw why and told him he could have that life. He was as good as they said and he did things no one else could do. He would step on your throat to win at checkers ( competitive but not a jerk about it) and I doubt that has gone away.

 

All in all I had a good experience and the only one I really had was one of the Aussies. He was a little hot headed but the club also put me in a bad position because they knew he and I got along. It was a situation with one of his guests but to his credit he apologized later even though it wasn't necessary because I felt he was right. He knew I was just doing my job.

 

There was a bunch more but Ive rambled long enough and Ive probably already commented on them in other posts when their names came up.

[rony]

Not to bring this back from the dead but I debated posting earlier and finally had the time and patience to sit down and make some comments.

 

I was lucky enough to work in "Golf Mecca" area with lots of tour players and worked at one of the clubs that many were members of back in the day. One thing I learned is that how you meet someone can have a big influence on your opinion of them and that I would not survive as a tour player when it came to certain things with the fans. As with any profession, golf has its share or winners and turds BUT some are also judged on a five second interaction with little context.

 

I worked at another private club and often played with mini tour and tour players as well as "famous" people but when I interviewed at this club and walked around a corner in the club house to be greeted by portraits of two of their members in their green jackets....well it was a new level. Now I am not overly impressed with peoples money or fame but as a golfer it was still surreal.

 

Some of this will be similar to other peoples experience and some may not simply because I knew these guys at their home which can make a huge difference. Their guard is usually down as we signed a confidentiality agreement ( a lot of that was for the really powerful members who weren't golfers) and went through a background check as well as a playing interview and you had to maintain at least a 4 handicap. All of this made for a unique experience.

 

Ill start with one my favorites, Mark O'Meara. Hands down one of the nicest people Ive ever met. I was sitting with his father one day and told him that I understood why Mark was how he was because HE was one of the nicest people I had ever met, lol. Mark didn't hold the title long. Just super good people.

 

The funniest story I remember with him happened on the putting green as I was practicing. I had to work later but arrived a couple of hours early to do some putting practice and play some holes. So I come whipping up to the green in a cart, parked behind one of the few carts sitting their with a Buick staff bag on it ( everyone had staff bags) and started my practice. I was in my own world but did hear Mark behind me talking to someone. They were having a long conversation and at some point the other persons voice sounded familiar so I turned and looked and here it was a young successful player who he had taken under his wing. I laughed at myself for not putting the bag with the player and thought "pretty cool" and went back to practicing. I had met Mark and spoke with him previously ( conversations with pros was rarely about golf as conversations with CEOs was rarely about business unless you wanted to be escorted out) and then I remembered my boss saying that one of the reasons they had the handicap rule for employees is because sometimes members and even the tour players would ask to join up if you all were heading out at the same time. I told my roommate later that some day I would look back and remember what a cool day that was and how lucky I was to be at such a place at that particular time in golf history. He worked at our sister course and couldn't agree more. We were both right.

 

John Cook was a great guy as well. We probably hit it off because I was from Ohio and little older than much of the golf staff. The week I was leaving that job he came up to me and said "You use my name however you have to in order to help with your career" and handed me his number. He then called his dad and said "Buckeye is moving back to Ohio and lives near Firestone. Can you make a call?" He then handed me his phone and I spoke with his father about who I needed to speak with back home.

 

One day John comes rolling up and asked about the keys to the club repair room. I took him down and he asked if I wanted to help him re-grip his clubs. Ummmmm yep I sure did. I didn't know at the time but someone told him I had been doing a certain members clubs ( extremely picky, extremely good and unaware that it was me and not an outside club guy doing the work) and I guess that John figured I wouldn't screw his up.

 

About 6 months after I left the club I took my uncle to Muirfield to see the tournament and to meet John who happened to be his favorite player. I don't now how it is now but back then Jack kept the fans pretty far back and didn't really want people asking for autographs on the course. I saw John in the fairway and yelled his name and he came over and talked for a couple of minutes and shook my uncles hand. He still hasn't forgotten that day.

 

July of that year a foursome showed up and I recognized all of them immediately. One , Donnie Hammond, was a member. Peter Kessler I new through a mutual friend and Fulton Allem who I knew from my old job. Donnie shook my hand, I jabbed Peter about not inviting our mutual friend and Fulton came up and nearly bear hugged me. The fourth walked over and said "Hi Buckeye, my names Retief Goosen"

 

Well I had been mesmerized by his performance in the US Open, so much so that Craig Parry and I sat and talked about it for half an hour the week after Retief won. I kind of laughed to myself "does he actually think I don't know who he is?" He was that unassuming and genuine. Oh and his rental car was a Chevy Malibu which I thought fitted perfectly. My roomate met him a week later and said he walked up and asked if he thought it would be OK if he hist some range balls. My roomie responded "You are the US Open champion, you can do whatever you like."

 

Just a side note about him hitting range balls. One of the things he really liked to do was take a BIG bucket of balls and just thrown it amongst the trees and spend his time hitting shots out of them. It explained a lot about his abilities. Super nice guy.

 

Since I mentioned Fulton...he is who he is and you never knew who you were going to get. I was happy to never be on the wrong end of one of his moods because they were epic.

 

Craig Parry, one of my favorites. Honestly out of all of the players I met he would be the one I would want to play another round with because it was that fun and educational. Ill share one story just for Johnny Miller fans.

 

Our range was double sided with members on one side and ourselves and the tour players on the other. ( not a rule per se but that was pretty standard) I was out one morning and saw Craig on the back of the range all by himself so I swung by to say hi since we had gotten to know each other pretty well. I noticed he had several clubs still in plastic leaning up against his cart and he was making his usual awesome swing to a distant target. I asked him what was with the clubs in plastic.

 

"Well my contract is almost up..."

 

THWACK

 

"So I went to all of the companies..."

 

THWACK

 

"and told them to give m their 1 iron because if can hit it I figure I can hit anything they make"

 

THWACK

 

Yep he was stripping 1 irons one after another. He had a little divot spot going and he turned to me and started talking about his swing.

 

"You know I grew up playing some goat ranches but it made me a better player because i learned to deal with adverse conditions"

 

He rolled a ball into his divot and took another swing with his 1 iron, then another, then another and another. They all looked exactly the same and I think you could have made one swipe with a picker and you would have gathered up all of his shots.

 

Awesome guy with an incredible short game. If memory serves I think he went a whole season with no 3 putts.

 

Oh I almost forgot, I was playing behind him and a friend one day and after the round he made the trip back to the 18th and asked me what I shot. I had just finished my first even par round at the course and had to hit driver/driver on 17 to set it up. He said "I kept turning and watching and knew you had a really good round going which is why i didn't wave you up. That's a hell of a score considering how high the rough is and the greens" ( It was around US Open time and they would do all they could to get the greens fast for the players) One of the biggest compliments I ever received on the course.

 

I saw his name in the senior tour event this past weekend so I hope hes going to compete here so I can possibly catch up with him.

 

Next was a couple of Aussies who were best friends that people sometimes gets confused. Definitely different personalities ( at least in my experience) but both were always nice to me. They were the first players of that level I practiced with and I learned a ton from them about how and what to practice. To this day I am still surprised neither won a major.

 

The first time I met them was on the driving range when I had to hit balls between them. I was brand new and nervous so I took out my sand wedge and hit 3/4 shots for what seemed like half an hour. I would hit a lot more with them and had a lot of laughs. The one who is known for not being the nicest came up to me right before Firestone and said his buddy had told him that I was from Ohio and was going to be up there that week and he wondered if I needed tickets. I told him thanks but I could get some back home. He gave me his phone number and told me to call him the Monday of the tournament and he would have my tickets. He did what he said and when I went out on practice day to thank them they stopped signing autographs to come over and talk to me for a minute and meet my daughter and gf. That's when I saw how they went into autograph mode and how some people could come away with players not being friendly enough. It was confirmed later that day just how crazy fans were when they nearly trampled my daughter and I to get to another of our members. Speaking for myself , I really don't think I would handle that life very well.

 

Scott Hoch was another who has a bad reputation but was always good to me. The stories about his ball striking were true and I loved watching him hit shots. His distance control was incredible. His buddy was telling me that back in the day he used to tell his caddy to to give him exact yardages such as 163 yards and two feet. Now obvioulsy he wasnt that accurate but in his mind he felt like he was and it gave him confidence knowing the exact yardages.

 

Grante Waite. ust met him a couple of times. Super quiet but damn could he hit an iron.

 

Lee Janzen was also quiet but never came off as a bad guy. He even went out of his way to come over and say HI while I was playing in a tournament at a course down the road. I was just as surprised as the guys in my group because even though we had met a few times and I saw him on the grounds, I never expected him to drive over and say hello.

 

I remember him hitting tee shots off of 10 one day and one of the staff turns to me and says "That's disappointing, i can hit it longer than him." I told him to look at the 5 balls he just hit. You could have thrown a sheet over all five of them. I told the guy "Thats why only one of you has a US Open trophy"

 

Finally the most famous member we had. Ill keep it short and sweet. He was always good to me, although he was very careful around people. Once I was around him I saw why and told him he could have that life. He was as good as they said and he did things no one else could do. He would step on your throat to win at checkers ( competitive but not a jerk about it) and I doubt that has gone away.

 

All in all I had a good experience and the only one I really had was one of the Aussies. He was a little hot headed but the club also put me in a bad position because they knew he and I got along. It was a situation with one of his guests but to his credit he apologized later even though it wasn't necessary because I felt he was right. He knew I was just doing my job.

 

There was a bunch more but Ive rambled long enough and Ive probably already commented on them in other posts when their names came up.

 

Could you Expand on this a bit? :rolleyes:

[buckeyefl]

Lol I could have made it really short but I tried to add little things about my experiences that might show a side people didn't know. You should have seen the long version ;)

[straightshot7]

Lol I could have made it really short but I tried to add little things about my experiences that might show a side people didn't know. You should have seen the long version ;)

 

Enjoyed reading, thanks for sharing.

[buckeye88us]

Lol I could have made it really short but I tried to add little things about my experiences that might show a side people didn't know. You should have seen the long version ;)

 

Great read...thanks !

[Forged4ever]

Not to bring this back from the dead but I debated posting earlier and finally had the time and patience to sit down and make some comments.

 

I was lucky enough to work in "Golf Mecca" area with lots of tour players and worked at one of the clubs that many were members of back in the day. One thing I learned is that how you meet someone can have a big influence on your opinion of them and that I would not survive as a tour player when it came to certain things with the fans. As with any profession, golf has its share or winners and turds BUT some are also judged on a five second interaction with little context.

 

I worked at another private club and often played with mini tour and tour players as well as "famous" people but when I interviewed at this club and walked around a corner in the club house to be greeted by portraits of two of their members in their green jackets....well it was a new level. Now I am not overly impressed with peoples money or fame but as a golfer it was still surreal.

 

Some of this will be similar to other peoples experience and some may not simply because I knew these guys at their home which can make a huge difference. Their guard is usually down as we signed a confidentiality agreement ( a lot of that was for the really powerful members who weren't golfers) and went through a background check as well as a playing interview and you had to maintain at least a 4 handicap. All of this made for a unique experience.

 

Ill start with one my favorites, Mark O'Meara. Hands down one of the nicest people Ive ever met. I was sitting with his father one day and told him that I understood why Mark was how he was because HE was one of the nicest people I had ever met, lol. Mark didn't hold the title long. Just super good people.

 

The funniest story I remember with him happened on the putting green as I was practicing. I had to work later but arrived a couple of hours early to do some putting practice and play some holes. So I come whipping up to the green in a cart, parked behind one of the few carts sitting their with a Buick staff bag on it ( everyone had staff bags) and started my practice. I was in my own world but did hear Mark behind me talking to someone. They were having a long conversation and at some point the other persons voice sounded familiar so I turned and looked and here it was a young successful player who he had taken under his wing. I laughed at myself for not putting the bag with the player and thought "pretty cool" and went back to practicing. I had met Mark and spoke with him previously ( conversations with pros was rarely about golf as conversations with CEOs was rarely about business unless you wanted to be escorted out) and then I remembered my boss saying that one of the reasons they had the handicap rule for employees is because sometimes members and even the tour players would ask to join up if you all were heading out at the same time. I told my roommate later that some day I would look back and remember what a cool day that was and how lucky I was to be at such a place at that particular time in golf history. He worked at our sister course and couldn't agree more. We were both right.

 

John Cook was a great guy as well. We probably hit it off because I was from Ohio and little older than much of the golf staff. The week I was leaving that job he came up to me and said "You use my name however you have to in order to help with your career" and handed me his number. He then called his dad and said "Buckeye is moving back to Ohio and lives near Firestone. Can you make a call?" He then handed me his phone and I spoke with his father about who I needed to speak with back home.

 

One day John comes rolling up and asked about the keys to the club repair room. I took him down and he asked if I wanted to help him re-grip his clubs. Ummmmm yep I sure did. I didn't know at the time but someone told him I had been doing a certain members clubs ( extremely picky, extremely good and unaware that it was me and not an outside club guy doing the work) and I guess that John figured I wouldn't screw his up.

 

About 6 months after I left the club I took my uncle to Muirfield to see the tournament and to meet John who happened to be his favorite player. I don't now how it is now but back then Jack kept the fans pretty far back and didn't really want people asking for autographs on the course. I saw John in the fairway and yelled his name and he came over and talked for a couple of minutes and shook my uncles hand. He still hasn't forgotten that day.

 

July of that year a foursome showed up and I recognized all of them immediately. One , Donnie Hammond, was a member. Peter Kessler I new through a mutual friend and Fulton Allem who I knew from my old job. Donnie shook my hand, I jabbed Peter about not inviting our mutual friend and Fulton came up and nearly bear hugged me. The fourth walked over and said "Hi Buckeye, my names Retief Goosen"

 

Well I had been mesmerized by his performance in the US Open, so much so that Craig Parry and I sat and talked about it for half an hour the week after Retief won. I kind of laughed to myself "does he actually think I don't know who he is?" He was that unassuming and genuine. Oh and his rental car was a Chevy Malibu which I thought fitted perfectly. My roomate met him a week later and said he walked up and asked if he thought it would be OK if he hist some range balls. My roomie responded "You are the US Open champion, you can do whatever you like."

 

Just a side note about him hitting range balls. One of the things he really liked to do was take a BIG bucket of balls and just thrown it amongst the trees and spend his time hitting shots out of them. It explained a lot about his abilities. Super nice guy.

 

Since I mentioned Fulton...he is who he is and you never knew who you were going to get. I was happy to never be on the wrong end of one of his moods because they were epic.

 

Craig Parry, one of my favorites. Honestly out of all of the players I met he would be the one I would want to play another round with because it was that fun and educational. Ill share one story just for Johnny Miller fans.

 

Our range was double sided with members on one side and ourselves and the tour players on the other. ( not a rule per se but that was pretty standard) I was out one morning and saw Craig on the back of the range all by himself so I swung by to say hi since we had gotten to know each other pretty well. I noticed he had several clubs still in plastic leaning up against his cart and he was making his usual awesome swing to a distant target. I asked him what was with the clubs in plastic.

 

"Well my contract is almost up..."

 

THWACK

 

"So I went to all of the companies..."

 

THWACK

 

"and told them to give m their 1 iron because if can hit it I figure I can hit anything they make"

 

THWACK

 

Yep he was stripping 1 irons one after another. He had a little divot spot going and he turned to me and started talking about his swing.

 

"You know I grew up playing some goat ranches but it made me a better player because i learned to deal with adverse conditions"

 

He rolled a ball into his divot and took another swing with his 1 iron, then another, then another and another. They all looked exactly the same and I think you could have made one swipe with a picker and you would have gathered up all of his shots.

 

Awesome guy with an incredible short game. If memory serves I think he went a whole season with no 3 putts.

 

Oh I almost forgot, I was playing behind him and a friend one day and after the round he made the trip back to the 18th and asked me what I shot. I had just finished my first even par round at the course and had to hit driver/driver on 17 to set it up. He said "I kept turning and watching and knew you had a really good round going which is why i didn't wave you up. That's a hell of a score considering how high the rough is and the greens" ( It was around US Open time and they would do all they could to get the greens fast for the players) One of the biggest compliments I ever received on the course.

 

I saw his name in the senior tour event this past weekend so I hope hes going to compete here so I can possibly catch up with him.

 

Next was a couple of Aussies who were best friends that people sometimes gets confused. Definitely different personalities ( at least in my experience) but both were always nice to me. They were the first players of that level I practiced with and I learned a ton from them about how and what to practice. To this day I am still surprised neither won a major.

 

The first time I met them was on the driving range when I had to hit balls between them. I was brand new and nervous so I took out my sand wedge and hit 3/4 shots for what seemed like half an hour. I would hit a lot more with them and had a lot of laughs. The one who is known for not being the nicest came up to me right before Firestone and said his buddy had told him that I was from Ohio and was going to be up there that week and he wondered if I needed tickets. I told him thanks but I could get some back home. He gave me his phone number and told me to call him the Monday of the tournament and he would have my tickets. He did what he said and when I went out on practice day to thank them they stopped signing autographs to come over and talk to me for a minute and meet my daughter and gf. That's when I saw how they went into autograph mode and how some people could come away with players not being friendly enough. It was confirmed later that day just how crazy fans were when they nearly trampled my daughter and I to get to another of our members. Speaking for myself , I really don't think I would handle that life very well.

 

Scott Hoch was another who has a bad reputation but was always good to me. The stories about his ball striking were true and I loved watching him hit shots. His distance control was incredible. His buddy was telling me that back in the day he used to tell his caddy to to give him exact yardages such as 163 yards and two feet. Now obvioulsy he wasnt that accurate but in his mind he felt like he was and it gave him confidence knowing the exact yardages.

 

Grante Waite. ust met him a couple of times. Super quiet but damn could he hit an iron.

 

Lee Janzen was also quiet but never came off as a bad guy. He even went out of his way to come over and say HI while I was playing in a tournament at a course down the road. I was just as surprised as the guys in my group because even though we had met a few times and I saw him on the grounds, I never expected him to drive over and say hello.

 

I remember him hitting tee shots off of 10 one day and one of the staff turns to me and says "That's disappointing, i can hit it longer than him." I told him to look at the 5 balls he just hit. You could have thrown a sheet over all five of them. I told the guy "Thats why only one of you has a US Open trophy"

 

Finally the most famous member we had. Ill keep it short and sweet. He was always good to me, although he was very careful around people. Once I was around him I saw why and told him he could have that life. He was as good as they said and he did things no one else could do. He would step on your throat to win at checkers ( competitive but not a jerk about it) and I doubt that has gone away.

 

All in all I had a good experience and the only one I really had was one of the Aussies. He was a little hot headed but the club also put me in a bad position because they knew he and I got along. It was a situation with one of his guests but to his credit he apologized later even though it wasn't necessary because I felt he was right. He knew I was just doing my job.

 

There was a bunch more but Ive rambled long enough and Ive probably already commented on them in other posts when their names came up.

Phenomenal Stories!!

 

Thanks for sharing Bro :)

 

Fairways & Greens 4ever My Friend,

RP

[Forged4ever]

Lol I could have made it really short but I tried to add little things about my experiences that might show a side people didn't know. You should have seen the long version ;)

HaHa, He obviously hasn't read any of mine, lmao

 

Stay Well My Friend :)

 

All the Best,

Richard

[Mitchell]

Fred Couples gave me a Cleveland 47* wedge once...didn't change my opinion of him :)

 

Did it have his digits on it?

Nope, he was trying to be nice so could get an introduction to my girlfriend's sister, after was already told she was married. Thanks for playing though, Chief :)

[North Texas]

Lol I could have made it really short but I tried to add little things about my experiences that might show a side people didn't know. You should have seen the long version ;)

 

That was a great read! And, yes, I would love to see the long version!