Pro Golf’s Top-5 Greatest Over Achievers....

[Ferguson]

 

 

Curtis,

The jerk store called..........................

 

[iBanesto]

You'll learn...

[bpink21901]

........and left a message saying don't bother to stop by today as you normally would... with the virus limiting our capacity to 50% we have a line waiting at the door to get in...... :)

[bpink21901]

I loved his answer to the question which to me was pure Fred. I wondered how many were waiting for the 10 step over-analytical technical answer dissecting take away, top hand position and downswing path, etc. like you would see here in the instruction forum. Instead he comes up with the 'I picture it in my head' method which I am sure he is sincere about !! :)

[Ferguson]

What about Mike Weir?

 

[Forged4ever]

No, because that’s all that Sam EVER spoke of was “picturing” the swing, shot and outcome that he wanted it in his mind and then stepping into the box to reproduce it. Same thing with Jack, and most of the Great Players that I’ve spoken with. That’s the way that my and Maddie’s Teacher, and now her, teach all of their students that are serious single digit to Plus Players. Visualization carried/carries the day though the average golfer has no prayer of implementing it effectively cuz they can’t even make the same swing three times in a row????‍♂️

 

Great point BP?

 

Have a Great Weekend?

RP

[smashdn]

My statement was not intended to be anyway related to his character, I have no experience. Just that I could see where other pros could look at him and think, "If I only had his talent...". I am also sure it ate a few guys up that he achieved what he did without being a range rat. That is their problem not his.

[Ferguson]

And Geoff Ogilvy?

 

 

 

 

[smashdn]

Think he is in the same vein to an extent. I can't speak to the why but he faded away. Might have been he got all he wanted from Pro Golf. Might not have wanted to grind to stay near the top. I know he dabbled in golf design and at one point was playing a little hickory golf. He was one of my favorite players on tour. CObra/Titleist guy.

[dalehead]

Speaking of Sam and Wilson can you confirm a story that Sam would get shipments from Wilson of Staff balls and dump them right in his shag bag?

[FakeClubPro]

+100 Poor kid from Bavaria who caddied to afford some sweets (candy). He is still winning today and does not age plus a great guy.

[FakeClubPro]

Fred's misfortune was to be in his prime during the Tiger era. I remember someone doing some statistics with golf numbers on avg score and a few other statistics. Tiger was better than Fred on a few things by the smallest of amounts but in golf it adds up.

[Schley]

Larry Nelson

[golfandfishing]

Fred’s prime preceded Tiger. By Tiger’s 1996 debut Fred was mostly done winning and his best years were memories.

[fowlerscousin]

I have full post on that

[Obee]

I used to watch Freddie quite a bit. During his best years, he used to fade his longer clubs and draw his shorter ones. But he could do pretty much anything with the ball he wanted to.

[Obee]

"You'll learn..."

God I was never so happy to see someone eat their words.

[jmck]

Curtis is a good choice, maybe not a top 5 overachiever compared to some of the other names mentioned, but if you were around high level amateur golf in the mid-Atlantic back in the day it's a particularly interesting one. Both Curtis's dad and brother were equally talented, arguably more so. But neither of them had the drive/personality of Curtis. Apropos of nothing, Curtis's dad and brother are both still revered in the area--great guys, you'll never hear a bad word about either of them--while it's tough to find someone with a kind word to say about Curtis. In fact, after golf, Curtis's brother went into a field where having a great personality--being charming and well liked and making friends easily and so on and so forth--is a prerequisite.

[Forged4ever]

Yah, he did have em in his shag bag, though the shag bag rarely ever left the trunk and the bulk of his Staff balls were in his trunk and between havin box’s of them, he had easily over 200+ layin loose on the floor of the trunk underneath his Staff drivers, lol. It was a toss-up as to which was a bigger piece of sh*t, those balls or the drivers, lolol??‍♂️.

 

I also had a shag bag full of Staff balls(70-75) that he had given me and he’d also sign the boxes and gift or sell em off as he did with the drivers.

 

Have a nice Season Dale?

RP

[butterysnaphook]

You may laugh at me, but with the talent Rory has...I think he’s underachieving currently. He has a great career so far but it could be twice as good in my opinion.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

I feel the same way. He could have achieved more. He won a lot, but if he was anywhere close to the Tiger trajectory, he would have more than 4 majors at this stage of his career.

[MUNIGRIT]

Agreed he lacks the killer side that Tiger, Brooks and Ray Floyd types have. He has that DJ/Greg Norman attitude that is like oh well, I have an amazing life due to hitting a ball around and win or lose it doesn't matter I'm rich and winning.

[smashdn]

Can't say that I am any different in my career. Doing well, living a good life, but I am not hellbent for leather to "get to the top."

[MUNIGRIT]

Agree I'm not faulting him at all for that. As you grow so do your priorities and I'm sure they really change after winning a bunch and being set for life. Some people have that really competitive drive to be the best ever like MJ/tiger and some are happy being a notch below that Lebron/Rory.

[smashdn]

I think people tend to (unfairly} categorize RM as a choker or "not driven" to be excellent. I obviously don't know him but some people are wired differently and it might not be his thing. That was what I was hoping to convey.

You hear something along that vein when guys are discussing NFL players. They tend to recognize about two to three years in that it is a business first and a sport to win second.

 

That is why I kind of have to watch myself and make the distinction that there is the sport and game of golf and then there is the event that is a professional golf tournament.

[Forged4ever]

I’ve told this story before and I am not defending the man’s behavior on the course, as a competitor or in the booth, as that’s not how I met him and really, not how I got to know him, and compared to the other Pros that I’ve met and a few that I’ve befriended, I was insignificant and not central to meeting him or this story.

 

It was 1995, the first day of the two day 36-hole Charity Tourney had concluded and as Strange was walking off of our #18 green, he looked up and saw on the porch overlooking both #1 tee & 18 green a group of Ladies, most clad in some pink article of clothing, either blouse, skirt or shorts, and once he signed his card, took care of the caddie and signed a few autographs, he walked up onto the porch, introduced himself and asked what was the occasion and why the pink(he later told my Mother that he had a strong suspicion and only wanted to confirm his thoughts), and my Mother stood, introduced herself and told him that she had just “won” her second battle with breast cancer and as the President of the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Breast Cancer Foundation’s Survivor’s Group, they had just concluded a meeting and she was just having a late lunch and drinks with her close friends.

 

They took care of the chit, of which Curtis asked if he could pick it up, and my Mother thanked him though laughingly told him one of the other Ladies’ husband had gotten that honor, and they moved to the other side of the porch where there was a post-round happy hour going on. They continued to talk, and while I’m not getting into the conversation here, I’ll just leave it at my Mother and Curtis’s wife we’re both survivors, my mother would have one more “battle,” which she “won,” and Curtis’s wife, Sarah, at that time had one bout of breast cancer and would face another battle, which she would also “win.”

 

The spoke for over an hour that evening, My Mother walked with Curtis and his group the next day, they stayed in touch and he and Sarah have come to town 4 times as Guests of Honor for the annual formal shindig, and they get together as couples a few times a year for dinner in Florida and my Father and Curtis Play a few rounds a year down there when he’s at home.

 

Oh yea, every single year on the date that my Mother got her last radiology results showing “clear margins,” following her third bout, she receives a call from Curtis, and if he’s at home, from Sarah also.

 

EVERY SINGLE YEAR from 1998(her last bout as she had a radical) through this year, basically acknowledging the date, the event and then they just catch up.

 

22 consecutive years, regardless of where he’s been in the word or what he was doing, my Mother’s phone rings from his number. My parents do the same for Sarah.

 

The funny thing is is that Sarah and my Mother are strikingly alike in personalities as are my Father and Curtis, who are both ultra compulsive, uber competitive, not into idle chit-chat, can be abrupt, don’t like repeating themselves and don’t suffer fools lightly, lol. Some would call them an *sshole, lol. However, that’s ok, they’re good with it, lol??‍♂️. Though my Father’s personality was ingrained in a transplant surgical suite, and Curtis’s on a golf course, they are a lot like and share a lot of the same background experiences.

 

Curtis Strange is great by Me??

 

And if ya don’t agree with me?

 

That’s ok too?

 

Though Lord help ya if ya ever say something negative about him in front of my Mother, lol.

 

Ask Maddie??

 

Have a Great Week Gals & Gents?

RP

[bripgall3265]

Tom Purtzer is a classs act!!!!!

[Forged4ever]

One of the Classiest??

 

So is older Bro, Paul?

 

“The Sweetest Swing In Golf”

 

Also, Tom won on the PGA Tour in three different decades!

 

Consistent swing too, lol?

 

Cheers?

RP

[bripgall3265]

A fine human being... Caddied for him at the International. He was paired with Jumbo Ozaki. Willie Wood and Billy Mayfair.

[bripgall3265]

A true family man...