More than any other player in history, Tiger Woods at his peak refuted the adage that no golfer gets it all. The image of that once-supreme completist from the century’s first decade remains indelible and continues to magnify light onto every part of the game — especially the elements that constitute greatness.

Those who can perceive and convey that last piece with the most precision are the elders in an ultra-exclusive fraternity that includes Woods as a junior member. So as Tiger embarked on his latest comeback — begun remarkably free of back pain and with correspondingly surprising success at the Hero World Challenge — Golf Digest sat down with five of the best: Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller and Nick Faldo.

All are multiple major winners — collectively their total is 41, the inverse of Woods’ 14. All are essentially retired from competition yet remain avidly connected to the current scene. All are close students of a figure who has transcended and brought scrupulous attention to the game they once mastered.

For them, Woods is both an illuminating prism and a mirror.

Our idea was to exploit a premise that has proved reliable since Woods first came to world renown as an amateur in the mid-1990s: The better the player, the better the take on Tiger.

To varying degrees, each Hall of Famer possessed some or even all of Woods’ myriad qualities and strengths. But to allow the interviews to form a more coordinated whole, the subject matter for each former player focused on the area he most closely compared with Woods.

With Nicklaus, it was the uncanny ability for making it happen. For Player, an indefatigable self-belief. For Trevino, an undying obsession for the game. For Miller, a nearly identical crucial head start as a youth. For Faldo, a relentless focus on majors.

The individual framing allowed each of our sages to pull from personal experience and observation. The result is wisdom and insight about what it takes to reach the very highest levels of golf — and through a more intimate understanding of five all-timers, a more refined appreciation of Woods.

Greatness in golf will remain fascinating and mysterious. The current question: When, if ever, will Tiger, now 42, achieve the kind of late-career climax — Nicklaus’ 1986 Masters at 46 the epitome — that provides each of our five elders such an enduring satisfaction? As 2018 develops, they’ll retain the most interest and empathy as a renewed Tiger — still very much a completist — chases his missing pieces.

NICK FALDO: The Journey to Thursday Morning

Tiger and I were similar in that we could almost be in the zone for four days. I had this ability to focus on golf. You hear the psychologists say you should bounce around, but I didn’t. Sometimes Fanny [caddie Sunesson] would go off on a subject, and I used to drag her back: “No, no, no. Just keep talking golf.”

The preparation time between majors is vital, and this is where I think Tiger was absolutely phenomenal. It’s the journey getting to Thursday morning of the US Open or whatever, and if you’re really smart and know more about the game, it starts the week before or two weeks before or, in the case of the Masters, months before. But you’ve got to start well, to be absolutely ready for Thursday morning. I remember reading that Arnold Palmer said he would take the intensity of 17 and 18 on Sunday of a major and bring that to Thursday. And that was a little jolt to me. I used to say to myself in the majors: Every shot is history on Thursday as well, so don’t waste them.

With Tiger, I think of the opening nine holes when he shot 40 at the 1997 Masters. [Faldo, the defending champion, was his playing partner in the first two rounds of Woods’ 12-stroke victory.] I wonder if that was one of his epiphanies where he said: ‘I’m never going to do that again. I’m never going to set myself up to get that far down. I’m going to find a way to prepare.’ And I think that’s what he did so brilliantly. How he could go out, win a tournament, disappear for three weeks and come back out in a major, and there was no wastage of shots or sloppiness. And the number of times you would say, How does he come out holing every putt?

Tiger knew he was different. Special. He hit a golf ball differently — full stop — than anybody else. Nobody could drive it like him, nobody could hit long irons like him, or the wedges and the putter. There wasn’t anybody ever who was that good in every department. And then he’d believe he was better prepared for Thursday than anyone else, and it became a pattern.

It’s true in other sports. With Tom Brady, I tune in to make sure I watch his first possession. I love Formula One racing. How come these guys will all qualify within tenths of a second, and then on the first lap of the race, Lewis Hamilton will be a full second ahead of everybody?

I birdied a lot of opening holes at the Open Championship. You psych yourself all week, and you visualise it, seeing yourself knock it out there, on the green, in, and off you go. Whereas some people stand up on the first tee, and they can’t see the fairway.

I’d like to do some of my career differently. I made mistakes working too hard at tournaments. I know I wore myself out, wore out my golfing batteries. But I said to myself, I don’t want to get to 45 and regret that I didn’t try hard enough. Because I know some golfers, I watched them get into their 40s, and they were lazy. And suddenly it’s gone. You’re an athlete given a window of opportunity. And while you’ve got your nerve, you’d better make the most of it. Because once your nerve starts to go, you ain’t getting that one back.

That last round at the 1996 Masters [overcoming Greg Norman’s six-stroke lead] was the best round mentally I ever had. The swing wasn’t quite right, and I had to mentally push myself through each shot. I would think to myself: ‘Are the wheels coming off?’ And I had to yell at myself: ‘No, they’re not! Come on, what are we going to do? OK, hit it, land it there, piece it together,’ and I’m going to do this in the swing, because I know if I do this, I’ll hang on to it. I had a little checklist I had to go through. I’d lost that 100 per cent self-belief, or whatever the percentage is where you’re Superman. Once it gets chinks, it becomes: ‘Oh, I got away with it.’ And then one day, you say all those things to yourself, and twang! — it goes sideways. And that’s the day when you go: ‘Oh, blimey.’

To go to a major with the intention of winning it and doing it, that gives me the greatest pride. I did that in three of them [1990 at the Masters and St Andrews, and 1992 at Muirfield were among Faldo’s six major victories]. With Tiger, I don’t know if he’s done 14 with the intention quite like that. It gives you that sense of power. You definitely feel everybody must be looking at you. The way you act probably [annoys] a lot of the players — has to. Because I’m sure that’s when you’re at your rudest. Because you’re so focused, you’re so engrossed.

Tiger was quite happy to come into a tournament with a horrendous spotlight on him. I was amazed how he could do that. I’ll never forget, I was on the range doing TV at Augusta. He came on the range, and you could feel the aura. Every player would turn and look. All the gallery, every eye was on him. He turned it into energy. I’m sure Ali had that.

Once you get everything right, it’s that wonderful feeling knowing that you’re going to do it. I had that once: walking down the first fairway at St Andrews, in 1990. They had put the flag just over the burn, into the breeze, and David [Leadbetter] came to tell me that balls were spinning back into the burn. So it’s a 9-iron, but I’m worried, so I’ll hit 8. And then I get a little more nervous and take out a 7. So I chip a 7, and I land it right in the back of the green, and I’ve got a 30-yard putt. And I said to myself, Just relax. You’re going to win.

You can say it now 30 years later, and people don’t think you’re an ass. But how cool a line is that to say to yourself? That is your ultimate. The millions of golf balls and the thousands of hours just to be able to say you know what to do and how to do it under the ultimate pressure, and you love it.

JOHNNY MILLER: The Father Influence

When Tiger came up, I saw a lot of my golf upbringing in him. I don’t know exactly how Earl worked, but I could tell he had that affirmation thing going big time with Tiger. I mean, he said, This guy’s going to be the greatest, and he probably said it a million times to Tiger. He also paid the price with Tiger with his time, doing a lot of things my father did. Everything was centred around his dad, right?

With Tiger, what I saw was the drive, even a stronger drive than I had. And he had the rarest of all abilities: If he needed to make the putt, somehow he could make it go in. Not many guys can actually make it, you know. I think of [Billy] Casper, Nicklaus — for a while, Trevino. It’s very rare to have a guy who actually improved his putting when it mattered the most. Tiger was definitely that way. I could do it with my ball-striking. But you still had to finish it off with the putts.

I think Earl had that sense that this guy is special, and I think it was a special relationship. Tiger wanted to please his dad and follow what his dad wanted to accomplish with him. Sometimes you hear some of the negative, but I think most of it was pretty amazing. I believe Tiger, if it wasn’t for Earl, would be just another guy. I really believe that.

When my dad started me out hitting balls into a canvas tarp in our basement when I was 5, you couldn’t use too much loft because it would hit the rafters. So I hit a lot of 5- and 6-irons. And I would wear out this dark-green canvas, making a little light green line where it would start to shred. I’d aim for that little stripe about 15 feet away, and I knew where a perfect 6-iron would hit. The thing that the basement did for me, is that it really got me to know what the sound and feel of a pure shot was. You could hear the strike, and you could feel no vibration. Trying to get that would really focus you.

I was very little. When I graduated from ninth grade, I was 5-feet-2, 105 lbs. I was a phenomenal putter. I’ll bet you when I was 12, I was in the top 10 in the world putting. I once had 16 putts for 18 holes [at San Francisco’s Lincoln Park]. On terrible greens, by the way.

But I loved the game, everything about it. My dad, he made me like a little pro, had me practise how I put my hat on, how I tipped my hat, how I put my glove on, and how I squinted my eyes and gritted my teeth. Sort of a little Hogan. He always talked about psyche. And he had a blackboard with certain things he wanted me to do because I was small and I needed to be strong — push-ups, squeeze grips, pull-ups.

He would work the midnight-to-8am shift so that he could sleep while I was in school. After school, he’d take me to San Francisco Golf Club, where I was taking lessons [from John Geertsen], and the club sort of adopted me. They averaged only 20 players a day, so in the afternoon no one was even out there, so I could hit as many balls as I wanted. Even on approaches into the greens, I could hit eight balls, fixing my divots.

If I hit a bad shot, my dad didn’t really focus on the bad at all. It was just: ‘OK, one more shot.’ It was always one more, no matter how many balls I had hit. It was: ‘OK, let’s see you hit another one,’ never: ‘OK, let’s go home.’ I don’t think he ever said: ‘Let’s go home.’

He was a smart guy, and he was teaching the best he could. He’d give me 10 things to try, and eight of them were just way out there. But I would analyse why each one was not a good idea. And then one of the ideas was really good, and one was fantastic. Like when I was 10 or 11, he had me carry a left-handed 5-iron. So I became quite good left-handed, about a 6-handicap. Now coaches recommend swinging left-handed as a training aid. It wasn’t boring, because he was super creative.

I was a good little fighter. My dad was a boxing fan, and he taught me how to box. I didn’t get in that many fights, but I never lost a fight. The fight would last only 30 or 40 seconds, but that’s the way you settled disagreements back then. When he taught me how to box, that gave me confidence, too.

When I was a young player, I didn’t even know what a bad stretch was. Never played bad. Never. It’s not like I would shoot a bad round and then a real good round. It was just always good. I was a plus-2 when I was 16 years old on the Lake Course at Olympic Club.

I do think you need a start like I did to get a head start. All my friends would work as hard as I did, but they were always a little behind me. They didn’t have their father involved. That can work negatively if the guy is overbearing. But my dad was always about affirmations — “You’re doing great. You’re on the right track. Keep doing those exercises. You’re going to be a champion.” Over and over. He’d call me Champ — that affirmation of potential. Actually, not just potential, because I knew when I was nine years old that I was going to be a champion golfer. Something inside me said: ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing. You’re going to be a champion, like your dad said.’ So that affirmation of greatness or being successful from your father is the strongest affirmation there is for a boy.

JACK NICKLAUS: Making It Happen

When you say: ‘Making it happen,’ I think the key to that, and what Tiger and I both understood, is knowing what was happening.

I go back to some of the mistakes that I made. I look at the 39 I shot on the last nine holes of the US Open at Cherry Hills in 1960. At Pebble Beach in 1963, I came to the last hole tied with Billy Casper but three-putted from 22 feet by being too aggressive with the first putt and then missed the comebacker. As good as Casper was, my chances of beating him in a playoff were higher than making that 22-footer. Later that summer, down the stretch at Royal Lytham, I lost by one after bogeying the last two holes by not being smart.

Those are things you learn from, how to assess a situation and learn who you are and what you can do. And you gain confidence when those lessons teach you how to choose the correct course. Ultimately you become that golfer.

If I had a putt on the 18th to make, that I needed to make, more often than not I made it. Inside 10 feet, more than likely I made that putt. With Tiger, the same thing. Think of Tiger at the [2003] Presidents Cup in South Africa in sudden death with Ernie Els. Particularly the second putt, the one in the dark. I mean, that was just … he made it happen.

In those situations, I always stood over a putt, and I’d say: ‘I need … I HAVE to make this putt. Period. I gotta make it.’ And more often than not, that made me focus more, and I made it. And once you do that a couple of times, you say: ‘Well, what should I say this time: Gee, I’d LIKE to make it? No. I HAVE to make it.’ Once you find something you tell yourself that works, you continue to do that thing until it proves it doesn’t. For me, it kept working most of the time.

I got nervous all the time, as nervous as the next guy. It’s just that I caught myself before it became destructive. You might be thinking: ‘Gosh, I’m worried about missing it.’ When you get that out of your system, you eliminate all the negatives.

I don’t know how much is innate. I mean, I started winning when I was 10, 11 years old. I was out playing with [wife] Barbara at Lost Tree on the sixth hole one time, a par 5, and Barbara hit three fairway woods up there and made 4. And I had a 25-footer for 4, and I made it. And she says: ‘You can’t ever let me win one?’ I said: ‘I’m sorry, it’s what I do. I’m like the scorpion and the frog. It’s my nature.’

Why, I don’t know. I wish I could answer that question, but I can’t — I just don’t know. It was not an accident. No, I worked very hard for that. But no, I never tried to figure it out. How does Jack Nicklaus know who Jack Nicklaus is? Whatever I had to do, I just went ahead and did it.

Sure, I could have gone the other way. Why didn’t I? Because I didn’t want to [chuckles]. I didn’t want to be a bad player. I didn’t want to lose tournaments. I wanted to learn why I made mistakes. I think Tiger does much the same thing.

My dad loved playing all sports, and so did I. I’ve played tennis all my life. I played basketball in a rec league until I was 40. I’d take the kids to football practice, and I’d throw to them in passing drills. Playing all those sports taught you a lot about yourself and about what you can do and what you can’t do. Especially when you’re dealing with team sports, you’re working with your teammates and seeing them make mistakes and their strengths. And you relate those things right back to yourself and how to make yourself better. Did what I learned from team sports help me to learn to rise to the occasion in golf? Absolutely.

Tiger was always a guy who once he got ahead, he was able to gain the ability to just bury everybody. And I never really thought about burying the field. All I ever thought about was, I got my lead, now how do I not do something stupid to lose my lead? The 1965 Masters [where Nicklaus won by nine], it just happened. And the 1980 PGA [Nicklaus won by seven at Oak Hill], I was playing terrible.

I try to subdue my emotion in competition. When I was a kid, I’d find myself getting excited when I did something good, and I’d lose my focus and wouldn’t get back down for a hole or two. I said, I can’t do that. So I was one of those guys who didn’t pump himself up by getting excited. I had to control it so I could continue to do something good.

The game is unpredictable, and it’s different every day. I don’t think I ever had two problems to solve in a round that were exactly the same, ever. You always have to figure out: ‘How do I really make this happen?’ I trusted my instinct. I always felt like any time I played a tournament, any place in a round, if I didn’t like how I was swinging, I would change it. I go back and look at a lot of times I did that, and who knows why I did it, but I just said: ‘This is not what I want to be doing. I need to make an adjustment, and I need to make it now, and I’ve got to do it without destroying myself to do it.’

GARY PLAYER: Bound for Great Things

Tiger had advantages physically and in his early exposure to the game that I didn’t have. It put him on the road to being the greatest golfer who ever lived. But the thing where we were equal, or I might have even had more of, was drive. Man, I was driven. There is never enough success for me.

One of the first things I noticed about Tiger is his strong belief in his destiny. He carried himself with a peaceful but powerful sense that he was bound for great things. I understand that feeling. It was vital to my inner view of myself, especially when I knew others might not have shared it. But that only made me more determined.

When I was 15, I broke my neck showing off for some other boys by jumping headfirst into what I thought was a pit of soft leaves and grass, and hit the bottom. I had to stay inactive for nearly a year. I had been playing golf for only a year, but I was already consumed by the game. During my convalescence, I would be alone in the house and stand in front of a mirror, saying over and over: ‘You’re the greatest golfer in the world.’ It was absurd, but something told me that mattered. Later, I learned from reading and befriending Norman Vincent Peale. He once wrote: ‘If you want something and you go for it, you will be astonished at the values you will find.’

My parents, Harry and Muriel, always encouraged us. I’m sure it gave me the belief that what I could conceive, I could achieve. It’s the greatest gift you can give a child.

My older brother, Ian, was a tremendous influence on me. I remember at 8 or 9 trying to run a five-mile course with him, but I fell down less than halfway, exhausted. I cried: ‘Ian, I can’t make it.’ He yanked me to my feet and very sternly told me: ‘You can do anything you want to. Remember that. There’s no room for can’t in this life.’ Then he kicked me on the backside to emphasise the point. Ever since, if I’ve ever been tempted to say I can’t, I feel that kick again.

A golfer’s true greatness is revealed not when he’s playing his best, but when he’s not and still manages to win. For all his talent, Tiger has shown even more will, and so often when he was fighting his swing he still found a way. There were many times in tournaments when I was lost, hitting absolute rubbish, but I would get the ball on the green and make the key putts. How does that happen? Desire. Tiger has always had more of that than the players he’s beaten. You feel as if he cares more than anyone else. I was told that when I played, I gave that impression.

Tiger has hit so many amazing shots under pressure. Often, with some players more than others, pressure can destroy performance. But I’ve found it’s amazing how the intense pressure of the crucial moment, when something special is required, produced the best shots of my career. I don’t know if you can say it’s luck if you continuously did that. Talent, maybe?

Obviously I’m pulling for Tiger — I am a big Tiger Woods fan. But I think we could look back and say that his downfall was striving for too much perfection. He was on the way to being the best player the world had ever known. He wins the US Open by 15 shots, and shortly after he’s having lessons and changing his swing. There is always a limit, and I don’t think he could have gotten better. I pursued better technique my whole career — my only regret is a lost chance to learn from Ben Hogan — and it’s a capricious thing that often doesn’t lead to improvement. Golf is such a very, very intricate game, and there is a limitation.

LEE TREVINO: A Reason for Everything

Tiger, like me, is obsessed with golf. People have to understand that he made himself what he is. He wasn’t born with that. Superstars make themselves that way.

When you want to be the best, you gotta do something extra. You can’t just do the same thing that everybody else is doing. All the great ones do that. I outpractised them. The better I did it, the more I’d like to see it, and the more I practised.

The secret is, everything that you do, there’s a reason. The good players figure out the why. Why that ball’s doing that. And why you can do this. Most people don’t do that.

I played a hook with a pretty swing until I came back from the Marine Corps and saw Ben Hogan hitting fades at Shady Oaks. After that, I figured out a way to play to avoid the left side. See, I play with two flags. I aim at this flag, but I hit it at that one. I’ll stand here, and I’ll go like this [simulates his open stance]. I’m looking right at the target. I don’t have to do this [looking more over his left shoulder from a square stance]. And then I played a block fade. You have to, if you’re aiming left. It’s in your mind, it’s in your make-up, it’s in your body. Putted the same way. Copied Jack Nicklaus, the greatest putter I’ve ever seen.

You have to respond to the target. During the swing, I look for the target in my subconscious mind. You can’t think when you swing. The more you think, the worse you’ll play. What’s happened, unfortunately, and I mean no disrespect by this, is that people who are teaching are getting way too crazy with too many little movements and muscles. You can’t let too many people mess with you. Mr Palmer had it right when he said: ‘Swing your swing.’

Tiger outsmarted himself. He didn’t realise that if he just maintained, he would still be winning everything. Instead, he wanted to do something else. He got bored. He wasn’t satisfied winning by 15. He wasn’t satisfied by winning 30 per cent of his tournaments. It was too easy for him. He was actually too good, and it got in his way.

Here’s what Butch Harmon told me. I said: ‘Tiger?’ He said: ‘Lee, I can’t teach him anymore. He knows more than I do about the swing. You can’t believe what he knows about this thing.’

Because Tiger dissected it like me. He knows why it happens this way when you do a certain thing. But like Butch said: ‘There are some guys that want somebody watching over them.’

I didn’t. Jack told me one time: ‘You’re the smartest golfer I ever met.’ That was the best compliment I’ve ever had. Ever had.

You never stop dreaming it. I love the art of it. I love the people. And still being able to go out and perform. With Tiger, it’s even more so. It would be very easy for him to say: ‘I don’t even want to mess with it.’ I mean, his retirement fund alone has got more money than AT&T. So no, he loves the sport, he loves competition, he loves to win, he loves to play well. That’s his whole thing. If Tiger does not hurt anymore, I think he’ll play until he’s 50, and then he’ll play the majors on the Champions Tour.

One of the greatest feelings in the world is when you’re out of pain. When my L-5 nerve was completely trapped, I was in that bed upstairs for three months. Wasn’t able to even put my pants on. I could not move. Then [after a 2004 procedure to implant a spinal spacer], no pain. It was like cutting me loose with 31 flavours. Tiger is going to be the same thing. He lost his body, but he didn’t lose his talent. And the longer he goes with no pain, the more confidence he’s going to build. And then he’s going to get up one day and say: ‘I’m back, baby!’

The post Speaking to the best — from Nicklaus to Faldo: What made Tiger Woods great? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

We’ve seen JT absolutely take apart everyone from random Twitter trolls to a Hall-of-Fame broadcaster like Johnny Miller. No one is safe from his retorts. And that includes Bryson DeChambeau.

But the fellow major champ apparently forgot that on Tuesday when he took a little jab at Justin after the 14-time PGA Tour winner posted a series of workout videos. All JT was trying to do was give his trainer, Kolby Wayne, a little love.

 

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OK, and to show everyone he’s been hitting the gym hard. We get it, Justin. You work out.

But Bryson had to needle him by asking, “180 ballspeed yet?” And yes, we get it, Bryson, you have high ballspeed. Anyway, Thomas might not hit a golf ball as fast, but he fired back pretty quick with this:

 

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Boom. Roasted. We may be heading toward the off-season, but JT is clearly still in mid-season social media form.

The post Bryson DeChambeau tries to roast Justin Thomas on Instagram, winds up with third-degree burns appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 84-year-old Hall of Fame champion has played golf on six of the seven continents, won nine regular and nine senior majors and has flown more than 15 million miles since the start of his professional career in 1953. He’s also played with every great player since Hogan, which makes his evaluation of the relative merits of champions across the decades especially informed.

That meant that a recent casual encounter with a young South African pro ended up inflaming Player—and inspiring him to get out his pencil. “He said to me, ‘When you were playing, there were only 25 players you had to beat,’ “ Player said. “I thought to myself, ‘How do I explain it to this guy?’ So I started to make out a list of all the great players I played with through the years beyond the ones everyone knows about, like Nicklaus and Palmer and Watson and Trevino. Mike Souchak. Julius Boros. Sandy Lyle. Gene Littler. So many of them have almost been forgotten! They’re as good as any of the guys today, and if you gave them modern equipment?”

Player’s list ended up with more than 80 names on it—including players who won 53 majors. He says he doesn’t diminish the skills it takes to win on tour today, but laments how some of the subtle expertise required to win tournaments in the 1950s, 60s and 70s have been lost. “Let’s face it. They basically play the Super Bowl every week now—courses maintained in perfection, with ideal putting surfaces and bunkers that have all been raked by the same machine,” Player says. “Playing in Johannesburg is just like playing in Philadelphia. At the average event in the 1960s, most courses were common Bermuda. If you had a morning time, the dew on the grass forced you to play a completely different shot. If you had a 7-iron distance, you needed to hit a 5-iron and chip it, or the shot would sail on you and fly 20 yards over the green.

“I had to become a good bunker player because I had to play under so many different conditions, even on the same course. Nothing was the same. You had to figure it all out, and that skill is getting lost. The ball goes 50 yards longer now, so the emphasis is all on power and not on the mental test as it should be. Phil Mickelson has a 64-degree wedge. You take a swing, and the ball comes out. You used to have to manufacture that yourself.”

We asked Player to comment on a series of photographs showing both some of the “forgotten” (and not-so-forgotten) players he listed, including himself, and he offered the timeless instruction advice he accumulated through the years from players like Ben Hogan. Animated and sharp, he spent more than an hour on this endeavour. “A million words, all for a one-second movement!”

Too flat? Actually not, says Ben Hogan

Player: “I hear players say they get stuck on the inside. I played with Hogan during my first American tournament, at Seminole. We were waiting, and he said, “Congratulations on your tournament win in England.” I responded that pros over there told me my swing was too flat.

“Hogan said, ‘You can’t be too flat as long as your hands are under the shaft. Your rotation of the body squares the club up. Your hands follow the rotation of your body. When you come from the inside, you feel like you’re hitting the inside of the ball.’ Hogan called it flatness through the ball. Trevino did the same thing.”

Practice unique lies, and practice often

“Being good from the bunker isn’t magic. It’s work. I’d practice from 6:30 to 8 in the morning, and I wouldn’t leave until I holed five bunker shots. I spent so much time just practising.

“Whenever I played majors, I was never scared to go in the sand, because I had seen it all before. Stand wide, and don’t use your legs beyond a natural reaction. Set the club early and get the club to the ball early. Don’t go deep. Skim the sand. Light the match. One thing I always notice is that every weekend golfer is always short. Out of the bunker? Short. Putt? Short. Get it past the flag!”

The importance of a long swing

“What I wouldn’t give to put the club there today. I’m shooting mostly par now, but my swing is probably four feet shorter. I can’t understand people who say, “Shorten your swing.” There have only been a few superstars—which to me means winning six majors. Every superstar has a long backswing. I always carried a heavy weighted club, and I swung it all those years. I still have it. Even though DJ’s backswing is shut—which I’m against—he’s an athlete. He’s a strong as can be, and because he makes that long backswing, he has time to get it back. I like a full backswing. My mouth waters terribly when I think about it.”

One of Hogan’s many secrets

“Look at Jack Nicklaus coming from the inside. His left arm is outside of his right arm. I was blessed that Hogan mentioned a few things to me. I only met one man who knew it from A-Z. A few knew it from A-Y. But one A-Z, and that was Hogan. I was lucky to listen to what he said. That’s why I won so many majors. He said you have to rotate your body, and then the club comes on the ball the same way. Now, I have the most anti-hook swing, and it was what Hogan told me when I was young. I just couldn’t figure it out completely until I was 70.”

Arnie’s blessing was also a curse

“This is why he was so great driver of the ball. Sensational 1-iron player. Terrible bunker player, because of his shut face. If I could have played bunker shots for him, he would have won 15 more times, and he would have won the Grand Slam. He stayed with the ball. It’s the opposite of sucking your hands across the ball. The path starts down on the inside, and you hit the inside of the ball and stay on the line. I’ll tell you, watch a guy like Moe Norman, nobody could hit the ball better. Stay on the line. He stayed over the ball, and the club is right on line with an extended right arm.”

One of the most underrated swings of all time

“Such a wonderful transition! If I was going to tell the average person to copy somebody’s swing, it would be Boros’. And before you say it’s more complicated than that, I tried it before, coaching. There was a player in South Africa, and a friend asked me if I’d help him. I worked on his mind, his diet, his exercise and his swing over the course of a week, and I told him it was going to take him two months to really get it. Three days later, he went out and won the tournament. You have to have exceptional talent. And you have to have the right fundamentals.”

An appreciation of Johnny Miller’s swing

Peter Dazeley

“Johnny Miller had one of the best backswings I ever saw. I never saw a person hit the flag out of the cup as much. He said he got muscle-bound from working on his land. That’s crap. I worked on a farm my whole life, and I’ve kept myself fit for 70 years. He got the yips.”

RELATED: Breaking 70 at Eighty

What we can learn from the great putters

“When I listen to guys on the Golf Channel and I hear the commentators says it was a bad putt because he jabbed it, I don’t know what to think. It’s debatable if it was Tiger or Bobby Locke who was the best putter ever. Locke? He was a jabber. Casper? Big jabber. Casper had his hands fixed, and he chopped it. Look at Snedeker. Take out the unnecessary movement. The average player? There’s so much movement in the putting stroke, they’re a spaghetti wobbler. It’s still a good eye and great feel—putting and the mind win golf tournaments.”

The post Gary Player explains why his generation’s tour players deserve more respect appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Stephen Hennessey and Daniel Rapaport
In our latest instalment of the “Great Golf Debates,” our Daniel Rapaport and Stephen Hennessey tackle the question: Which modern players would make the best announcers?

Rapaport: Before we start hand-picking the guys to succeed Nick Faldo and Paul Azinger, let’s first agree on some criteria: What makes a good golf analyst? These are the intangibles:

Credibility. With all due respect—and remember I’m saying with all due respect, which means I can now say whatever I want (shoutout Ricky Bobby)—no one cares what you have to say unless you’ve had significant success in your career. Johnny Miller could talk trash about players because Johnny Miller was one of the best players in the world, as was Nick Faldo. You don’t have to have won a major to know about golf, but you have to have won a major for the general population to give a crap about what you know about golf.

Well-spoken. The ums, uhs, you knows, those need to be few and far between. And you have to provide that next-level insight, going deeper than just “that’s a good shot to that pin.” Tell us why that’s a good shot to that pin, tell us what your thought process was like when playing to pins like those, tell us that he’s been practicing that little draw to access those pins.

The cajones to be honest. SO many golf broadcasters try to be as inoffensive as possible. What results is boring, vanilla television where all the guy does is talk about how good these guys are. We loved Johnny so much because he wasn’t afraid to rip into guys.

Not necessarily a pre-requisite, but a soothing voice/accent is a major plus. Faldo’s British, so that obviously helps a ton. Azinger has a smooth southern drawl. Personally, I’m a huge fan of the South African (Trevor Immelman) and Australian (Ian Baker-Finch) accents. Give me the option to listen to an American say something and a non-American, and nine times out of 10 I’m going with the non-American.

Hennessey: You left out a couple other things:

Quick wit. You need to think fast but cleverly. It’s one thing to be smart and articulate, but you need to not only arrive at your opinion but deliver it to a viewer quickly and succinctly. We want entertainment and insight. Delivered within seconds. Old golf writers like Henry Longhurst and Dan Jenkins were great at this. It’s a lot easier to craft a tweet, taking minutes to do so. You’re live on a broadcast: Can you deliver?

And probably most importantly, how about some things to avoid:

Repeating yourself. There’s nothing worse than verbal ramblings on air. You know it when you hear it: The same point uttered over and over. It’s a sign of not having anything interesting to say. Announcers needs to be observant and able to contextualize things, but perhaps most importantly, they should cognizant of when not to talk … or not to talk too much.

Talking over a great moment. The best announcers say they want to let moments have air. Think about Verne Lundquist’s ‘Yes, sir!’ call of Jack Nicklaus’ putt on 17 at the ’86 Masters. Or his call of Tiger’s chip-in at the ’05 Masters. He made his call, then the viewer soaks in the moment with the crowds as Lundquist stayed silent. Dan Hicks is great at this as well. And notice how Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo let the moment live as Tiger walked off the 18th green after his Masters victory last year. Any new announcer needs to be confident enough not to feel the need to fill the air with commentary when a significant moment presents itself.

OK, let’s get off our soap box. So who can we see from today’s players being good golf announcers:

The first I’d propose is Zach Johnson. His interviews are usually very interesting. He’s a very introspective, intelligent person. He also understands the analytical part of the game. ZJ was one of the first tour pros to embrace the statistical and data revolution in golf. The Iowan doesn’t waste words, either. He’ll make his points, then he’s onto his next one. Like I said, we can’t stand folks who repeat themselves. He’s also got a sneaky sense of humor. I know, you might not think of him as a funny guy. But he can laugh at himself and is self-effacing, which typically makes someone likable.

And like you said, Danny, the credentials. Well, we’re talking about a two-time major champ at St. Andrews and Augusta. And someone who’s made more than $45 million in on-course earnings alone in his career. We know he doesn’t need the money, but if he wants to stay active when he retires, we’ll hope he considers the broadcast booth. He’d be rather good.

One more name who’s in a lot of ways very different: Pat Perez. Double P will always tell it like it is. He might need a bit of a censor if he’s on network TV. But his stories and his insights are entertaining and pointed. He’d be a riot broadcasting golf. If there’s ever an uncensored, digital broadcast of live golf, we can think of nobody better than Pat Perez. He’d shine when he could drop a cuss word here and there. And fine, he’d still be worth a look if he needs to trim out the choice language. He has been good on Turner Sports – he did the Match with Tiger and Phil in November and was one of the lone highlights. And his SiriusXM shows are hilarious. I had a chance to interview Double P a few years back, and told him I wouldn’t take more than 15 minutes of his time. He and I ended up shooting the breeze for about 45 minutes. What a guy.

Pat Perez
Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images

Rapaport: Yes, Patty P (is that a thing?) certainly came to mind, but I’m afraid he doesn’t have the playing resume to be a serious contender to end up being the main guy for one of the main networks. Which, I suppose, is what we’re trying to find in this hypothetical think-piece. Another couple guys who would be great, but need a bunch more wins and a major before they’re in the discussion: Eddie Pepperell and Max Homa. Pepperell’s simply one of the funniest, most outlandish athletes in the world right now, though I’m not sure he could be trusted with a microphone, seeing as he pressed send on a certain tweet involving Jack Nicklaus and a sock. Homa is fun to listen to—he has a podcast with Fox Sports’ Shane Bacon—and the master at roasting people’s swings, so you have to think he’d have some fun with the Konica Minolta Bizhub Swing Vision camera, which is certainly not a thing anymore.

Now, from the More Accomplished File: How about Jordan Spieth? Obviously, long, long way to go before he’d be willing to consider such a thing, but he’s already basically giving us play-by-play with his constant self-talk and banter with his caddie, Michael Greller. Spieth is cerebral, he’s honest and he already has a unique perspective, having been crowned the next Tiger Woods before falling into a curious, concerning lull.

Another guy who I think could be fantastic is Adam Scott. He has the accent, and he has the looks. That much is for certain. He’s also one of the smarter players on Tour and one of the best quotes out there. My only concern is he’s rather serious, often teetering toward humorless, which is a non-starter for a broadcaster.

Hennessey: Spieth’s a great call. Cerebral and dead honest, even with himself and his recent struggles. Likeable qualities, and I can see that translating to the booth. Like you said, we’re both confident his transition to broadcasting is decades away.

Pepperell could join Perez in the booth on some global, digital-first operation where they tell it like it is. That’d be laughs. Perez is much closer to calling it quits than Eddie P, so that’s a pipe dream.

Adam Scott would be cool. He’s as thoughtful as any tour pro I’ve heard speak. Geoff Ogilvy is in that same category, if not to an even stronger degree. He’s astute and enlightening on all aspects of golf. Plus he has the accent like his countryman Scotty. Ogilvy’s done a little broadcasting for our sister company, GolfTV, but seeing him get more opportunities as he winds downplaying would be a home-run call.

Geoff Ogilvy served as an assistant captain on the International Presidents Cup team last year, and his insights and analysis would be welcomed in a bigger way on TV. Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Let’s cap it off with one more possibility: Phil Mickelson. Phil fancies himself as the smartest guy in any room he’s in. He’s well-spoken, smart, and can be honest. He might need a bit of a filter, but he’s one of the most well-liked players of his generation. He’d be a hit in the booth. I’m not sure his retirement plans include announcing, but at the right price, maybe he could be convinced. Maybe we’d have a Bones and Phil reunion … how cool?

Rapaport: Yeah, of course Tiger and Phil were the first to come to mind. Watching Tiger dissect his final round of the Masters on that CBS re-run a couple weeks back was a fascinating peak into his incredible golf mind, though you do get the sense he wouldn’t care enough about anyone else’s play to stick around in a booth. That’s just the kind of guy he is. Phil, on the other hand, he likes to talk and talk and talk, and likes it even more when people are listening. But if we’re being honest, neither of those guys would ever take on the job. They certainly don’t need the money, and they certainly won’t want to be on the road 15-odd weeks a year well into their 50s and 60s. But yeah, definitely looking forward to having Tiger in the booth for a few holes during the 2046 Genesis Invitational.

The post Which tour player would make a great modern-day announcer? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Kobe certainly had his flaws, but you can’t argue the impact he had on the world. As Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard pointed out, 13(!) PGA Tour pros list him as their favourite athlete in their media guide bios. He was bigger than a sports star, bigger than a brand. His Mamba Mentality is a movement. And one that isn’t going away anytime soon. So let’s keep Kobe in our heads, at least for his relentless drive and tireless work ethic. And let’s keep Kobe, his daughter GiGi and the seven other victims of this tragedy in our hearts as a reminder of how precious our time on Earth is. OK, time to talk about some happier stuff.

WE’RE BUYING

Marc Leishman: The Aussie won the Farmers Insurance Open while playing with a different tragedy on his mind, providing the latest victory for a country looking for any good news. “Pretty amazing, particularly with all the problems that have been happening back in Australia with the fires and people losing their lives. Just devastating really,” Leishman said. “So if this can bring them a little bit of joy, it’s a big win for me personally and then for them as well. I hope this can bring them a bit of joy.”

Sean M. Haffey

Leishman joins Cameron Smith as Aussie winners on the PGA Tour in the past three weeks. Plus, Lucas Herbert won the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Well done to all three providing a much-needed boost and raising awareness and relief funds for what’s happening Down Under.

Sebastian Soderberg: The Swede didn’t come close to winning in Dubai, but he did shatter the European Tour record for fastest round by shooting a Sunday 75 in 97 minutes. Soderberg and his caddie, younger brother Jasper, also got in their cardio workout by 8:45 a.m. and had the rest of the day to do whatever they wanted. How efficient.

97 minutes. 75 shots. ?

Sebastian Söderberg on the fastest round in European Tour history.#ODDC pic.twitter.com/4J4TxH9wV1

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 26, 2020

When it comes to playing quickly, though, Soderberg couldn’t quite catch Wesley Bryan, who played a solo Sunday round at the BMW Championship in 89 minutes. Oh, and shot 69, by the way. That prompted this Grind video in which I tried my best to speed talk like the Micro Machines Man in Wes’ honour:

In any event, golfers of every skill level don’t need to play this fast, but we could all pick up the pace a bit. So to guys like Wes and Sebastion, thanks for the inspiration.

Tiger Woods’ new driver: Not to give TaylorMade free advertising here, but Woods sure looked comfortable swinging the new Sim driver around during his T-9 at Torrey Pines to kick-off 2020.

While Phil Mickelson has resorted to wildly swinging out of his shoes as he approaches 50 (he hit 2 of 14 fairways on Friday), Woods has throttled back by hitting what he calls a “slap cut.” He’s hitting more fairways, his misses are manageable, and “slap cut” is instantly one of my all-time favourite Tigerisms.

WE’RE SELLING

Jon Rahm’s Sunday: First of all, that was a rough start. I mean, wow. ROUGH. It makes you wonder how much more pressure he was feeling to win this tournament than a Euro Tour event. . . To the Spaniard’s credit, though, he made a furious late rally only to come up one shot short. But making matters worse is the fact he thought he was actually tied for the lead when he tapped in for birdie on 18. How can you not know where you stand in a tournament?! How could he not know he needed eagle on 18?! That’s a bad job. A really bad job.

Bryson DeChambeau’s finish: On the bright side, Bryson says his new bulk has “opened new boundaries I never thought were possible.” But his recent quote about hitting it so far that his pace of play won’t matter didn’t hold up too well as DeChambeau was given a bad time on the back nine while contending in Dubai. Also not holding up too well was his play down the stretch as he threw away his chance to defend his title. . .

Today in Dubai, Bryson DeChambeau was put on the clock and given a slow-play warning on the 10th hole.

He went on to shoot 76, T-8, which included bogeying his last four holes. pic.twitter.com/3RovwMAgbM

— Samantha Marks (@SamanthaSMarks) January 26, 2020

Coincidence? Maybe. But this is certainly something to keep an eye on, especially when he plays on the European Tour.

Tiger’s bad break: Seriously, how in the world did this not stay in the hole?!

@TigerWoods nearly holed out from the fairway.

The ball went IN the hole … and came back out. ? pic.twitter.com/ikm21gLSju

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 26, 2020

No, seriously. How? Did anyone ask Bryson? Tiger out here doing magic tricks.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour heads to TPC Scottsdale for the country’s biggest annual boozefest, which also coincides with a golf tournament. Welcome to the Waste Management Phoenix Open! Please try not to get arrested! And if you’re playing golf like Bryson DeChambeau, please try to keep up with the group in front of you!

Random tournament fact: It’s been one year since Johnny Miller signed off on NBC for his last tournament. I miss you, Johnny. I miss you every day. Well, every Sunday, at least.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—Tiger Woods would ever make a leader board gaffe on the final hole: 1-MILLION -to-1 odds

—Tiger Woods will win the Masters: 10-to-1 odds (Actual odds, now a co-favourite)

—Johnny would have a LOT to say about Bryson this week: LOCK

TWEETS OF THE WEEK

Fully understand if Bryson wants to keep hitting it 40 past me tomorrow so we don’t have to chat.

— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) January 25, 2020

Eddie Pepperell is the best. And he followed it up with this update after he and Bryson played together on Sunday:

We actually got on quite well. And to his credit, he’s sped up.

— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) January 26, 2020

Well, other than that bad time, of course.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (PGA TOUR EDITION)

This is pure golf porn, folks.

Flushed. ?

?? pic.twitter.com/kNJUJFnKh0

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 22, 2020

Nicely done, PGA Tour.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (EUROPEAN TOUR EDITION)

And kudos to the European Tour CONTENT makers as well for this gem of a game pitting Viktor Hovland and Andrew “Beef” Johnston:

Beef ?Hovland #LuckOfTheDraw ??#ODDC @OMEGAGolfDubai pic.twitter.com/d0glMwwGQj

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 24, 2020

Just don’t try this at home. Unless your course is completely empty.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Lucas Herbert is a European Tour winner. And an honest bloke:

Victory + Australia Day = ? pic.twitter.com/Sj0ObZRnPO

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 26, 2020

Hope Monday morning wasn’t too painful, Lucas. You’re only 24! It gets much, much worse. Trust me.

THIS WEEK IN PGA TOUR PRO-WAGS PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

https://www.instagram.com/p/B704RKDAaz9/?utm_source=ig_embed

Get it? “Boat” load? Good stuff, Jena. Also, by my extensive research of Jena’s Instagram account, this is the first time she’s posted a photo of the couple on a boat together since May 4 of last year. What’s significant about that? Brooks won the PGA Championship that week. So he’s basically a lock-in Saudi Arabia this week.

And how about C.T. Pan going shopping with his wife and sometimes caddie, Michelle:

When it comes to grocery shopping, I’m her caddie. 3 tasks I need to do for her, show up, keep up and shut up. #happywifehappylife #groceryshopping #happymondays #groceryshopping pic.twitter.com/k1nAAFuZDc

— C.T. Pan (@ctpangolf) January 27, 2020

Also, pay up at the end. ? https://t.co/ojLON1xv2R

— C.T. Pan (@ctpangolf) January 28, 2020

Looks like someone learned his lesson from that time he knocked Michelle’s caddying skills on national TV.

THIS AND THAT

The Players Championship’s purse will increase $2.5 million to $15 million total with $2.7 million of that going to the winner. And no one even batted an eye. . . . Phil Mickelson missed his second consecutive cut to start a calendar year for the first time in his career. And at No. 86 in the Official World Golf Ranking, he might have a few more holes on his schedule since he currently isn’t qualified for a slew of big events. . . . Speaking of the OWGR, Jordan Spieth dropped out of the top 50 for the first time since his rookie season. That historic 2015 campaign seems like it was decades ago. . . . The Premier Golf League, a possible PGA Tour competitor, is drawing interest from players, including Rory McIlroy. The bad news for Phil and Jordan? These would be 48-man events. Ouch. . . . And finally, it looks like I need to find a new hiding spot for my fruit snacks. . .

She’s a crafty one. And like Kobe, I’m a proud girl dad. RIP Kobe and GiGi.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

What’s the golf equivalent of Kobe’s 81-point game?

How fast could I play 18 holes walking?

How much should I bet on Brooks Koepka?

The post Tiger Woods’ new toy, Jon Rahm’s brutal leader board gaffe, and a possible good omen for Brooks Koepka appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By E. Michael Johnson
After an emotional farewell in early February at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Johnny Miller is back on the airwaves a little more than three months later.

However, before you carve out time this weekend expecting to see Miller back in the saddle as an analyst for golf telecasts, Miller’s “comeback” is a little more in line with someone who is retired. Callaway Golf announced on Wednesday it had reached an agreement with the hall of famer to be a brand ambassador for the company, a position which will include “a variety of content development projects, including the original podcast “Real Golf Talk with Johnny Miller.”

“I am proud to be returning to Callaway [Miller had been a Callaway staffer a number of years ago] and working with the company’s incredible team on some exciting new projects,” Miller said. “It feels like a homecoming for me, and I think golf fans will really enjoy what we have coming, starting with our new Real Golf Talk podcast.”

The podcast launches May 22 on iTunes and a variety of other platforms. Sitting alongside the two-time major champion will be Chris Harrison—an avid golfer best known for his host duties on ABC’s The Bachelor franchise—as the host.

“Johnny Miller was a legend on the course and in the TV booth there was no equal,” Harrison said in a statement from Callaway. “I know he’s got more to say on the world of golf and the world in general. There’s no chance I’m missing the opportunity to sit next to him.”

Befitting a man of retirement age, the podcast won’t be an arduous endeavour for Miller as it will feature just six episodes in 2019, which will air after major events on the golf calendar. The podcast will increase to eight episodes in future seasons. To listen on Soundcloud, click here.

The post Well, that was quick: Johnny Miller back on the airwaves (sort of) appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
NBC’s telecast of the Waste Management Phoenix Open on Saturday was less about the golf and the well-oiled chorus at the boisterous 16th hole. It was more about saying goodbye.

Johnny Miller was working his final broadcast as an analyst for NBC Sports, ending a 29-year run, and it was an emotional sendoff that hit all the right notes, including those from Jake Trout and the Ballwashers. NBC’s Peter Jacobsen, aka Jake Trout, introduced a song, “I’m Gonna Miss Johnny Miller.” It included Miller uttering the forbidden word, choke, on which his broadcast career turned, in his very first broadcast. It came on the 72nd hole of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in 1990, when the same Peter Jacobsen faced a long-iron second shot, all carry over water while attempting to win the tournament.

“This is absolutely the easiest shot to choke on,” Miller said, seconds before Jacobsen pulled it off en route to a victory.

Miller worked without an internal editor, a refreshing change in television golf. He did not mince words, a reminder of which he offered early in the telecast, when Scotland’s Russell Knox fanned a birdie putt well left of the hole on the 16th green.

“That was about as good as the food in Scotland,” Miller said.

“There we go,” NBC’s David Feherty said in response. “Atta boy, Johnny. Keep it coming.”

Miller’s partner in the booth, Dan Hicks, called it “springing his A-game.”

RELATED: 7 questions with Dan Hicks on Johnny Miller: The quirks you don’t see, Johnny’s “legendary lexicon,” and what he’ll miss most about Miller

His honesty was alluded to among the tributes pre-recorded. Rickie Fowler noted that Miller, “kicked me in the butt a few times. In a good way.” Patrick Reed cited Miller’s insisting he supplement his patented draw with a fade. “I’ve got to thank you for being at Doral and busting my chops for always hitting a draw,” he said. “Now I’m a little bit more rounded player. I can hit both shots. Thanks for that.”

“Sometimes a father to his son says some things that sound a little tough, but it’s for the right reasons,” Miller replied. “I feel like I almost look over these young guys and want them to step it up and move up a notch. Sometimes it takes some commentary to get them to check things out.”

CBS’ Jim Nantz, among others from broadcasting, expressed his “undying respect for you, what you’ve done for the game. A true guardian of our sport. On behalf of all my colleagues who also admire you so deeply, congratulations on such a fantastic career, and thank you for what you’ve done for our sport.”

NBC’s NFL analyst Cris Collingsworth called his approach “gut-level honesty.”

President Donald Trump complimented Miller on his analysis. “I’ve tried to copy it, but it hasn’t worked out the same way,” he said. “Congratulations on two incredible careers and maybe most importantly on an incredible family.”

Nearing the end of the broadcast, each member of the NBC crew bid him adieu, none more emotionally than Roger Maltbie, who like Miller grew up in California’s Bay area.

“Johnny, a chance to speak from the heart,” Maltbie said, wrestling with his emotions. “You’ve been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. When I was 12, 13, you were 16, 17, you were winning all the junior tournaments and I wanted to be like you. In ’66, at age 19, you played so great at the Olympic Club [in the U.S. Open] and all the junior golfers in Northern California wanted to be like you.

“We got a chance to share golf’s greatest mulligan. Got to do this for 27 years with you. It’s bittersweet. I’m going to miss you. I hope you catch the biggest fish you ever caught in your life. And I hope you’re the grandpa you want to be.”

Through it all, Miller fought back tears. He thanked the viewers for accepting “my form of commentating, which was not normal,” he said. He likely leaves with no regrets, nor should he, even for those comments that rankled players. Jimmy Roberts summed it up neatly in a piece on Miller during GolfChannel’s part of the Phoenix Open telecast on Saturday.

“He worked in service to the people on their couches,” Roberts said, “not to the people on the range.”

The post Johnny Miller’s farewell: An NBC sendoff that had him, well, choking up appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
For nearly three decades, Johnny Miller has been a staple of golf and sports television. But riding shotgun for a record-breaking 19 of those years has been NBC play-by-play man Dan Hicks. Just hours before the two began—and ended—a 20th consecutive year of sitting side-by-side in the 18th-hole tower with the retiring Miller’s final broadcast from the Waste Management Phoenix Open, we talked to Hicks about his longtime booth partner.

RELATED: Johnny Miller’s farewell: An NBC sendoff that had him, well, choking up

1. What do you remember about the first time you met him or worked with him? Was he an intimidating presence?
Actually, he doesn’t remember, but I was at Tucson Open as just a middle-school kid down the road. My mom would get me out of school because she was a big fan of the golf tournament, and Johnny Miller would come in and win every year by multiple shots. I think I might have asked him for an autograph. So then after I got a job in Tucson at the local NBC affiliate, I interviewed. So that was the first time I actually met him and he gave me a fantastic interview about TPC courses. Time goes on and the next time I saw him was when I first got to NBC Sports in 1992. He was at the Players Championship, and he didn’t know me. I was the new kid. I’ll never forget he was on a golf cart near the television compound and I walked by and he slaps the open seat next to him and goes, “Get in, champ, I’ll show you the course.” And I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me. I cannot believe this is happening. He couldn’t have been nicer. He showed me around TPC Sawgrass, and I’ll never forget that. To go on from there and not only work with him, but share the tower with him has been a dream come true.

2. Once you guys were in the booth together, did the chemistry come right away? And did you think you guys would spend a record amount of time together?
You never know how the chemistry is going to go. And I would say it wasn’t one of those “Oh, this is the greatest thing ever” instantly. I think Johnny was keeping a close eye on me. He’d obviously heard me being on another tower for years, but sitting up next to Johnny is an entirely different story. I kind of had to earn his respect. That takes time, that takes shows. But I think he quickly saw how passionate I was about it and how dedicated I was to it and how I could help him even become better than he was. And it just evolved into great chemistry where we knew what to expect of each other through an unspoken language. So it didn’t take long, but I had to earn his trust.

3. Is there a tournament that you guys worked together that stands out? That you guys seem to reminisce about most?
There have been so many incredible moments through the years, but it always seems to go back to Tiger’s win at the 2008 U.S. Open. It was magical in so many ways. … I thought as we walked out of booth on Saturday after Tiger made those two eagles—one of which Johnny predicted that changed the entire complexion of the championship—I told Johnny, “Remember this day. I don’t know how many years we’ll get to do this, but it won’t get any better than that.” So the next day, he sinks the putt to tie Rocco and I said, “Forget about what I said last night. This is the best.”

We were counting up tournaments, and Tiger, obviously, has won more times with Johnny in the booth than any other player. And it’s been amazing to share the spotlight with Johnny with Tiger right there with us. When I first got in the booth, one of my first events was Tiger’s second U.S. Amateur win at Newport Country Club. I’ll never forget, Tiger was playing Buddy Marucci and Johnny said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he stuffs this in there and just ended it,” and that’s exactly what he did. So we’ve done 24 times, including those two U.S. Amateurs, Tiger won. So we’ve come full circle here. We go back to 1995 when he won for the first time with Johnny in the booth and then you go back to East Lake last year. So it’s fitting Johnny’s first and last shows with me and Tiger coincided with Tiger victories. So it’s pretty poetic how that finished.

4. What’s something fans at home don’t know about Johnny? I always wonder how he spends commercials. Are snacks ever involved?
There’s a lot of great camaraderie in the booth by everybody. Some of the best stuff comes during commercial breaks. We needle Johnny. Johnny’s got a reputation of giving it to the players, but he gets needled a lot. Roger gives him the needle. We all have fun with him. I remember one time at the Bob Hope, Eddie Van Halen was there and we got into this debate at the commercial over who is the best guitar player ever. And we’re going maybe it’s Eddie, maybe it’s Eric Clapton, maybe it’s Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Johnny goes, “Well, I think Glen Campbell is a pretty good player.” We’re like “Glen Campbell!” We gave him an endless hard time for that. But that was Johnny. He was his own guy.

Cy Cyr

I’ve done 232 events with him. And I would say 100 of those he’s done in bare feet, which people don’t know. I’ve told the story this week about how he had his own Cheez Whiz can and that was a part of his menu by our longtime 18th-tower stage manager Kathy Noce, who also put his name on tuna fish can, which she just did for the very last time. He likes a can of tuna with a little tabasco sauce. It’s not always the most nutritious, but he’ll munch on things, he’s always grazing. So yeah, there are all sorts of little quirks and we actually gave him a bag with all the little things he likes at his going away party with the crew on Thursday night. So if he misses us, he can look at that bag and remember all the cool things that happened in the tower through the years.

5. Have you played golf with him? What’s he like on the course?
I have. Not as much as I would have liked to, but it never was one of his favourite things to do on the road. He plays most of his golf with his sons and his family. But I was fortunate enough to get him out on the golf course. We’d always play during Players Championship at a really cool course called Pablo Creek. We would usually only go about 9 holes, but it was so fun. Inevitably, I get asked if we’ve played and what it’s like, and first of all, he’s a much better player than he leads on. But more importantly, to watch him in his 60s and now 70s, he still has that great action that is so him. So to just be standing next to him all these years later and watch it is pretty cool.

6. Do you recall a moment where he said something that shocked you? And what’s your favourite Johnny Millerism?
Wow. A moment when he shocked me? There were a lot of them. I’d probably say at the 2000 U.S. Open. It was my very first U.S. Open and Tiger was on 15th tee and Johnny started saying, “I’ve got this hunch Tiger is going to do something historic this week, he’s going to set all sorts of records, and he’s going to blow away the field and say ‘see you later, guys.’” This was 14 holes into the first round. And I looked over at him as if to say, “Are you really going with this, right now?” It kind of left me speechless. And I just said something like, “Well, we’ve got a lot of golf left, we’ll see.” And lo and behold, he wins by 15. That’s probably the boldest thing I’ve ever heard him say that came true, but there are just too many to document.

As for the Johnny Miller lexicon, it’s legendary. My favourite may be one that got left behind with all the chunk-and-runs and green light specials. We’re doing our first U.S. Open at Shinnecock in 1995, and Johnny looks out at the native rough, the fescue, and goes, “Well, one of the keys this week will be to keep it out of the Dingle Dangles.” And I’m thinking to myself, did that just come to him? And it did. So we’ve had a running joke through the years, especially when we’ve gone back to Shinnecock, we say, “You’ve got to keep it out of the dingle dangles.”

7. What will you miss most about sitting next to Johnny?
I’ll miss most, in addition to the broadcasting brilliance, and just never a dull moment and every single show he makes so interesting, I’ll miss just as much just being with him. Some of the things we talk about in the tower before we go on the air. It’s not all golf, it’s not all research. We talk about life, we talk about family. He has given me more nuggets of wisdom about being a good father, being a good husband, and being a good friend than anyone I’ve ever known in my life. So that is what I’m going to miss the most.

The post 7 questions with Dan Hicks on Johnny Miller: The quirks you don’t see, Johnny’s “legendary lexicon,” and what he’ll miss most about Miller appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The word “choke” itself, as a description for the act of failing to perform under pressure, is nearly perfect. As far as I can tell from cursory research, it’s an American invention that came to prominence in the post-war period in baseball, and seems to derive more or less directly from the common, gasping-for-air definition. It’s an incredibly personal term—while a “clutch” performance conveys abstract concepts like triumph and glory, “choke” returns the focus to the gagging individual. And the more personal the sport, the more intense the insult. For example: When you think of the Houston Oilers choking against the Buffalo Bills in the 1993 playoffs, who do you think about? For me, the answer is Frank Reich. He was on the winning side, which proves that when a team chokes, there is at least some protection in the collective—you can hide behind your teammates. But when you think about Greg Norman choking at the Masters, who do you think about? The answer, of course, is Greg Norman.

It makes sense, then, that professional golfers tend to be a little sensitive about the word. Along with the natural entitlement native to the sport, and the unique belief in certain quarters that the media and fans exist to burnish the players’ images, there’s a legitimate complaint. To call someone a choker in golf is to heap scorn on a human who can’t hide, and who is already suffering from an overload of pressure in a game that’s particularly vulnerable to minor tensions—a game where the slightest mechanical deviation can result in an errant shot, and where that errant shot can be ruinous even in an otherwise perfect round. Where perfection is required, and where it is unbelievably hard to achieve, the word “choker” feels a little cruel.

RELATED: In Paul Azinger, NBC gets Johnny Miller’s candor, but delivered in his own way

But it’s also honest, and it’s also necessary. Johnny Miller would occasionally use the word “choke” as the lead analyst on NBC Sports, and as Alex Myers wrote in 2014, he knew from experience exactly what that meant. Paul Azinger, who will soon step into the retiring Miller’s role and has his own history of success and failure under pressure, has said he won’t use the word. Here was his explanation during a conference call to announce his hiring at NBC:

“I’m not afraid to use that word, but I’m not going to stick it on somebody because I don’t think that’s fair. It’s irresponsible as a broadcaster to do that. I want to help build their brand, not tear them down, and I want to do it in the way that I do it.”

This brings up a few thoughts.

1. Saying you’re “not afraid to use that word” but that you’re “not going to stick it on somebody” is a little contradictory. It’s like the student who says, “I could get good grades, but I just don’t feel like trying.” Hearing it, you can’t help think, well, maybe that’s true, but we can’t quite prove it.

2. Anyone who follows televised golf knows that the players are a little coddled by announcers not named Johnny Miller—especially in comparison to other sports—and the fact that NBC Sports is a “partner” with the PGA Tour is an economic reality. Still, it’s a little strange to hear a media member, especially a kinda-sorta-journalist, say of the players that he wants to help “build their brand.” In golf’s realpolitik, it’s no conflict of interest at all, but it does feel like Azinger is grinding the last flickering embers of perceived media independence into ashes under his heel. It certainly makes him sound more like an aspiring Nantz than an aspiring Miller.

Azinger has never shied from being candid with his opinions. Here’s hoping that doesn’t change at NBC.

All of which brings us to the concept of “fair.” Azinger says “I don’t think that’s fair” when referring to the word choke as a descriptor, but he certainly can’t mean that’s it not true. Everyone who has ever played or watched a professional sport knows that choking is real, it happens all the time, and it’s usually pretty obvious. I’ve choked, and you probably have too. And if you accept that choking is sometimes true, and that’s it an important part of a tournament narrative—again, if it’s honest and necessary—what Azinger is really saying is that telling the truth isn’t fair.

You might agree with him. Sometimes telling the truth is mean, and if we lived a life without the convenience of timely white lies, our interpersonal relationships would get ugly fast.

RELATED: There was no choke in Johnny Miller as a broadcaster

Yet we’re not talking about your aunt’s boring vacation photos. We’re talking about professional golfers who make lots of money and accept a life as a public figure as part of the bargain. Competition is the essence of what they do, and a large part of their income derives from the fact that a chunk of the American public finds that competition compelling enough to watch. One price of being a public figure and reaping those benefits is that you subject yourself to the drama as it’s presented on television. To expect that the men and women translating this drama for the public won’t honestly convey the bad with the good is unreasonable, and it’s odd to hear Azinger essentially cut off a whole avenue of commentary before he even begins.

Let’s be fair—maybe he simply means that he’ll find synonyms for the word “choke” because of the heavy connotation. But there was no evidence for that reading from his conference call. In fact, when you consider his concern for building the players’ brand, it certainly seems like he’ll shy away from negative commentary as a rule.

I like Paul Azinger. He’s a smart man, he was a great Ryder Cup captain, and he has the chance to be really good at his job. Which is why I hope he reconsiders this stance. There are a few good ways for a player to build his brand, and they include an aggressive agent, smart sponsors and, above all, success on the course. The list should not include the passive assistance of a neutered media. That’s a lesson Johnny Miller carried with him for an entire career, and it’s one Azinger would do well to heed. Free the choke.

The post Paul Azinger must free the choke appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

RELATED: Why Paul Azinger is the perfect replacement for Johnny Miller

In a teleconference with media to formally introduce Azinger, NBC Sports lead producer Tommy Roy detailed how the deal came together for the analyst over the past few months. He also revealed the secret — and humorous — code name Azinger was given to try to keep a lid on his hire: Ruby Tuesday. Seriously.

Why Ruby Tuesday? Take it away, Tommy:

“I wanted to meet at a place where there was a pretty good chance we wouldn’t be recognised from people in the world of golf. So we decided to meet halfway, and Paul got to Ocala and we found a Ruby Tuesday’s just off the freeway, so that’s where we met.”

I mean, Ruby Tuesday is a decent enough spot with a top-notch salad bar, but was there not a Chili’s in the area? Anyway, Roy went on:

“Whenever we have big-time deals at NBC, we operate in total secrecy, so from that time forward when we had any internal texts or communications on this, we always referred to Paul as Ruby Tuesday.”

Love it. Now what’s the over/under on when Dan Hicks calls his new booth partner that?

The post NBC had a fantastic code name for Paul Azinger while it secretly recruited him appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.