Tees2Greens on Golf

February 2008 - Posts

• The Unwritten Books of Butch, Craig, Dick and Billy Harmon

  A few years ago I was working with a golf client that had signed up Butch Harmon and his brothers Craig, Billy and the now deceased Dick Harmon to endorse their product. Even though I knew their names, I had never met Butch or his three brothers. At the time, Butch was still Tiger’s coach and the toast of the golf world, and why not? Even without Tiger Woods, the Harmon family was pretty close to golf royalty. Their father, Claude Harmon, winner of the 1948 Masters, a legendary teacher of the game and the long-time pro at Winged Foot Golf Club, was the last bona-fide club pro to win a major. To prepare for our first meeting I watch a Golf Channel documentary about the brothers. It was a little like watching a family reunion. The four brothers were sitting around a table at Winged Foot where they grew up, telling stories and laughing at each other the way only brothers do. It was clear that Butch, the oldest, and the best known, was the big personality of the four, while Craig, the head pro at Oak Hill Country Club and the second oldest, was the steady as you go kind of guy. Dick Harmon, the pro at River Oaks Country Club in Houston, seemed to be the quiet one, and Billy, the pro at Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells, California, who was often seen caddying for his friend Jay Haas, was the jokester and took pleasure in heckling Butch with lines like, “Tell me Butch, how did a guy who won exactly one PGA Tour event become the greatest golf teacher in the world?” Butch’s answer was unprintable… funny, but still unprintable. What struck me at the time was how much the four brothers seemed to be still trying to please their father who had been dead many years. It was obvious from the stories that Claude Harmon, Senior was a tough taskmaster that passed out compliments and hugs about as often as I shoot 59. But the brothers spoke fondly of their father as they recalled of his tough-love. I remember the guys telling a story about when Craig Harmon hosted the 1989 U.S. Open at Oak Hill Country Club. By that time Claude Harmon, Senior was in poor health living in Houston. It was Craig’s first time to host such a prestigious event as the U.S. Open and Butch, Billy and Dick had come to the tournament to help him celebrate. To make the event even more special they wanted to include their father in the celebration, so they gathered around the phone and called him. To paraphrase the conversation, they told Claude, Senior that they were together at the U.S. Open that Craig was hosting and thinking about the time he had hosted the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. To which Claude replied something like, well the difference between you boys and me was when I hosted the U.S. Open at Winged Foot I also finished in the top ten, and none of you are even playing. I don’t know why Claude Harmon, Senior said what he said, and perhaps it bothered me more than it did his sons. It is certainly possible that it never occurred to him or them that his words might be interpreted as insensitive. My Dad could be the same way, tossing around compliments like manhole covers. Certainly many men who grew up in the Great Depression seemed to keep their emotions close to their vest and that’s too bad. In that same documentary, Butch went on to talk about how his brother Dick had cared for their father until his death. He acknowledged that his father had become even more difficult in the latter stage of his life and how much all of them appreciated what Dick had done. It was a very touching compliment to their younger brother Dick and a bit of insight as to why Dick was so beloved. Over the years I had the opportunity to meet and work with all of the Harmon brothers and I liked all of them individually and I like them even more together. To sit and listen to them tell stories about growing up on Winged Foot, the pranks, fights and shenanigans was absolutely spell binding. They talked about Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Bob Jones and every famous golfer you can imagine passing through their lives, not as super stars, but as just ordinary guys their dad knew. It reminded me of how Jane Fonda talked about how movie stars dropped in for Sunday dinner and no one thought a thing about it. The fact that Jimmy Stewart had come to her high school graduation seemed absolutely normal, and if Butch and his brothers got an impromptu golf lesson from the likes of Ben Hogan or Sam Snead… what’s unusual about that? One afternoon at Butch’s school near Las Vegas I sat in a room with Butch, Craig, Dick and Billy and listened and laughed with the brothers for hours. One of the funniest stories I remember was the one about Jackie Burke the 1956 Masters champion and co-founder of Houston’s Champions Golf Club and Olympic champion Carl Lewis… but you’ll have to ask Butch about that story yourself. I promise you that there is a great golf book inside each of the Harmons that will never be written because the toll in red faces, divorces, lawsuits and fistfights would be too much to survive. At dinner one night, I asked Billy Harmon about writing a book together. “We’ll make a million bucks,” I told him. “David Letterman will be calling and the Golf Channel will make a series out of it based on the Steven Spielberg movie and DVD. It will be the funniest golf book ever and I mean ever.” “We can’t use real names in the book,” he said. “Without real names, it might as well be about me.” I answered. “It would be a lot better than that,” he replied. Posted Feb 28 2008, 01:34 PM by Sam 'Bogey' Johnson with no comments Filed under: Sam Johnson, Butch Harmon, Graig Harmon, Greg Harmon, Dick Harmon

• My Match Play Premonitions

  Part of the natural appeal of sports is drama, the last second basket or touchdown, the homerun in the bottom of the ninth. It’s the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat and we love every minute of it. In golf, match play has that kind of promise; the kid from out of nowhere possibility; the skinny kid with glasses gets the Prom Queen kind of promise. It is Seabiscuit vs. War Admiral. So why not play them all mano e mano? Well, for one thing, it’s bad for television ratings especially when your favorite player gets eliminated in the first round. Still, match play is a little bit like “March Madness” without all of the running and jumping. However, unlike the Final Four Tournament where no sixteenth seed has ever beaten a one seed, the number one seed in match play golf has lost in the first round. And, since I am writing this prior to the first tee shot, it may very well have happen again, all though I wouldn’t put money on it. Tiger Woods has played in the Accenture Match Play Championship nine times and reached the final three times, winning it all in 2003 and 2004. However, in 2002 he lost in the first round to that household name golfer Peter O’Malley. Shortly thereafter “Tiger Killer” Nick O’Hern eliminated Tiger in the second round in 2005 and once again in the third round a year ago. Perhaps it’s names that start with “O”? So the question is, if Tiger can lose to the likes of Nick O’Hern… twice, is this match play stuff a fair way to judge talent? Not at all; match play is simply one round of golf, no more no less. On that day in 2002 Tiger might have beat every other player in the Tournament except Peter O’Malley, but we’ll never know. Judging by Nick O’Hern’s success, match play must be a little like boxing, in the sense that styles make fights, certain match ups can make for an exciting round. However, it was more likely Tiger’s lack of focus and the luck of the O’ Boys that did Mr. Woods in on those particular days, or perhaps it was the golf gods whispering in Tiger’s ear, “Not so fast young man.” By now you know if Tiger has pounded the festive way out of J. B. Homes, so don’t tell me; however, my first premonition is that Tiger beat J. B. Obviously, that’s not the skinniest limb I ever crawled out on, but I’m just getting started. My second premonition sees Nick O’Hern making it to the final once again and this time scoreboarding Tiger on the first tee. He will look over at Tiger and give him the choke sign and Tiger’s caddie would have to hold him back. Still steaming, Tiger will jerk his first tee-shot out of bounds and Nick will look at him, laugh and take a one up lead. As the round progresses Nick will continue to taunt Tiger as he rolls in one fifty-foot putt after another. Finally, on the last hole, Nick will call Tiger’s 20-foot par putt good before he calmly sinks his own 15-foot birdie putt for the win. Then, to punctuate then entire match, Nick “Tiger Killer” O’Hern will break his putter over his knee and drop it at Tiger’s feet as he opened a beer bottle with his teeth… Wait a minute, I just had another premonition; Scott Verplank will eliminate Nick O'Hern in the first round and Tiger will offer to make Scott’s next car payment. Isn’t match play fun? Posted Feb 21 2008, 08:12 AM by Sam 'Bogey' Johnson with no comments Filed under: Sam Johnson, Tiger Woods, Nick O’Hern, Scott Verplank, J. B. Homes, Match Play

• Sometimes The Magic Works, Sometimes It Doesn’t

  Scatter shooting a bit about Steve Lowery, Phil Mickelson and Pat Perez vs. Tiger Woods. Let’s start with kudos for Steve Lowery for his win at Pebble Beach. At 48 years old and a hefty 225 pounds, this Alabama boy has a total of three wins on Tour, interestingly all by playoff. How’s that for magic? Forget about those wags that say Vijay Singh gave it away. Look at Steve’s birdie on the first playoff hole and consider that anyone who can do that in the face of all that pressure deserves to win. An old football coach had some wisdom on “should have, could have” season records. “You are what you are,” he said. Golf is the same way. It doesn’t matter that you got a bad break, or on any other day you might beat the @#@* out of your challenger. The game is all about the here and now. And this here and now belonged to Steve Lowery. To hell with the Atkins diet, pass the mashed potatoes and hold my chocolate malt while I give Steve a standing ovation. One of the other highlights, or perhaps lowlights of the AT& T was Phil Mickelson’s 11 on the par 5 fourteenth hole in the 3rd round. I mention this only to encourage the rest of us when we card that 8 on our own par 5 nightmares. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I want to celebrate Phil’s misfortune, but it’s nice to know that most of us could have kicked his butt on that hole. Of course we would have pressed the bet and lost our shirt on the next hole, but that’s another story. Next week is the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and as of this moment Pat Perez has the final 64th spot in the tournament. This is a good news, bad news, good news story. The good news is Pat is in the tournament and therefore gets to strut around the locker room with the big boys. The bad news is that number 64 has to play number 1 and the last time I looked that was a guy named Tiger. However, the final good news is that last place pays $40,000. I’m not suggesting that Pat has no chance. However, I am suggesting that Pat may need a little mojo to advance. Mojo aside, this past week was the final week to become eligible for the 64-man field, and Pat shot a 72 to tie for 24th, and unbeknown to him earn just enough ranking points to improve one spot to No. 65. And, since Ernie Els has said he would not play, tag, you’re it, Mr. Perez. Although the final, final field is not set until 5:00 p.m. Monday of the tournament, Pat’s opponent seems assured. If anyone withdraws after that, his opponent gets a pass to the second round. And as if he didn’t already have enough pressure, Pat has never played in the World Golf Championship, and he hasn’t competed in match play since he was a junior at Arizona State. Even when told by friend and foe alike that anything can happen over 18 holes that didn't seem to brighten his optimism all that much. "If I'm playing Tiger, anything would need to happen," Perez said. "I don't think he's going to be too worried about anybody he plays." Without question Pat has a major hill to climb, but all is not lost. After all, Woods has only won the Accenture Match Play twice, and was eliminated in the third round last year. Frankly, I like Pat’s approach. "It’s a free show for me, watching him play," he said. "Unbelievable, this guy. I can't lose either way. If I beat him, I'm a hero. If I don't, I'm not supposed to win. If I beat him, I may quit, just pack in it. If anybody asks, 'When was the last time you played? Aw, I beat Tiger. I'm done.'" Stay tuned because sometime the magic does work, just ask Steve Lowery. Posted Feb 13 2008, 04:22 PM by Sam 'Bogey' Johnson with no comments Filed under: Sam Johnson, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Steve Lowery, Pat Perez