by Gary Williams | Apr 17, 2023 | Blog
Athletes and fans keep score, and we all make lists. We have lists for errands, thank you notes, career goals, amends we have to make, and for golfers… its where we must go. I certainly want to attend games at some of the great sports venues of the world starting with the All England Lawn and Croquet Club for Wimbledon. I’ve been to games at Lambeau Field, Cameron Indoor Stadium, Fenway Park, The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Madison Square Garden, and The Big House. Many of those experiences were work related or simply reflective of a game I wanted to attend without pining for years to get to those venues. Golf is different and golfers make lists of places they dream of playing and when they check courses off their lists, they keep score with the ones they play the most golf with. It’s silly and petty and a driving force for those things we all want on the horizon. As I’ve said before, we all need things to look forward to in this life.
Many of the best and first experiences I had in golf I shared with my dad. First rounds at Pine Valley, Pinehurst #2, Pebble Beach, Muirfield, Royal County Down and the Old Course were with my only hero. The memories have stood up and will always galvanize those places as extra special way beyond the holes and the hang. The last 15 years of my life and career have been an embarrassment of invites and opportunity. Places with historical relevance in championship golf have been a particular pursuit like Oakmont and the Country Club. Newer places like Ohoopee, Old Sandwich, and Friars Head because they have cultivated a superior experience by threading the needle in every category of experiential golf. Nostalgic locales like Fishers Island, Cypress Point and Newport Country Club because they are golf time capsules that rely on their soul and their healthy heartbeats that will stand the test of time. I was never really having to construct a list because the opportunity was there, and I never took any of the days for granted. Sand Hills hung out on my horizon for years as my own white whale and I satisfied that desire in September of 2019 and again last summer. It is a mecca, and it satisfied every element of what I hoped it would be. Circumstances in the spring and summer of 2023 will give me new experiences and I know I will take of all of them with a healthy level of gratitude. It still won’t stop me from being critical of design features I don’t care for, the signature soup that will be bland and the merchandise in the shop that will have me wanting to come out of retirement to set the professional staff straight on what is essential to “repping” a shop expertly. When I took on that responsibility at Seminole in the mid 90’s it was the most stimulating thing I did in my time as a member of the PGA of America.
My list is short, but there is one club and course I am determined to visit in 2023, Crystal Downs. Dr. Alistair Mackenzie’s body of work is not as prolific as some of his contemporaries, but he has several of the most important golf courses in American golf history on his resume and the story of Crystal Downs and its adherence to its modest presentation as a club is endearing. The short season of the Midwest, especially that of Northern Michigan makes the playing opportunities finite compared to other parts of the country but the pleasant climate and the extended daylight make the notion of a late, late afternoon tee time at Crystal Downs the most desirous experience I want to share in 2023. I spent many fantastic days in Leland, Michigan as a kid with the family of a lifelong friend and it’s been decades since I’ve been in that part of the world. Couple that with the reputation of Crystal Downs as a laboratory for design geeks to wig out at the sublime use of the land by Dr. Mackenzie and Perry Maxwell, the green contours and the sleepy and humble vibe of the club itself, and you have the perfect combination of things that wind me up as a golfer.
Why do you want to go where it is you want to go? The list is about the top 100 and you are currently lagging behind your gluttonous buddies who have checked more boxes? It’s the forbidden city like Augusta National or Pine Valley because they are the boldest notches on your golf bedpost? It’s about the hottest hangs in the game like Ohoopee, Groove XXIII, or Gosser Ranch because you want to share it with your boys? Whatever the reasons, they’re all good and shared by countless others. It’s such a particular element of the game that helps sustain it and what other sport would have my mind fixated on getting to Frankfort, Michigan on a summer day? When and if the day presents itself, I’ll share all the details and then I’ll move on to the next thing that has taken up residence in my golf-centric mind. Playing and exploring what I am calling the Jay Gatsby golf trail. What could that possibly consist of….Stay tuned.
by Gary Williams | Apr 14, 2023 | Blog
When was the last time you thought about your own greatest personal and most profound physical achievement? It probably presents itself in your mind periodically and it is rightfully a tremendous source of pride. It may also feel as if it took place many more years ago than it actually did. In men’s professional golf the resumes of the greatest players are a testament to the achievement and can also be amplified by the longevity of the individual. Jack Nicklaus won his first major in 1962 and famously won his last in 1986. Tiger Woods expanded the breadth of his major championship career by winning the 2019 Masters, which lengthened the time between his first and his last by 11 years. Eleven years is equivalent to two lifetimes in elite professional golf as “prime” windows open and close coldly and constantly on players. Which brings us to the supreme challenge that Rory McIlroy faces four weeks every year.
In 2014 South Carolina beat Georgia in football, the San Antonio Spurs won the NBA title, Germany blitzed Brazil in a world cup semifinal and went on to win the entire thing, and UConn won the national championship in basketball. The number of things that have happened to each school or organization since those achievements were realized makes it feel like they happened decades ago. In August of 2014 Rory McIlroy was asserting himself as the best player in the what would eventually be the post Tiger Woods era. Rory had held off Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler a month earlier to win his first Open Championship. The Open was considered to be the one that would be most elusive for McIlroy to claim. He sauntered around Valhalla at the PGA as the clear best player in the world and proceeded to essentially play through Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson to win his second PGA Championship and his fourth major in a three-year window. Rory was unencumbered with a wife or a family at the time and appeared on a fast track to rarified major championship achievement. Now, almost nine full years removed from his bullish play in Kentucky his major championship haul remains four and his quest for the career grand slam will head to the year 2024 and his tenth attempt at a Masters tournament title and golf’s holy grail.
Rory’s performance at the Masters was deflating. He had solved some issues after the missed cut at the Players with a deep run at the Match Play championship and every indication was that a Sunday in the throes of the second nine was more than a likelihood. His pre-Masters press conference was introspective and pragmatic. While taking on the role of front man for all the changes occurring on the PGA Tour, McIlroy has remained an engaging participant with the media. He’s complimentary of the work of many people in the industry who cover the game and sat for a lengthy and entertaining conversation with the No Laying Up team less than two weeks out from the Masters. He is an exceedingly curious person with redeemable traits that fly in the face of many egocentric and narcissistic superstars of global sport. Maybe he would be better served to shut it all down or resort to curt and less thoughtful answers as to why this has gone on so long but it’s simply not his nature. For a sporting icon, not to mention an only child, McIlroy possesses one of life’s most redeemable qualities, he’s unselfish. McIlroy is also very close with several members at Augusta National which makes his fondness for the club genuine beyond just the golf course itself. It is not unreasonable to consider that Rory could very well become a regular member at the club like Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus did before him. However, he will never accept the invitation if he has not won a green jacket for his play in their annual tournament. Rory’s decision to work with Dr. Bob Rotella, starting a few years ago, is an indicator that “headspace” is a challenge for McIlroy and the weight of crossing the career grand slam line is fatiguing. The prolonging of the achievement is not making it easier and he’s now swimming in uncharted waters as it relates to the time required to accomplish the feat and its being compounded by his inability to win any major title in almost nine full years.
The list of players who won 5 major titles in their careers is royalty from generations long, long ago to more modern legends. J.H. Taylor, James Braid, Peter Thomson, Byron Nelson and Seve Ballesteros all won five majors and most of them only had a gap between numbers four and five of 2 to 3 years. Only Peter Thomson had a prolonged drought before he won his fifth Open Championship and his fifth overall major in 1965 – a gap of seven years which likely felt longer for the legendary Australian. Then consider the timeline of the five men who have achieved golfing immortality in achieving the career grand slam. Gene Sarazen won the third leg at the 1932 Open Championship and completed the slam less than three years later by winning what was then The Augusta National Invitation Tournament. Rightfully, Sarazen retroactively won the grand slam but the players, the media, the fans and the co-founder of Augusta National, Bobby Jones, had no idea what the event was going to become. The club had unsuccessfully attempted to convince the USGA to conduct the US Open at Augusta National and the genesis of what would become the Masters had as much to do with drumming up interest in potential members to the new club as it was to stage one of the biggest events in golf. No player has gone to Augusta National with anywhere near the pressure that McIlroy has, with the exception of Tiger Woods when he was trying to complete the Tiger Slam in 2001. He accomplished the feat but assessing its place historically was different without simply admitting how ludicrous it was that he owned all four trophies simultaneously. Ben Hogan won the 1951 Masters and completed the slam just over two years later at his lone appearance and win of the Open Championship at Carnoustie in 1953. Gary Player won the third leg at the PGA in 1962 and completed the slam in 1965 at the U.S. Open. Jack Nicklaus was tidy in securing the third leg in 1963 at the PGA and put a bow on his first slam in 1966 at the Open Championship at Muirfield. Finally, Tiger made quick work of the slam from the U.S. Open in June of 2000 at Pebble Beach to his own coronation at the Old Course in a blowout and his first Open Championship a month later. Whatever sense of unfinished business they each felt to win the final leg they didn’t allow it to persist beyond even a third year. Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson were 31 and 32 when they secured the third leg of the slam and neither man ever closed the book. Lee Trevino was 34 with only the Masters needed for entry into the fraternity but his feelings for the club and the style required never made the pursuit seem practical. Finally, Phil Mickelson was 43 when he won the Open Championship and his heartbreak at the U.S. Open was already legendary including just a month before winning at Muirfield when he was denied his national championship at Merion. Rory finds himself now looking toward his tenth attempt at Augusta National but the current in his Rubicon is turning into a riptide because of his inability to close any major anywhere. Cam Smith’s performance to deny Rory his second Open Championship at the Old Course allowed everyone to say Smith won it, but Rory had his chances, actually he had many chances, and he simply couldn’t make any crucial putts in the final round. His overall play didn’t suggest that he succumbed to the pressure, but he was the man to beat, and someone beat him. His overall performance in every major, not just the Masters, over the last nine years has been very good, with many chances to win indicated by his result in all four majors in 2022. However, the close calls may only make the divide seem wider and not closer as the years continue to pass on by. When and if Rory wins a major, he will now share it with his wife Erica and their adorable daughter Poppy, which will be different from 2014. Who knows if the family will be larger by the time he crosses the major line again, but one thing that I believe is likely true is that the pursuit of the career grand slam cannot be running concurrently with his quest for any major championship title. If Rory is ever going to don a green jacket, I believe he will need to have the memories of another major victory much clearer and fresher in his mind.
