Golf Wise brings together 21 readings from golfers you know and writers you love: Hall of Famer Larry Nelson, major champion Bill Rogers, former tour players Stan Utley and Randy Wolff, Tracy Hanson, and Isabelle Beisiegel, as well as coaches and the amateurs who appreciate the game like you do. Enjoy this sample copy from Stan Utley and order copies for you and your friends here.
THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT
By Stan Utley
I teach a lot of golfers, including tour players you’d know by name, but some of my favorite pieces of golf wisdom are not my own. Here is one I really like. Someone asked Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott, “How can I be more consistent so I can shoot lower scores?” They said that you can’t shoot low scores by being consistent; you have to be adaptable.You may have a shot that should fly low or curve more or less. The ball may be sitting down, sitting up, or sitting on a slope. The wind may be helping or hurting, and there may or may not be trouble between you and the target. If your swing is adaptable, you can hit the shot that is right for the conditions you have before you. Repeatability in a swing is good, but adaptability is crucial.
This is why I prefer not to use terms like “pitching” and “chipping,” even though I make my living teaching the short game. In golf, we hit a variety of shots from a variety of lies and with different lofts and different spins. We do this in the long game, the short game, and everything in between.
So why would you hire me instead of someone else? Well, one thing I can teach you is how to control the first bounce of the ball on your shots around the green. Should it check some, release some, spin to one side or the other, bounce higher or lower? If we think about that and learn to control the first bounce, we’ll be ahead of the competition. It goes back to adaptability, because the lie around our ball, the firmness of the green, and the slope to reach the cup are different on every hole.
You may come to me thinking your gifts lie elsewhere, not in the short game. But if you can adapt to what the shot calls for, you’ll make progress. You want to use the gifts you have been given, listen to and learn from good players and teachers, and be adaptable. There are so many aspects to golf, and it is important to improve the parts you’re weak on. But if you spend all your time improving what you’re weak on to the detriment of what you’re really good at, it’s probably not going to work out in your benefit. You need both. I wish I’d always understood that.
Growing up in a small town in Missouri, I played baseball (pitcher), football (quarterback), and basketball. I loved basketball, and my teammates got a lot of offensive rebounds when I played.
Dr. J was one of my favorites, and I wanted to be a professional basketball player like him.
But when I was 11 or 12, we moved to a town that had a nine-hole golf course, and I started playing. My God gifts are my hands and my mind. My dad had taught me how to use my mind in baseball, and that carried over to golf. And having hands with talent was extremely helpful in golf as well.
By the time I was a high school senior, I had given up every sport but basketball and golf, and my dream had shifted to being a professional golfer. I was unknown as a junior golfer, because I didn’t play many national tournaments, and I wasn’t recruited by colleges. But Missouri took me in, and I was able to make the traveling team as a freshman.
We played a good schedule, which allowed me to see a lot of good players, and we had a good coach. I was learning every match and every practice, and I kept improving. By the time I graduated, my game was in pretty good shape and I eventually made it to the PGA Tour.
When I got there, I did what almost everyone does who makes it to the pros: I wondered if I was good enough. My short game allowed me to feel like I belonged, although even with that confidence I wanted to find a better long game.
Looking back on it, I believe I shouldn’t have chased after more distance, but should have focused even more on what got me there, the short game. Had I made that part even better, it probably would have extended my playing career. As the saying goes back in the Midwest, you should dance with the one that brought you.
Of course, if you’re a golfer, you won’t be surprised to hear me say that I’m still trying to find that long game. I don’t neglect my short game while I’m at it, but I believe I have a major champion’s permission to keep looking.
I was at the Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills in 2004 because I was teaching players on both teams. The legendary Jackie Burke was there as an assistant captain to the US team, and it was the first time I’d ever met him. He realized I was still a competitor on the Tour but that I was teaching more. He kind of pulled me aside and said, “You should practice your golf game every day for at least 30 or 40 minutes. Your students will demand your time and pay you for your time and you’ll want to give it to them, but you’ll always be better if you keep your game sharp, and you can’t do that unless you practice every day.”
He knew that if my own game—both the long and short—was in tune, I’d be a better teacher. He also knew that I could spend all my time teaching and ignore my game, and that doing so wouldn’t be good for me or my students. Wise advice, and it’s as true for our spiritual walk as it is for our golf game.
Spiritually speaking I am no Bible scholar. I believe I am dropping seeds along the way with how I conduct myself and by allowing God’s light to shine through me. My favorite question to have someone ask me is whether I am religious. That opens the door to speak about a relationship with Christ and how he only got after religious people. For all us common sinners, he had grace.
Forgiveness is the gift God has given me, but what am I willing to do with it? The scripture I live by is found in Paul’s words to the Romans. Golf is only one of the many challenges we’ll encounter in our life. But if I keep at it and persevere, that develops character. My character is really what’s important, but perseverance and character come from my hope and faith in Christ saving me from my sins. Without that hope, it would be hard to push through the challenges.
I’ve learned a lot of great lessons from a lot of great teachers during my career, and I’ve been able to help a lot of people enjoy the game more. While seeing one of my students win a Tour event is great, seeing the eyes of a player at any level light up in an “ah-ha” moment is incredible. It’s the hope of getting to that place of understanding that motivates me. In the same way, the hope of salvation keeps me using the gifts I’ve been given to be a man who honors God in all he does.