It has often been said that, to get the true measure of someone, you should play a round of golf with them. To that end, The Denver Post set out to join some aficionados of the game for 18 holes, to get a sense not only of their games but how golf has influenced them and helped shape their outlook on life.
We begin with Clayton Cole, a former member of the PGA Tour. Cole, 67, recently retired after 17 years as the head pro at Cherry Hills Country Club. At a retirement dinner in his honor, Cole joined former president Dwight Eisenhower, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and predecessor Warren Smith as those awarded the club’s highest honor, the Red Jacket.
On a recent day at the prestigious club, which has hosted 10 major championships, the affable Cole teed off on any number of topics. What follows is a sampling, starting with a simple question.
Why golf?
“My dad was a golf professional. I played some other sports, but around the 10th grade, I decided to just focus on golf. I couldn’t run well enough for football. I could shoot pretty well in basketball, but I really wasn’t fast enough for that. So I went with golf and I’ve never regretted it. I tried other businesses, like the insurance business — I worked five or six hours a day and thought it was 12. I got into the golf business and worked 12 hours and thought it was five or six, so I said it must be the right thing.”
Different feeling
“The strangest thing that’s happened to me since I retired was when I came out here to play as a member — they gave me an honorary membership. That was the first time I’d come out and not been in charge of all the golf. I had the most emotional day, up and down. It wasn’t necessarily bad or good, it was just emotional because it was so different from what I had experienced for the last 17 years.”
Big time
“I qualified for the PGA Tour and played eight months in 1969. I was married with kids, and I just said I wasn’t good enough for this. I had some sponsors giving me some money and I played through the end of the summer. Between not winning enough money, running out of the money from my sponsors and being married, it wasn’t the type of life for my family. If I would have been single I would have stayed longer, but it wasn’t right for them and it wasn’t right for me.”
Moment of truth
“I remember I was playing once with Hale Irwin at Preston Trail in Dallas. We were walking along one hole, and he said: ‘I used to have to hit the ball on this side of the fairway, but now that I know how to manage my game, I can hit it on that side.’ I was just standing there thinking, ‘To manage your game, you’ve got to have some game.’ And I knew I didn’t fall into that category.”
Free time
“My wife and I both turned 67 in March, and we’re committed to spending more time together and enjoying a little more freedom maybe than we’ve had in the summer. Summers together have been nonexistent. She was so great with the kids because I was working on weekends and maybe taking one day a week off. She’s been looking forward to this time way more than I have — way more.”
On the tee
“In 1993, I qualified for the U.S. Senior Open, which was played here at Cherry Hills. I knew Arnold Palmer, had met him a couple of times. He called the club and asked if I could get him a tee time for the practice rounds. I said, ‘I’ll be glad to. How ’bout me playing with you?’ He said that would be fine, just put us with Paul Spengler and whomever you want. Well, Jack Nicklaus had his name up there by himself, so we just jumped in with him. Those two had more fun teasing and needling each other the whole round.”
Outdated course
“Mike Davis (USGA senior director of rules and competition) told me they look at five things to host a major championship — the course, the size of the gallery the site can hold, parking, television compound and corporate hospitality. And if you look at Cherry Hills, we’re short in every one of those for a major championship like the U.S. Open or the PGA Championship. That’s why I think it will be difficult for us to host those two tournaments. Now, the next level down, the U.S. Women’s Open, the Senior Open or the Senior PGA Championship, this course could do a good job with that. Most of the courses that have hosted the last few Opens, or those that will, they’re on 36-hole facilities, and they use that other course for a lot of the corporate hospitality and the parking. Mike told me … the course isn’t as much a factor as the other four elements. People don’t realize how big it is; it’s about 10 times bigger than the Women’s Open. That’s why we would be challenged. What they bring is just bigger than our physical plant.”
Grand Slam
“When we hosted the 2005 Women’s Open, Annika Sorenstam was trying for the third leg of the Grand Slam, but lost when Birdie Kim won. The first thing I was surprised about was how late she got into town; she got here on Tuesday around noon. I was surprised she didn’t prepare a little more, because these greens are tough to judge on your first one or two times around.”
Leading the way
“Caddies have been largely lost from the game these days. It’s a difficult job and it doesn’t pay a lot, and players can take a golf cart for quite a bit less money than it does to pay a caddie. Each year, we have about 90 kids, who are around 14 to 16 years old, who come and try out the caddie profession, you might say. Usually, by the end of the season, there are only about 30 to 35 of them left. Unless they have golf in their background, or their parents push them to caddie, they don’t stick with it. The bags are heavy, and you have to be here an hour before the tee time in case your group wants to practice. But the ones that do stick it out do real well on the financial side and they like the laid-back aspect of it, rather than going to work at a McDonald’s.”
Zoom zoom
“I think carts are a big reason why the game has grown like it has since the late ’50s. It made the game so much more accessible and gave it an element of enjoyment for so many people. If you went on a trip somewhere and didn’t know if you could get a caddie, you might not take your clubs. But if you knew you could get a cart and have a great time, it was a different element. That, and Arnold Palmer and television really made the game blossom.”
Tiger vs. Phil
“I’m a fan of both of those guys. I think Tiger is so phenomenal. Every time you watch him, it seems he does something no one else can do. But Dave Pelz (Mickelson’s short-game coach) is a friend of mine, so that’s why I’m still a little bit of a Phil guy. I’m a big Phil fan because of Dave. I don’t think he disciplines himself like Tiger — Tiger is so disciplined — and that’s a big, big plus when you’re playing tournament golf. Phil is more of a gambler type. That’s why I think he has those streaks where he makes a lot of birdies over so many holes.”
Difficult members
“Fortunately for me, that didn’t seem to be too much of a problem. I think that was because I never took it too personally. If it was a legitimate complaint I tried to deal with it, and if it wasn’t I tried to realize that maybe it was something else that was really bothering him. Some people get upset at the course, but maybe it was really something at home or at work that’s the issue, rather than their situation here.”
Take me out to the ballgame
“I try to go to two or three Rockies games during the summer, in the evenings. I like to sit out, have a beer and just enjoy the Colorado evenings. The nice thing about baseball to me is that you can get there on time, or early or late. And you can leave early or late. It isn’t like football; my wife has to be there for the opening kickoff.”
The basics
Once in a lifetime
“My best golf shot was in Monroe, La., when I won the Cotton States golf tournament. It’s since been named for my father, the W.E. Cole Cotton States Invitational. I was even with two holes to play and I had missed the green, and the player I was playing with had hit the green. I chipped it in from about 25 yards and he ended up two-putting. And I won the last hole, too, because I think he was in shock.”
The Dream Team
“I’m going to give you two answers on that one. One was when I played that practice round in the ’93 Senior Open — that was my dream foursome come to life. But if I had to pick another one, I would have to say my dad, and maybe Byron Nelson because I was a friend of his in Dallas and got to know him. What a great guy he was. And Tiger, just so I could see up close and personal that power and how he plays. It’s different when you’re right there next to him as opposed to seeing him at a distance.”
From the tips
“My best tips come from an overall concept of simplicity. When I teach, I try to make it as simple as possible, so the person can use it when they’re out on the course and not worry about all the details. The best tip I’ve ever gotten would be to keep your arms relaxed during the swinging motion.”
