Willie Kellum might look like any of the scores of grandfatherly types who putter around each day at City Park Golf Course, but then again, looks can be deceiving – and that’s an idea that’s very important to Kellum.
To be sure, the 67-year-old is a grandfather of five, and he does indeed play golf, but there’s so much more to the picture. For decades, Kellum has also been a successful businessman, in areas ranging from clothing stores in Denver to restaurants at DIA to casinos in Mexico. And that savvy also extends to the links, where, using a homemade swing that admittedly isn’t a thing of beauty, Kellum has fashioned a second lucrative career dipping into the pockets of unwary opponents such as John Elway, Joe Morgan and even PGA Tour pro Jonathan Kaye in big-money matches.
One day last month, after an extended absence because of eye surgery and back problems, Kellum returned to his old City Park stomping grounds for 18 holes, the whole way providing insight to the art of the deal — and the hustle. The round began with a simple question.
Why golf?
“You’re playing against yourself. You don’t have a teammate, you don’t have a partner and it’s the most challenging game there is. It’s you and the golf course and you don’t get help. It’s competitive, it’s difficult — and I just love it.”
Business with business
“Business always came first, but I managed it so I could play golf as much as I wanted to. Back when I was really playing for money, I’d play six days a week. And I ran the golf just like it was a business: There was real money involved and I kept a golf account — I kept records. I’d send my caddie out to a town days before I arrived to scout the other players. The goal was never to lose more than I won and it worked out quite well that way.”
Getting it done
“The biggest thing in playing for money is having confidence and believing you can win. I really enjoyed playing a guy who was better than me; it motivated me. I won 90 percent of all my matches, and I was never as good as most of those opponents if you looked at talent or the swing. But determination is a big deal to me and I believe in it and I found a way to win. If there was a 25-foot putt I had to make, with all the money on the line, I found a way to talk myself into making it.”
A promise kept
“I sponsored Tom Woodard on the PGA Tour in 1980. Tom used to caddie for me and I made him a promise one day on the golf course. It was obvious at 13 or 14 that he was a pretty good player, but I told him that if he continued his education and his golf was good enough, I’d sponsor him on the Tour. I did it more as a motivational technique — he became the No. 1 player in the state, went to Colorado and got a good education.
“One day he came up to me and said, ‘I’m ready to be sponsored.’ I was shocked. But he’d done everything I’d asked him to do.”
Finding your niche
“I was never good enough to play on the Tour. I was good enough to play on the road for money against good players, but I never was at the level that Tommy played at. He just had more talent than I had. I just had more of a game that could go out and play someone one on one. I enjoyed that. The pressure inspired me. I always played above my head like that — but to go out and play stroke play against the best players in the world, I was never there.”
On the road
“I had guys who played for me, and if the games were for a group, I’d take them on the road with me for months and months and months and we never lost. It was beautiful. I backed it; sometimes it would be four-on-four, sometimes two-on-two. It was something I loved. Even now, I’ve got guys in California, we’re all friends but we go at it pretty hard for the action — as soon as my eyes are better, I’m going back to it. I love the competition.
“(Local golf businessman) Stacey Hart was a great player for me. Back then, he was just a kid, and I’d tell people, ‘He’ll beat you playing from his knees.’ Well, he could hit it 250 yards from his knees — he could shoot a 73 from his knees. Everybody would jump on that bet. After we won that game, I’d have him play with one club, a 5-iron. He could shoot 75 with one club. I never lost a match with him. Once we were playing for $30,000 and were four holes down with five to play and he shot 5-under for the win. He was like the Tiger Woods of his day.”
Barkleyesque
“At one point, a friend of mine and I had to put hitches in our swings in order to get games out on the road. Unfortunately, when I wanted to get rid of it, I couldn’t.”
Name games
“I want to be careful about this. I’ve played many, many rounds with John Elway. I’ve played a lot with Joe Morgan, from the Cincinnati Reds. There have been a lot of other guys who you may not know, but who think they’re really, really good. That’s to my advantage. The thing that I had going is that I was always underestimated — my swing is unorthodox, so nobody ever thought I would win. And that’s exactly what you want. Those guys are winners — just awesome winners. John doesn’t like talking about the gambling part, but I’ve won a lot of our matches.”
Different story
“Five or six years ago, City Park was the No. 1 place to go to find a money game. You could come any time and you’d find a game. Now you have to kind of know where they are, but a lot of the game shave dried up. I think the economy played a part in that, but a lot of the players have also moved on; they’ve moved away or things have changed for them. Now, you might find a $100 Nassau. In the old days, you’d be playing for $5,000, $10,000 — whatever the number was. You can still get that game in California, but you don’t see it much here anymore.”
A whole lot of zeroes
“The most I’ve ever played for is $100,000. I played a guy in Shreveport, La., who was a partner in a race track. We’d beaten him once before down there, then he came here and we beat him again. That was for around $25,000, but this time he raised the stakes because he thought we’d choke. Luckily, we won.
“After we finished, he said, ‘We’ve gotta go to the Big House to get your money.’ That was his boss, who lived in a mansion out in the woods.
“Well, we were a little bit nervous about going out there at night, but there was this palace, sitting up on a hill. Down there, they never call you by your real name — they called me ‘Little Man.’ So when we went in, the boss said, ‘Little Man, you beat up on my guy pretty good — when you play tomorrow, you have to give him strokes.’ I didn’t like that game at all. I had to fake a back injury the next day, because there was no way I could give him two strokes a side playing for that kind of money.”
The scarlet letter
“In the game of golf, word gets out fast when you’re a cheater. All over the United States there are guys who play for money, and we pretty much know each other, and if you get caught cheating, you’re out. Period. There are guys who grease their clubs to make the ball go straight and farther, or drop balls. We’ve had it all, but you only need to know it once. When you’re caught, you’re finished.”
Young blood
“Jonathan Kaye brought a buddy over here once, wanting a money game. I told a friend of mine, ‘We’re gonna play these kids to teach them a lesson, but we won’t take their money.’ They were just kids. We got to beating them up and they were shocked. They lost quite a bit of money.
“We get into the clubhouse and they had $5 each. I’m pretending to be upset, going, ‘Where’s my money?’ They’re saying they would go get it, and I’m going, ‘Go where? Give me my money.’
“They were getting nervous, but I wanted to teach them the lesson that you never play for money when you don’t have yours to pay. I made them promise that they’d never do it again.”
Lesson learned
“That was a big problem when you’d do that out on the road. When a guy beats you and he’s got money in his pocket, and you say you don’t have yours, that’s a very serious problem. I saw a guy in Lubbock, Texas, play a match for money and lost. His opponent had been very clear on the first tee, he said, ‘Guys, I’ve got plenty of money to pay, but I want to get paid if I win.’
“Well, I really thought the guy he was playing against didn’t have it. And I told him if he didn’t he shouldn’t be playing, but he lost and he didn’t have it. The winner was really mad, but rather than getting into some real trouble, he made the loser undress out in the parking lot and he took his clothes. He humiliated him.”
The basics
The dream team
That would be Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and my oldest son. I’ve always admired those guys’ athletic ability, and what they’ve done in being the best. I’d love to play in that kind of company, to find out what motivated them, what drives them.
From the tips
The best advice I’ve received is to keep your head down and stay still. Most people don’t do that. They want to see where the ball is going.
Most memorable shot
I was in Palm Springs once, playing a 470-yard par-4 with water, sand traps, the hole running uphill. I had $50,000 riding on it and I had to hit a 5-wood. I hit it to within 6 inches. I’ve had a lot of good shots, but I think that one would stand up. There were a lot of people watching when I hit it. I threw the club down and put my hands up and I said, “That’s all, folks.”
