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"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
weekly online golf column
by
Chris Dortch
July 17, 2001
For years, Jimmy White was in search of golfing perfection.
Ironically, when he finally realized that was impossible to
attain, he began playing the best golf of his life.
Anyone who knows White, a senior on the University of Tennessee’s
golf team, knows that White had long been his own worst enemy on
the course. He expected to hit every shot the way he wanted to,
and when he didn’t, his temper flared. That often proved his
undoing.
Years of good-natured advice from friends, swing instructors
and coaches didn’t sink in. Nor did the writing of noted sports
psychologists like Bob Rotella; White read a library’s worth of
such wisdom, to little effect.
A moment of clarity overcame White last spring while he was
watching his swing on tape. Alongside was former Tennessee
assistant Randy Wylie, who, having been noted instructor Rick
Smith’s top assistant, knows a thing or two about the golf
swing.
"He told me that through the hitting area, I had the best
swing he’d ever seen," White said.
At last, White heard something that made the wheels turn in his
head.
"I’d been looking for the perfect golf swing,"
White said. "But after Randy said that, I starting noticing
guys like Sergio Garcia and Jim Furyk. It doesn’t matter what
your swing looks like. Golf is all about getting the ball in the
hole."
Lately, White hasn’t needed many strokes to do that. As
mentioned in this space last week, he shot an amazing 60 in a
dogfight at Council Fire, his home course, earlier this month.
That was deep, lower than White had ever shot, but it could have
been better. He missed a pair of four-foot birdie putts en route
to a front-nine 32 and lipped out two birdie putts on the back
nine, where he shot 28.
Scary.
"I was in the zone that day," White said. "It’s
like I couldn’t make a bad swing. I just looked at the flag and
hit it. I was hitting it to four or five feet all day."
Brimming with confidence after that round, White traveled with
Tennessee teammate Andrew Black to last week’s Eastern Amateur
and continued his good play. He shot a front-nine 30 en route to a
second-round 65, and led the tournament midway through the third
round.
Some faulty putting doomed his chances in the final round, but
he tied for 11th, his best finish ever in a national
amateur tournament. His strong play this summer could well make
him exempt from qualifying when he returns to Knoxville next
month, and he looks forward to making some major contributions in
his final season.
White’s career at Tennessee has been frustrating. His first
two years, he played decently but his grades suffered. The last
two seasons (he redshirted two years ago), White made the All-SEC
Academic team, but could never seem to qualify for the Vols’
traveling squad.
"It’s all about finding a medium," White said.
"College golf is tougher because you’ve got to study when
you aren’t playing. I had to learn to balance the books and
golf. I’ve got such a better attitude on the course now, I can’t
wait to get back and see what I can do."
Before then, White will try to qualify for the U.S. Amateur. He’ll
play his 36-hole qualifier in St. Louis next week.
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Signal Mountain, which lost an excellent head professional in
the spring when Don Jones left for Knoxville’s Cherokee Country
Club, has made a good choice to replace him.
Most people in Chattanooga golf know Scott Hare, who took over
for Jones on Monday. Hare, who went to McCallie and Middle
Tennessee State, had worked previously as an assistant at Lookout
Mountain and Chattanooga Golf and Country Club.
When an opportunity to be his own boss came up 18 months ago,
Hare reluctantly left the Chattanooga area for Okefenokee Country
Club in Waycross, Ga. He was happy there, but when former Lookout
Mountain boss Brett Mullin told Hare back in the spring that the
Signal Mountain job was about to come open, he couldn’t believe
it.
"I’d really been wanting to get back to
Chattanooga," Hare said. "The first thing I did was get
in touch with [teaching pro and Signal Mountain member] Zeb
Patten, who was on the search committee. It was funny, I also got
to talk with Scott Hicks, who was also on the committee, when he
took his daughter Catherine to a junior tournament [in Georgia].
And another [Signal Mountain] board member, Bruce Chambers, comes
down to the Okefenokee Invitational every year, and I got to talk
with him. I think enough people knew I wanted the job."
Hare, who was the head pro and general manager at Okefenokee,
learned a lot during his time in Georgia, but he knew he wanted to
make another move up the career ladder.
"You always want the opportunity to move on to a better
club when you can," Hare said. "I’m ecstatic to be at
Signal Mountain, to be back in the Chattanooga area and the
Tennessee section [of the PGA of America]. This is a great
job."
Hare plans to bring his own touch to the club, but was quick to
point out that Jones did a good job.
"We’ll be looking to do some different things,"
Hare said. "Maybe try to create some fun events. But the main
job is to keep the members happy."
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Signal Mountain member May Wood continues her quest to show the
rest of the country her formidable game next week in the U.S.
Girls Junior at Indian Hills Country Club in Mission Hills,
Kansas.
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