otto6457
New
I thought some people here might find this as interesting as I did so I figured I share the story.
We just finished the Jerry Rawls Classic here at the Rawls Course at Texas Tech. (my home course, and a great one at that) The Jerry Rawls Classic is the toughest stroke play tournament out here in West Texas. Most of the big time tournaments out here are partnerships, so an individual stroke play event brings out the areas best players. It is odd however that the top players in the area partnerships NEVER play in individual stoke play events. My personal belief is that these guys don't like the idea of seeing their names in the newspaper next to scores in the 80's, which the Rawls Course has a habit of causing. It's way too easy to hide behind your partner when the score isn't good.
Anyway, Robert McKinney won this year.
If you haven't heard of him, his story is an amazing one. First off......the guy is 63 years of age. He looks like Ben Hogan and his swing is pretty close to Hogan's. He is the only player in Texas Amateur history to win the State Amateur in 3 different decades. His last State Am Championship came in 1999 at age 53 when he beat a field composed almost entirely of college players. He walks and carries his own bag every day and he is a member of the famous Champions Club of Houston, where he is a multiple time Club Champion. In fact, he won the Club Match Play Championship in March by beating Steve Elkington 4-3 in the final match. He also won the old Southwest Conference Golf Championship back in the early 70's. The guy is a living amateur legend in Texas golf. A lifetime amateur that is a very successful Houston architect as well as an outstanding golfer.
So....here in Lubbock this weekend he bested the entire field by 3 shots, which included the Open Division comprised exclusively of college players. The wind all three days was brutal with steady winds of 20-25 and gusts over 35, today it was gusting over 40mph. A typical golf day in Lubbock. LOL!! I walked around with him for two rounds and the guy gives all of us "older" players a glimmer of hope that our games don't have to fade away with age. Mr. McKinney routinely knocked it past the college boys off the tee. He is the definition of "sneaky long". His iron play was stellar in the wind. He controlled his trajectory into, and with the wind, and he hit greens with boring regularity. And when he did miss a green, some of his up and downs were jaw dropping. His distance control on chips and pitches was tour quality. Our greens are in superb shape this year and his speed on the greens was damn near perfect.
Anyway.......watching him play as well as he does at 63 is a real inspiration to those of us that haven't given up on competitive golf yet. While he may be an exception to the rule.......it's nice to know that rules can be broken.
It's back to work on the game with renewed focus for me.
We just finished the Jerry Rawls Classic here at the Rawls Course at Texas Tech. (my home course, and a great one at that) The Jerry Rawls Classic is the toughest stroke play tournament out here in West Texas. Most of the big time tournaments out here are partnerships, so an individual stroke play event brings out the areas best players. It is odd however that the top players in the area partnerships NEVER play in individual stoke play events. My personal belief is that these guys don't like the idea of seeing their names in the newspaper next to scores in the 80's, which the Rawls Course has a habit of causing. It's way too easy to hide behind your partner when the score isn't good.
Anyway, Robert McKinney won this year.
If you haven't heard of him, his story is an amazing one. First off......the guy is 63 years of age. He looks like Ben Hogan and his swing is pretty close to Hogan's. He is the only player in Texas Amateur history to win the State Amateur in 3 different decades. His last State Am Championship came in 1999 at age 53 when he beat a field composed almost entirely of college players. He walks and carries his own bag every day and he is a member of the famous Champions Club of Houston, where he is a multiple time Club Champion. In fact, he won the Club Match Play Championship in March by beating Steve Elkington 4-3 in the final match. He also won the old Southwest Conference Golf Championship back in the early 70's. The guy is a living amateur legend in Texas golf. A lifetime amateur that is a very successful Houston architect as well as an outstanding golfer.
So....here in Lubbock this weekend he bested the entire field by 3 shots, which included the Open Division comprised exclusively of college players. The wind all three days was brutal with steady winds of 20-25 and gusts over 35, today it was gusting over 40mph. A typical golf day in Lubbock. LOL!! I walked around with him for two rounds and the guy gives all of us "older" players a glimmer of hope that our games don't have to fade away with age. Mr. McKinney routinely knocked it past the college boys off the tee. He is the definition of "sneaky long". His iron play was stellar in the wind. He controlled his trajectory into, and with the wind, and he hit greens with boring regularity. And when he did miss a green, some of his up and downs were jaw dropping. His distance control on chips and pitches was tour quality. Our greens are in superb shape this year and his speed on the greens was damn near perfect.
Anyway.......watching him play as well as he does at 63 is a real inspiration to those of us that haven't given up on competitive golf yet. While he may be an exception to the rule.......it's nice to know that rules can be broken.
It's back to work on the game with renewed focus for me.
