Scott Martin's Page - May 2006 - Archives

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Ft. Worth, Tx. 5-19-06

I'd have to say that I am totally frustrated to say the least. After
playing a relatively solid round on Thursday, Mark Brooks had the
wheels fall off once again. If there was any week this whole season
that he could have a chance, it was this week where he was playing at
home. He has played Colonial hundreds, if not more, of times over his
career. He used to be a member here and he knows this course as well as
anyone on tour.

After his usual tinkering all week looking for that ever-elusive
perfect driver, there was a pretty good one in the bag for Thursday's
round. As has been the norm lately, we didn't play a practice round this
week. Somewhat understandable knowing he has played Colonial so much.
But rather than spending what seemed to be hour after hour in the
Callaway trailer building clubs, I would love to see him spend more
time working on his short game. Players on tour earn their livings on
and around the greens. Chipping and putting is where the money is. Or
at least made cuts.

After finishing Thursday's round we headed to a local golf shop where
Mark works on clubs when he's home. The manufacturer's trailers have to
leave the tournament site Wednesday afternoon. They are not allowed to
stay to work and on player's equipment once the tournament begins. I
was disappointed to see that he wanted to go to the shop and change his
set-up once again. The first thing he did was cut down the driver he
used Thursday. I won't go into detail but it's amazing what things Mark
looks for in a shaft and head combination. It's such an obsession to
always need to change his clubs. I wish he would just commit to a
set-up for, say, four events. Just stick with it and work on the game.
But honestly, I don't think he could do it. He would need club
tinkering rehab!

As well as shorten a perfectly good club, he worked on another driver
that he had made earlier in the week. His irons had there lie angle
adjusted a couple of degrees as well. Enough already!! We then drove
back to the range and proceeded to hit balls for a couple of hours.
Honestly, it was a beautiful time of day to be on the range. There were
only three or four players hitting balls.

The atmosphere is really nice at Colonial. It's a tight, short,
tree-lined course built in a beautiful, little community. Ben Hogan
spent a long time at Colonial. But after a dispute between Hogan and
the people who run Colonial, he ended up at another Ft. Worth club,
Shady Oaks. Fortunately, Hogan did end up back at Colonial for the last
few years of his life. Colonial is all about Hogan. There is a large,
bronze statue of him at the entrance to the club as well as a room on
the main floor of the clubhouse called The Hogan Room. It has trophies,
golf clubs, a video monitor for historic footage and even a replica of
Hogan's locker. It has clothes, shoes and his trademark peak caps
hanging inside. I love the atmosphere here. While we were hitting balls
on the range late Thursday, I imagined Hogan there hitting balls way
back when. The shadows on the tree-lined range were long. The setting
was prefect. It must have been a special place to be when Hogan was in
his day.

After hitting drivers for a good hour, Mark decided that he would make
a switch for Friday. When he hit it on the first tee this morning
(Friday), it hooked hard into the left fairway bunker. It's a par 5 so
he laid up and hit nine iron for his third. Fifteen feet under the
hole. Good spot. His first putt holes by the left edge and goes two
feet by. He lines it up and proceeds to miss his par putt. Gotta love
that new driver. As soon as he hooked that first drive I knew he was
shaken up by it and he never could settle down all day. Second hole,
driver, fairway trap. Wedge to 18 feet. The first putt rolls by two
feet and he misses that as well. Remember I said that I would like to
see him work on his short game more? Par on #3 and a bogey a on #4, a
235 yard par 3. Understandable. He hits it to 3 feet on five and misses
the birdie putt. Misses another 2 footer on 7 and makes bogey. He hits
it to 3 feet on ten and misses the birdie putt. Kind of uneventful for
the rest of the round but 5 missed short putts for birdie or par killed
him today.

After the round we went to the truck and talked for a while. He
apologized for not playing well again but he doesn't need to do that.
I appreciate the effort he puts in but I told him he needs to focus on
his game and not his clubs so much. He knows it as well but it would be
a very tough habit for him to break. He asked me if I wanted to play
golf tomorrow but I told I'm going to work for Inside the Ropes this
weekend working as a photographer. I'm really looking forward to being
able to take shots at such a great course for a couple of days.

A quick story about something that happened at Colonial a few years
ago. In 2003 I was working for Joel Edwards, my all-time favorite boss.
That year here at Colonial, Annika Sorenstam was in the field. A pretty
controversial thing with some of the guys at the time but I thought it
was great. The atmosphere was totally electric. We were playing in the
group in front of Annika on Thursday and Friday. Our first hole that
Thursday was number ten. I couldn't believe the amount of people at
that tee waiting to see her hit the ball. It was awesome. Joel was
having a terrible year that year and missed the cut that week by 4 or 5
shots. Even though she also missed the cut, Annika beat a handful of
tour players. One of them was Joel. The next week we were at Memorial
in Ohio. After playing a practice round that week, Joel went to his
locker to get changed. As it turns out, Rory Sabbatini had put a bra in
Joel's locker as a reminder of Annika beating him at Colonial. Joel was
one pissed off guy. I though he was going to break Sabbatini's neck.
Aside from having an already bad year, he didn't need something like
that from a knucklehead like Sabbatini. In hindsight, pretty funny. At
the time there wasn't too much humor in it. Except for the guys who
were chuckling when Joel wasn't watching.

Ft. Worth, Tx. 5-14-06

We it's Sunday of the Byron Nelson and I, once again, have the day off.
Mark obviously struggled this week and the only golf we're playing this
weekend is at his club here in Ft. Worth called Mira Vista. Very nice
place to spend the day. After Friday's round Mark asked me if I wanted
to get together to play a little golf on Saturday. This guy breathes
the game and not a day goes by that he doesn't have a club in his hand.
I've seen some pretty rough looking hands on some of these players over
the years and Mark Brooks ranks right up there. They're calloused from
top to bottom. I've said it all along, he grinds away to the very end
every round no matter where he stands in the tournament. Then when he
has a day off, he'll be on the range somewhere pounding balls for
hours. Maybe he SHOULD take a day off!

Today we're getting together again to hit balls on the range at Mira
Vista. Where as yesterday we played 18 holes, today he'll get a 3-4
hour lesson from a fairly new instructor, Sam Randolph. Sam is a former
PGA Tour player and has known Mark for close to 20 years. Even though
Mark can't execute the golf he needs to play to compete on tour these
days he is one of the most knowledgeable players I have ever been
around. And if he tells me Sam Randolph is becoming a good instructor,
that means I'm looking forward to see them work together today.
Yesterday Mark told me that he wants me to learn what Sam is teaching
him so I can look for things in his swing when Sam isn't there.

Once the lesson is done, I'm sure we'll hop on a cart and go out onto
the course to play a few holes and work on his swing. The range is a
great place to learn but going out onto the course and executing is the
real test. Actually, the real test comes on Thursday when the first
round starts.

It's a good time for me to get some practice in myself. Tomorrow
(Monday) is the day we play the annual caddy tournament. Every year we
play the tournament on the Monday of Colonial. Seeing as though these
two events are both played in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, it is
convenient for the maximum number of caddies to participate. If I'm not
mistaken, there are approximately 120 caddies that participate. There
are four different flight that are played. The C flight is for high
handicappers, B flight for the 10-18 handicap range, the A flight is
for 4-9 handicappers and the Championship flight is for the real
players. Some tour caddies are pro golfers whether is be club pros,
mini-tour players and even a couple of former tour players. The
Championship flight has had a couple of playoff finishes recently with
scores in the high 60's needed to make it. I believe it was 68 last
year.

As for myself, I always am put in the A flight which is a tough
category for me to compete in. The last few years I haven't broken 85
and I think getting a chance to play in the B flight would give me more
of a chance to compete. This year the guys who run the tournament are
looking at past year's scorecards to determine which categories
caddies will fall into. It appears as though some caddies in the past
have claimed to be higher handicappers than they really are. There is
some decent prize money involved so you know what that does to some
people. Aside from prize money, all of the different manufacturers
donate a lot of equipment to be given out as door prizes. There is a
drawing for that stuff while we eat dinner. The first things to go are
usually the drivers. Then it's putters, fairway woods and wedges. Balls
and gloves always go last. A couple of the tour players will show up
and caddy for their caddy. One guy who usually shows is Sergio Garcia.
He'll have on the shorts and will always have a towel on hand. He'll
rake traps, clean golf balls and clubs and will read putts for the guys
in the group.

Caddies are free to make their own foursome for the tournament. I've
played with the same guys for the last four years. Graham Courts (Loren
Roberts), Tony Lingaard (Shaun Micheel) and Cheap Chuck (Bob Estes)
have been in the group. How bad is that? I've known Chuck for 6 or 7
years and I don't even know his last name. There are a lot of caddies
out here with great nicknames but that's another story.

Speaking of stories here's on more before I go. For the Byron Nelson we
were paired with Chris DiMarco and Arron Oberholser. For a good part of
the round on Thursday, Aaron did his fair share of whining while
shooting an opening round plus 4. His caddie, Dave Woosley (The Dancing
Bear), told me a couple of times that he thought Aaron might withdraw
from Friday's round 2. Wha, wha, wha!!! Sure enough, Oberholser shows
up to play Friday. Over the course of Friday's round I see that he's
playing well but honestly, I'm really not paying attention to how he's
scoring. On the 18th tee Mark says to me, " Do you know how many putts
he's had?" I have no clue. He says 20! Through 17 holes! As it turns
out, at that point he had 21! Seeing as though the course was playing a
par 70, Oberholser was 10 under par with one to play. A birdie would
have given him a 59!! He skies his 3 wood off the tee and has a 237
yards to the hole. He hammers a 3 iron(!) to 15 feet and has a great
chance to make that putt as well. As we were walking to the green I
realized something. The second player to shoot 59 in a PGA Tour event
was Chip Beck way back when in Las Vegas. And who was on the bag for
that one? The Dancing Bear, Dave Woosley, Oberholser's caddy!!

Unfortunately, Aaron missed the putt and had to settle for a 60. When I
spoke to Dave after the round, I told him about the conversation that
Mark and I had back on the 18th tee. I told him I had no clue that they
were on the verge of shooting 59. The Dancing Bear tells me that as he
and Aaron were walking down 18 fairway to the green, Oberholser told
him that he would be the first caddy to be on the bag for not one but
two 59's, it was only then that Woosley realized what was happening as
well. I'm glad that it wasn't just me who didn't know what was going on!

Ft. Worth, Tx. 5-8-06

It was really nice to get to spend the week at home last week with
Sunny and the kids. A dose of reality is always good.

I flew into Dallas yesterday afternoon and got to my hotel in time to
see the last few holes of the Wachovia Championship. Trevor Immelman
left himself too many 6 footers down the stretch and it caught up to
him on the last hole. Jim Furyk has been in every situation imaginable
and if you give a player of that quality an opportunity to catch you,
he probably will. Furyk's caddy, Mike "Fluff" Cowan is the man you want
on the bag in a tight finish like yesterday's. He, too, has been in
many pressure cookers over the years and has the most confidence a
caddy could have in the heat of the battle. He's a pretty fair player
as well and his green reading expertise played a key roll in Furyk
rolling in two big putts on 18 in regulation and then again on the same
hole in the playoff.

As well as the players getting spoiled with great treatment at
Wachovia, the caddies are taken care of like no other event on tour.
One of the perks for the caddies is that we get to valet park at the
clubhouse. Better that some events where we park 3 miles away and have
to rely on shuttle buses to get us to the course on time. The food is
great and we aren't an afterthought like most events. The best perk
that caddies have at the event is for the winning caddy. Next year
"Fluff" gets a Mercedes for the week as well as a free hotel room paid
for by the tournament. Nice. I remember back in 2004 I caddied for
Geoff Ogilvy for the week at Wachovia while his regular caddy Allister
"Squirrel" Mathison was home visiting his ailing father. Geoff played
really well that week and we ended up in the last group on Sunday with
a shot to win. Unfortunately, Geoff struggled somewhat on Sunday but
still managed to finish tied for 9th, I believe. In the parking lot,
Geoff wrote me a cheque for $11,400. Not bad for one week's work. I
could certainly use one of those weeks after making only one cut in the
last year.

This week we're at the Byron Nelson just outside of Dallas. We'll play
two courses here, Cottonwood Valley for one round and three round at
TPC Los Colinas. Pretty good tracks but nothing to write home about.
the best part of this event is seeing Byron Nelson himself at the
course. He doesn't get around like he used to but he is usually sitting
in a chair on the first tee greeting all the players and caddies before
their round. He's a living legend in the golf world.

A quick story before I have to take off and head to the course for this
afternoon's pro-am. Back in 2002 and 2003 I caddied for Joel Edwards, a
hometown favorite from Dallas. At one point in 2002, we made either 16
or 17 cuts in a row to finish off the season. But when it came t this
tournament in Dallas, it seems as though he didn't have a chance. Joel
played in this event 14 years and never made the cut! Not once. I think
the pressure of playing at home can really get to some guys. As good as
Joel was it's amazing that he could never make it to the weekend here.

Anaheim, Ca. 5-3-06

An interesting story about Chris Couch, winner of last week's Zurich
Classic of New Orleans.

Chris arrived in New Orleans on Sunday before the tournament week
started. Apparently, he was out for a night on the town, which can get
a little dicey if you're not careful. On Tuesday of last week there was
a story circulating that he ran into some trouble at the end of the
evening on Sunday. As the first story goes, after getting some money
from an ATM, he was forced into his car by three men, one apparently
brandishing a handgun. His car was driven by one of the assailants for
a short distance but they all got out of the car after he was robbed.


Over the course of the week last week the story changed a couple of
times. By the end of the week, this is how it all unfolded. He was out
for a night on the town and was walking back to his car, which was six
blocks away. The area looked unfamiliar and a little panic started to
set in. A car full of women pulled along side him and offered him a
ride to his car. He got into the car but after realizing he wasn't in
an ideal situation, he got out and started to walk, not knowing how to
find his car. Once again, panic set in so he decided to talk off his
shoes and started running. He ended up at a local tattoo parlour where
he called the police and was brought safely back to his car.


Maybe partying a little too much in New Orleans can get you into trouble.

Anaheim, Ca. 5-2-06 - A week off the tour

Seeing as though I didn't have too much to report last week after
missing another cut, I though I'd fill you guys in on some recent
happenings on tour.

Mark Brooks has decided to take the week off this week which is the
Wachovia Championship at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, NC. What a great
track. Rolling terrain and tree-lined fairways. I know I say this often
enough but it certainly is one of my favorite stops of the year. It's
alot of course for Mark and deciding not to play is not a terrible
decision at all. The worst thing about him not playing is that I don't
get to go there. I had a number of possibilities to work there this
week but they all fell through. The one I wanted to work for the most
was Larry Mize. Not that Larry is a world beater but he could very well
be the nicest guy to lace up spikes in the history of the tour.

There were a couple of firings last week. First off, Harrison Frazar,
fired his long-time caddy Marc LeBas after struggling for most of this
year. Marc shouldn't have too much trouble finding a job. He has been
around for years and and everyone knows him. He's well respected and
won't have a problem finding new work. That along with the fact that
he's Peter Jacobsen's brother-in-law. Peter puts him to work when Marc
is looking so at least he has that to fall back onto.

Another firing last week was a friend named Shaun Segers. For the last
3 years, Shaun has been working for Bob Tway. But they too have been
struggling this year so Bob decided to pull the plug on that
relationship as well. After hearing that, I put a call into Scott Tway,
Bob's brother, to let him know that I would be interested in the job.
I'm sure the Tway brothers have been swamped with calls from employed
and unemployed caddies looking for new jobs. I'll keep you all posted
on that one as soon as I hear any developments.

Gotta run folks. My wife, Sunny, and I are going to the Los Angeles
Angels of Anaheim game today with a friend from here. The Oakland A's
are in town. Seeing as though I won't be in Charlotte this week, I
thought I'd fill you in on some things that have been going on on tour
this year that I've been wanting to share. Have a great day and I'll be
in touch soon.

Time Passes ..................


Well, just got back from the Angels game. The best part of the game was
the brawl. Not that there was much of a fight but there were a couple
of punches thrown and the benches emptied. Typical baseball fight.

I have another story concerning the Tway brothers. Back in 2000, Scott
Tway was caddying for his brother, Bob, as he had done for years. Bob
Tway and Scott Verplank went to college in Oklahoma and they used to
play practice rounds together every week. Both Tway and Verplank had
been struggling for most of that year so leading up to the Reno-Tahoe
Open, they decided to switch caddies for the week, just to mix things
up. Scott Tway would caddy for Scott Verplank and Verplank's caddy at
the time, Rich Harper, would caddy for Tway for the week. Well,
Verplank wins the event in Reno and asks Scott Tway to stay on the bag
for good. Bob Tway agreed to the "trade" and decided to keep Harper.

Scott Tway is still working for Verplank to this day, 6 years later.
They were teamed together when Verplank went on to win the Bell
Canadian Open at Royal Montreal in 2001, sight of Tiger's first missed
cut as a pro. As for Rich Harper and Bob Tway, things didn't work out
the same for the two of them.

While on the driving range at the Kemper Open at Avenal in Maryland in
2001, Harper, Bob Tway's caddy, approached a young Charles Howell III
and offered his services. Apparently, the line went something like
this, " If you want to get to the next level, you need to have me on
the bag." That same day, when Charles saw Bob Tway in the locker room,
he told Tway what his caddy had offered. If you're a caddy looking for
a job and you already have one, make sure your player doesn't find out.
If he does, you could easily be out of a job all together. When Bob
Tway found out that his caddy was looking for a new job behind his
back, he fired him.

After Harper was fired from Tway, he worked a bit for a somewhat washed
up Hal Sutton. He eventually lost that job as well and has vanished
from the tour. It's tough getting a job on tour if you have a bad
reputation. Going behind your player's back to look for a new job is
somewhat risky. Going behind your player's back to look for a new job
and getting caught can cost some guys their career altogether.