The coolest thing we do at the Golf Academy every year is operate the practice range at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. This is something I really looked forward to last year, and it’s something I’ve been looking forward to again this year. Because of the time of year we enrolled at the Academy, we get to work the Open not once, but twice!
Last year I chose to work the 6:30a shift on Friday, the morning of the 2nd Round, and this year, I chose the same shift. The no-so-dirty little secret is that if you work on Friday, you don’t have to return your on-site parking pass. You get to keep it for the weekend, and because your caddie badge is just like a ticket, you can get back in as a spectator at no extra charge.
While technically this is volunteer work, there’s a pretty nice compensation package: parking, range access, and lunch.
The morning shifts run from 6:30 until 1:00p. They’re really high energy, and the time usually goes by pretty fast. They let us do it all too: hand out bags of range balls to players and caddies, pick the range, clean and sort the range balls, clear the short game area, rake the bunkers, and put out the name placards next to each player while he’s warming up. This year, TPC Scottsdale got new sandwich boards. They’re really sharp looking, but they’re also really sharp. I hate to say it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone slices a finger.
Because there was a frost delay prior to Thursday’s opening round, play had to be suspended. That meant there was a wave of guys who got to the practice range to warm-up shortly after we arrived, but it also meant there was a pretty significant “dead period” while they were out on the course completing their first round. It break felt like it lasted about two hours, but in a way, it was a nice diversion.
Unlike last year, we got to walk up the hill and watch guys play the Par 4 9th, and we even got to hang out in the bleachers surrounding the famous Par 3 16th, the loudest hole in golf.
The GAA has worked out a pretty sweet arrangement in which it gets to keep all of the range balls used during tournament week. That’s all the Callaways, Srixons, TaylorMades, and Nikes the guys hit throughout the week (everything except the Titleists). We’re talking 10,000 balls.
They’re just like the balls you buy in stores, with the exception that they have the word PRACTICE stamped across them. The school gives them out to students throughout the year for winning Closest to the Pin, Beat the Pro, and the occasional Long Drive Contest.
There are two people I’ve really enjoyed catching up with at the Phoenix Open these past couple of years. One of them is PGA Tour pro Michael Thompson. Michael grew up in the same Tucson neighborhood as me and my brother and won his first and only PGA Tour event in 2013 at the Honda Classic. The previous year at the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, he tied for 2nd.
Michael used to take lessons from Susie Meyers at Ventana Canyon but told me he’s been working with Todd Anderson, the Director of Instruction at The Sea Island Golf Performance Center in Georgia, for about a year now. He wasn’t in the field this week but was still out working on his game, particularly his new set-up, while staying with family living in the Phoenix area.
You won’t find a nicer guy! As a Tour winner, Michael could have easily blown me and a couple of my classmates off, but he didn’t. He gave us several minutes of his time, and answered all of our questions.
From the outside looking in, the life of the touring professional looks glamorous, but Michael told us what a grind it really is. He played 34 events in 2015, meaning he was living, eating, and sleeping away from his Georgia home about 65% of the year. The only vacation or down time he really gets is when he’s home. Keep and eye out for Michael Thompson. He says with his new set-up, he’s hitting the ball more consistent… and farther. When he finally owns the set-up changes he and Todd are making, I think he can win again.
The other guy I’ve run into of-and-on for years now is caddie Kenny Harms. Kenny has been on Kevin Na’s bag since 2008. I first ran into him while golfing at a media day for the Champions Tour’s SAS Championship. My buddy and I were out playing Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, North Carolina when I noticed this guy running from hole to hole with a yardage book taking notes. Turns out it was Kenny out for a jog and measuring yardages for Hale Irwin, whom he was looping for at the time.
Kenny made headlines in March of last year as one of two lead plaintiffs in a multi-million dollar class action lawsuit filed by a group of more than 150 pro caddies against the PGA Tour. The suit demands compensation for caddies who’ve had to wear bibs displaying sponsor logos during competition.
Kenny always asks me how I’m doing, and I certainly wish him the best of luck in his lawsuit. I think caddies are independent contractors who, like the pros, shouldn’t be required to wear Tour-sponsored logos. Harms says the sponsor bibs caddies wear reportedly earned the PGA Tour $50 million in 2014 alone.
I also saw Pia Nilsson, co-author of Every Shot Must Have a Purpose. She and Lynn Marriott teach out of Talking Stick Golf Club in Scottsdale, and we read their book in Golf Performance Enhancement at the Golf Academy 2nd Semester. It would be great if Pia and Lynn would come out and talk about their book.
When I saw her on the range, she was chatting with a member of Patrick Rodgers’ team, presumably about his mental game. Too bad she slipped away before I had a chance to talk to her.