October 9, 2024 • 49 mins
Rich speaks with former Senior Tour player Ron Skiles about Ron's unique start in golf, and how he grew his confidence in playing. Ron also has some great stories to share, one involving Gary Player.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Rich cond Mogolf Show.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
In keeping with trying to find interesting guests to take
the time to speak with me and us and for
everybody to listen to, I was pretty highly successful today
because we have with us Ron Skyles, who has a
really cool, interesting and probably somewhat not unbelievable, but really
(00:26):
remarkable experience in the world of golf. So Ron, first off,
thanks thanks for coming on the show with us, and
I really do appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Hell, you're welcome, Rich that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So Ron, as we as I do with all my guests,
when we start, why don't you talk about your start
in golf.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Well, it's interesting. I was born in Cuthburgh, Pennsylvania, a
little coal mining town, and golf was not even around
us at a time. Anyway, we had a baseball field
behind my house and we'd be playing baseball down there,
and one of my neighbors, Bill Livingston, would come down
every now and then and he'd hit golf balls from
home plate. And I knew how far that baseball would go,
(01:10):
even when the big guys were hitting it. But when
he hit that golf ball and I saw how far
that ball go, that was like an ignition for me
just to pay attention to golf. That was kind of
like my beginning for golf. And then a couple of
my friends they were caddying up at Nemico and Country Club,
(01:31):
so I tagged along and I did some of that,
and then on Mondays we would get to play, and
when I first hit a good golf shot, I was
just really pleased at myself and mesmerized, so to speak,
about his game. So that was my introduction to it.
And then when I was eighteen, got drafted into the
(01:56):
well it was twenty one. I got drafted in the Army,
went to be for a year, and I'm sitting in
Vietnam wondering what am I going to do with my life.
I get home and I knew that one of the
things that I was going to do was was play golf.
Is get involved in golf, and so that's what I did.
And at the same time, I decided to be become
(02:17):
a teacher, and so I was a teacher for a
lot of years, and then I had all summers off
and I'd practice all summer long. And so in nineteen
sixty six I got involved with at Chippewall Chipwall golf
court Inventlegale, Pennsylvania. Sure, and you're famiriy with that.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I sure am, I share.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
It's right on fifty one, right almost on the way
too from Pittsburgh. It's on the way to Columbia, Ohio.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Okay, well this was in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania, which is not
very far from Washington, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I'm with you, know.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Anyway, nineteen sixty six, I came out of the army
and I bought a pass at Chippewall and I was
lucky enough. Of course, you didn't know that up on
the right side of number one they had an area
up there. I could hit eight irons. And I taught
myself how to play a guitar and a piano, and
so I understood that the power of repetition and what
(03:16):
they can bring to you. So when I started playing,
I said, I'm going to go up there on that
heel and I'm going to go hit these golf balls.
And that's what I did. And I did it for hours,
not knowing anything, and just kept hitting those golf balls
and some were getting somewhat better. And then every now
and then you run across somebody who helps you. And
(03:39):
the first person that did that for me. His name
was Chuck Kelly, and he was a teacher at Fraser
High School. And he hands me a book and he says, here,
read this, So what is it. I said, it's a book,
book on what it's a book on golf? And I said,
you mean you write books on golf? Yeah, okay, that's
(04:03):
how naive I was above golf at the beginning. Anyway,
the title of that book was square to Square and Rich.
What I got out of that book was how to
flatten your left wrist at the top of the swing right, okay.
And when I was practicing up there Chipwall, i'd always
walk a towel out, so I knew how far that
towel was. And then my dispersion at that time was
(04:25):
pretty erratic. But once I learned how to flatten that
left wristed to the top of the swing, my dispersion
tightened down to that target and that made me better.
And then the next little lesson that I got was
from one of the coal miners. His name was Wanka Rasilka,
and I would hear stories on how good this guy was,
(04:49):
and one day I'm going to get to play with him.
So and I'm all excited about that. So we'll go
to hit our t shirts on whole number one, and
I'm right there with him, so I'm feeling pretty good
about that. He hit his second shot into number one
and a big sod came flying out of the ground.
I said, whoa, what was that? Was that? That shocked me.
(05:09):
I never saw that before. So second hole he did
the same thing. He hits his ball and that sowd
comes flying out, and that ball he's hitting a ball
straight at that flag, and the whole number four, whole
number five, and then finally on whole number six, I
got enough courage to ask him. I said, mister Rasilko,
why do you do that? He said, do what I said.
(05:32):
You're making that sod come out of the ground. He said, well,
you want to hit that ball straight? Boy? I go,
well yeah, he said, then you hit the ball first
and you hit the ground second. And I got two
great golf lessons from those two fellas. And I kept
playing and practicing and practicing, and I broke part of
(05:53):
the first year I played. Wow, nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
But I hit so many I hit so many golf balls.
You just you're going to get good, right, But with
the help of Chuck Kelly and mister Rasilko, those were
two big little pieces that if you're chasing something that
help comes along.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
You're right, You're right.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
That's interesting you say that because everybody we we talked
to has has stories like that.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
A lot of them have to do with their father
or their uncle or somebody.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
And that's funny.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
But you know, I would tell you, and you know
this because you taught school. And we'll talk about that
in a little bit, but you taught school. You know
that the only way you can learn is if you're
willing to learn. If you want to learn, you'll learn.
If you don't want to learn, you're not going to learn.
You know, you could you could have been resistant to
all that. And so that's that's pretty that's that's that's
really really really interesting. So so you so you're getting
(06:52):
pretty good. Did you played you played in college or no?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
I did. Yeah, I once started college when I came
out of the Army as a gi bill and went
to California University goes on the golf team. And who
was the golf coach was Floyd Shure. You know that name?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Oh, my god, Yes I did not know that.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
While yes, Floyd was my golf coach and he was
quite a player. Yes, yes, so I did that had
some success at the college level. And but you know
that was a big help from Floyd. He was good
and he was willing to share his knowledge as well.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Wow, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
So then, so then once you get done with with
with college, and let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Was it California?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Was it?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Was it California State College? Then it was a California
State Teachers College.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
It was a state teachers college at that time.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Because see, I went to Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, which
at one time was Shippensburg State Teachers College, and it
was Shippark State College. I became Hipperstary University, Pennsylvania. See,
and I think that I think what happened what it
made me the happiest about that when they changed them
all to well, I went to Chipsbag University. But when
they changed them all, it sounded a lot. I sounded
like I was really smarter. I got a lot smarter,
(08:13):
you know, because I came from a university. I'm a
lot smarter now. Okay, So so I mean, you know,
because my brother went to lock Haven and he went
to lock Haven uh Stay College and then it became university,
and he always used to tell me I got I
got a lot smarter.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Once in the end of the university.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I'm like, okay, if you say so, so, all right, so.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Exactly you have more wait back there. So so you go.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
You go to teach school, right, you're an elementary school
teacher and you have summers off. So which is you know,
which has gotta be awesome. It's got to be awesome
because because if you have nothing else to do, you
have you have time off, you can play some golf.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Now, I could play a lot of golf, and I
could practice all day long, you know. And that's kind
of what I did, and play in practice and again
get back to the repetition part. Little story here. One
spring day, I have a beautiful day, and I kept
rushing out to a chipwall to get to that practice
(09:17):
area before anybody else did, so I did. I'm on
that practice area and I'm hitting balls and three of
my friends come and they're going to play and they're
calling me wrong, come on, we need one, we want
to go play, And no, you go ahead. Finally I
convinced them that I was not going to play, but
I decided I was going to count how many balls
I hit by the time they played nine holes, and
(09:42):
I had one hundred balls in a bag and I
hit them. I go pick them up, and I come
back and hit them, and I hit one hundred and
eighty two balls. When the last guy put it out,
and one of the guys was Dan Blackman, my good friend.
He came up. I said, Dan, what'd you shoot? And
he said, even par? Even par on the front nine
of Chipwall was thirty five. So I'm gonna give him
(10:03):
fifteen puts. How many times did he swing twenty?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Right?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
You just twenty versus one hundred and eighty two. Rich
has no chance.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
That's right exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I don't care who you are. It's the sheer repetition. Wow,
that's the teacher.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
That's a really, really, really cool story, because you know
what it is interesting? You said, yeah, you know what,
he played nine holes. Even if he two puts twice,
you just hit You just hit one hundred and sixty
sixty five more golf balls than he did. I mean
I did in two hours and two us.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And then he goes to the back nine and you
do the same thing. You do the same thing. Yeah,
that's that's fascinating. So let me ask you this question.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Is you're getting better and obviously you're teaching school when
you're taking summers off again.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
And you mentioned some of the people that helped you.
Who else helped you?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Well? I got involved with tournament golf. Right, guy by
the name of Pete Scorza. He was a pretty good player.
He was a teacher at Shaulroy and we would play
skin game at Chipwall and Pete says, I said to him,
I'll see it tomorrow and he said, no, I'm going
out to Hershey playing a Pennsylvania Public Links tournament. Said,
(11:12):
what's that. It's a golf tournament. Well, it's a golf tournament.
I didn't know. And so anyway through Pete, I got
introduced to tournament golf. And boy, that was a whole
different walk and a whole different reason, a whole different
reason to practice even more, you know, to get good.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
That's a whole different animal. That's a whole different animal. Yes,
because there are people counting for you. Now, it's not
about what you're counting.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
They're counting for you everything counts, okay. And then also
I got introduced to the tournaments there and Wheeling the Bernharts.
Yes you're familiar with that, yeah a little bit, yes,
a little bit. Well, I won that Bernards three years,
three times. And anyway, I got interested in tournament golf.
(12:01):
And then also a turn of golf was the Pennsylvania
State Public Links and the Nationals, and I got involved
in qualifying for the National Public Links, which I did
three times. And then I joined the country club and
became a US I could qualify for the US Amateur
and I qualified twice for that. And the reason I
(12:22):
say that is because each time that I'm doing this,
I get more courage and more courage and more courage
to expand and look further into golf. And then as
we're going along through that time, they started that Senior
Tour up. I don't know, rich if you remember when
that was.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, I do, because Gardner Dickinson played in Gardner Dickinson
played in it, and Snead played in the early ones.
And they asked mister Hogan and he just said that it
looks like they did away with the backswing and the downswing.
You know, he goes I'm not going I'm not going
out there. I'm not going out there.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Okay, well you're familiar with that. Anyway, I got my attention.
And I'm looking at those scores they published in the
Golf Weekly magazine and remember that. And I'm looking at
these scores, and through my success, I've got course records
and I've played in a lot of amateur stuff national tournaments,
(13:18):
and I thought, yeah, I could do that, you know.
And I must have been like forty years old or
something like that at that time. But anyway, I planted
that little seat. One of these days, I'm going to
go do that. At least I'm going to try to.
And I remember reading the Rich one time and it's
a statement that God will not let you think you
(13:40):
could do something unless you had the ability to do it. Okay,
And I yes, I hung onto that, you know, and
I just kept practicing and practicing and practicing and getting better. Yeah,
without a whole lot of lessons. And hell, I never
had any golf lessons formally, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I think it's I think it's interesting you just mentioned
something that and obviously you experienced it. But you play
in the public links, which is the public golf course.
And but you then when you join, when you join
a private club, you can play in the US Amateur.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
And and it's.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It's fascinating to me that people now have no idea
there was a bit of a division in this world,
in the amateur golf world, you know, and you and
you were either and I I don't use this term lately,
but I kind of use it lately. You're either a
blue blood you know, country club guy, or you were
(14:37):
chipwall guy. And I'm not belittling any of them, but
I'm just saying, I'm just saying you lived in that
world or he lived in the other world.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah. Well, the I joined the mccomack Country Club, Uh
probably know where that is. And and that gave me
the ability to to try and qualify for the US Amateur, right, okay,
which I did. I did that twice. My first term.
I was in Hot Springs, Virginia, down at the Homestead,
(15:08):
which is a tremendous golf course. And then the second
time I played the Cherry Hills when Phil Micholson won
the Amateur. And so it was I used golf a
lot to travel, Okay, Uh, that was that was exciting
just to go different places and play golf.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Wow, that's really interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
So so who won? Who won the one in the
hot springs?
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Uh? That was Billy Mayfair.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Billy Mayfair.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Wow, Billy Mayfair.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
That the body type that we all really don't don't
don't try to achieve. I mean, you know, Nicholson's pretty
pretty healthy guy. Billy Mayfair, you know he probably could have. Well,
we're not going to talk about Billy Mayfair's waistline. So
all right, so when we come back from this break, Ron,
we're going to talk a little bit more about your
amateur career because it's some really cool things you did,
(15:59):
and then we're going to talk a lot about your
senior career. Okay, all right, this is the rich Comwell
Golf Show.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Welcome back to rich Combwell Golf Show.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
We are enjoying a really, really, really interesting and lively
conversation with Ron Skyles. Ron is an unbelievably good player
and kind of, well kind of is a homegrown player.
I mean, just started playing golf and just kept working
at it. Took some advice, took some information, took some coaxing,
(16:34):
I would assume, and just kept getting better, kept getting better.
And when we left off were talking about Ron, we
were talking about your US amateur experience.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Tell me, did you you played in the.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Pennsylvania eminem I'm sure several times correct?
Speaker 1 (16:49):
And what was what was it? What was your best finish?
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Yeah, Rich, I really don't know. It was not very good.
You know, it wasn't anything to speak of. It was
kind of like an Ulco ran. And that was early
in my career, right, doing that, you know, but you know,
just to qualify for the US Amateurs at some big
(17:17):
feather in your hand. But now you're playing with the
best players in America.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Right because the left handed right the left hand left
handed kid at the end of the range down there
is going to go on to win about everything.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
You can win.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Yeah, exactly. Uh so, but you learn two things when
you when you're doing that, you learn one how good
you are and then how good you aren't yet. Yeah, okay,
So I would always come back from those events knowing
how good I wasn't yet.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I love I love that line yet, you know I
love that line, that word yet because I I can't.
I grew up Caddy and for a guy that played
in three US Amateurs and and he and I asked
him one time, I assumember I was. I was on
the whole number three at Rolling Hills Country glob We're
standing there, we're waiting for the group in front of
this and I was looking at bag tags and he's like,
(18:10):
I asked him, I said, so, so, when did you
play your best golf?
Speaker 1 (18:14):
And he said to me, I haven't yet.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I went whoa, because he played at Purdue, he played
through US amateurs and and I'm like, you know what
that's an And you just said it, I'm not that
good yet.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Yeah. Wow, Well you learn how good you are because
you know you've got to be good to get to
that level, right, But then you also find out how
good you aren't yet because you're not winning right right.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Because why would you go there if you didn't want
to win?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
And yeah, that's that's fast. And then another thing for
your listeners as you go through the trials and errors
of practicing, because it's frustrating at times. I always had
this little statement that I would say, successful hide from you.
It success only belongs to the persistent. Okay, so I
(19:05):
just hit those golf balls and kept hitting those golf balls,
and that success will come to anybody who does that.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
You know, it's interesting, you know I I and obviously
you know I know, you know I know enough about
you that you you're a teacher. But it's it's fascinating
if nobody knew you were a teacher you come up
with those statements. I'm telling you, right, we all know
you're a teacher. I mean seriously, like like like like
like God won't let you think you can do something
that you don't have the talent to do and.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
In person, and.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Success will hide from you and it will only be
discovered by the persistent.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I mean that is that is that.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Is fascinating to me, that that that like, that's that's
really cool.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
That's really cool.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
So so you're teaching, and you're playing some golf and
you're playing around, you're down in amicole and this that
and the other thing, and and so now you teach
long enough, tell me when you're really really really kind
of I know it around age forty you saw the
Senior Tour. But when did it really really really grab
(20:08):
on to you?
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Well, over the years, I've started shooting course records, you know,
sixty two's and sixty threes and sixty fours and not
too many people could do that, and I understood that,
and again, God will much you think you could do
something unless you had the ability to do it. So
(20:32):
I'm shooting sixty two's and sixty threes and sixty fours.
I'm winning golf tournaments locally, playing in national tournaments. So
I'm feeding my ego, so to speak, rich right, And
I made a decision when I was forty five. I
think that I'm going to do that, that senior tour.
I'm going to take a shot at that. So when
(20:53):
I was forty eight, I came home and told my
wife says, I'm going to leave my job. He says,
why wanted a senior tour? And I had two years
of preparation to do that. So that was a big leap,
you know.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, I gotta ask you. I gotta ask you because
I'm never gonna have that conversation. But how'd that conversation go,
because that's got to be a shock.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Well, my wife is special. I mean she she hardly
blinked any she knew. She knew over the years that
I talked about it. And then finally I did come
home one day and said I'm going to leave my
job and I'm going to try for the Senior Tour. Okay,
that's a that's a big leap. And my fellow teachers
(21:36):
thought I was crazy. It does. It does border on stupid.
You know when you think about it. The numbers, if
you play the numbers game, right, You're going to National
Qualifying School and there's seven hundred people from all over
the world coming in there to qualify at different places,
and they have eight spots. Yeah, you know you think
(21:59):
about okay, eight spots, and then there was a second
eight for conditional cards. But but I believed that I
could do that, okay, and I got close, but I
never got to the Senior Tour, although I played in
fifteen Senior Tour events right Monday, right.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Well, we're going to talk about the Monday qualifying in
a minute. But so, so you you go to so
you you break the news. You know, you're forty eight
and here we go. So what did you do differently
from the moment you made the decision as far as
practicing or preparation or or or anything between you know,
(22:40):
forty eight and I'm going.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
To do it? And that was that was two year,
that two year run up, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
What did you, what did you kind of focus on
Is anything in particularly focused on?
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Well, initially was focusing on me, okay and get me
ready and ready to do that. And then you're all in.
Once you make you announce to the world. And I
remember saying this, you announce to the world what your
intentions are, Okay, And I would tell everybody I'm leaving
(23:13):
my job and I'm going to the Senior Tour and
I would say that, okay. Now, once you do that,
you're committed, right, You're in. You're all in, okay, and
everybody knows. And then the other thing is people will
help you along the way, but they know what you want.
And they helped me at Nemacola, they helped me at Chippewall.
(23:35):
Now I'm at Cedarbrook and they helped me down there.
So people will help you. Once they understand that you're
serious in what you want, they will help you do it,
you know. So it was preparation for me, not only
my golf game, but for me mentally to go ahead
and believe that I could do that. But I've played
in so many national tournaments and one golf tournament shot
(23:58):
course records. Uh, I believe that I could do that,
and my good golf was good enough, right, but my
other golf wasn't.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah right right, so okay.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
So so so the first year you go qualify. Obviously
turn fifty, you have to have the age and all
that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
So where do you go first?
Speaker 3 (24:21):
First, I believe we went to Florida, right, I think
it was a TPC at uh at Sarasota m hm okay,
and you know you have to you have to qualify
at the that was first stage. Then you qualify to
(24:42):
get into the finals. So first year down there, I
was an alternate to get into the finals, but never
got int okay, so I needed somebody to dropped out,
but that didn't happen. The second year went out to
Point A Verdi where the uh the TPC at Prince
Birdie played the valley course, and so I made it
(25:08):
to the finals there, and you've got maybe fifty percent
through the field, you know about fifty But I just
kept at it, kept believing that I could do that.
So I'd go back year after year and do the
national qualifying. Meanwhile, I'm doing Monday qualifying. So what what
Monday qualifying is? You follow the tour wherever it is
(25:30):
you go there and on Mondays they had a qualifier
for four spots. You get one hundred hundred and forty guys,
uh playing for four spots. And as sharp as your game,
you know, you get tougher, you get smarter, and you
learn how to score. That's all that game is about.
Learn how to score.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
That's that's that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
That's interesting. You know, it's funny because you know, my son,
my son was a pretty good lacrosse player and pretty good,
pretty decent hockey player growing up.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
And and I teach.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I teach a lot of kids, and you know, I
have a golf team around me and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
And that is the one thing I.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Don't It's the one thing that people don't realize. Like
you can do all these nifty things, and you can
dress really well, and you can have really nice golf clubs,
and you can do all this stuff.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Until I get it in the hole number that gets me.
Something doesn't mean anything. None of it means anything.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah, yeah, right, I mean, it's it's all about score,
you know. I mean I was never the longest player,
and and and I rarely went at par fives because
I didn't have the length to do that, but you
build a strategy, you build a game plan, and you
play to your strengths, you know, but you got to
(26:46):
learn how to score. Wow.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
So so Monday qualifying for those who do not know,
I mean, that is a I don't like the word
crapshoot a whole lot, but that's that's even worse technically,
it's worse numbers than qualifying for this qualifying school.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Because you, like I say.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
You get one hundred and forty guys for four spots, right,
you know, when you look at the percentage, was that
one percent?
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Right?
Speaker 2 (27:16):
And you play and and you're only playing one round,
it's not like you it's not like you get to
you can't catch me in round two and three you
were done?
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
How many times did you do? How many times did
you actually successfully Monday qualify fifteen?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Wow? Wow, that's that's gotta be. I got to tell
you something. You're just listening to you.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
It's you have unwavering determination, like and it's actually not
even ego, it's confidence like I can do this.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Yeah. Wow, that's like I said, I taught myself how
to play guitar. I taught myself how to play a
piano not very good, but I can get music out
of them. And I applied the same principles to the
golf game. It was as simple as that. Just go
hit those golf balls and you learn little pieces. You
(28:10):
get little help from Chuck Kelly's and mister Wilko and
Pete Scores and some others and Floyd Schuler and uh,
you know, you get help along the way, but just
just go do it.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Yeah, it's it's it's interesting because I because you know,
it's what I really, really, really really liked what you
said before, is that you don't once you declare out loud,
there's no turning back. We turn back, you know, like
the door is shut now. You can't can't go back
to see those you once you once you walk in
till the school board, you're done.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
You don't get to go. Oh wait, I was just kidding,
you know.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, I'm gonna come back. Actually I'm gonna come back
to the third week of September. I'm just I was
just kidding. No, I'm done. I'm going to do that now.
And it's it's the same kind of it's I was
fortunate enough to talk to to Jack cam one time
and about you know, that's a great career, obviously, Hall
of Fame career and unbelievable. And I asked him about
(29:11):
when he decided to retire, and he goes. I always
remembered what Chuck Dole said, as soon as you think
about retiring, you're retired. And and and it's like you said,
once you decided and you declare, you've declared, there's no
there's no turning back.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Now.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
You can't turn back. You're in. You're all in. And
my wife was all in with me.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yeah I would, I would, oh really, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
She was a school teacher and summertimes we go and
she caddy and uh, she knows she knows golf quite well.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yeah, I would think.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
So he's a little bulldog. I'd call her bulldog. Or
once you get something, she won't let it go.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Yeah, she's well, you know what she had to she
had to well, she had to keep you.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Honest, you know, I mean seriously, I mean because because
she had to have she had to have as much
faith in you as you had and yourself.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Yeah, yeah, she had to believe as well. And a
little story about that. I qualified up in Chicago. I
shot sixty five this final round and made a nice check.
And when you're playing good, you got to keep going.
And the next tournament was in park City, Utah. So
I said, I said, jeah, her name's Janet, and I said,
(30:37):
I need to go to Park City. Okay. She said, well,
what about the car? And I said, well, can you
drive it home? I mean that's a thousand miles. She
didn't blink an eye shed yeah, okay. She drops me
off at the airport, I go to Park City. I
qualify again, back to back, you know, right, And then
then she flew out and she caddied out there, and uh,
(31:01):
I got a great Gary player story if you want
to hear it.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Yeah, you know what. Here's the thing we're about.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
We're almost to a break here, So before we go
to that break, I'm wanna hear all a couple of
really good stories in the third segment. But but I
gotta I gotta tell you there's before we go to break,
you're talking about your wife.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
That's gotta be that's gotta be the.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Biggest blessing in the world that when you walk in
the house and go, you know what, I'm gonna leave
my job and I'm gonna go do this and instead
of you're crazier than hell, she goes all right when
we're start.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Yeah, exactly, that's exactly.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Right, Rich, that's awesome, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Yeah, she's a better teacher than you.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
That's what she wanted.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
You were better.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
She was a better teacher than you. Two write you
can just say it now, It's okay, it's.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
It's okay to say it.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
It's all right.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
She's you know, that's like that. That's like my wife.
She's just a better everything than I am. I mean, like,
had nothing to do with golf, and I don't care
what it is. I mean, she's better, you know, she's
better everything that.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
So and no, kidd o, kidd like, what do they say?
What do they say? They say, you know, surround yourself
with great people. Right, that's all. I married her. I'm good.
I'm good. I don't have to work on that anymore.
I'm to worry about it anymore. All right. So when we.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Come back, we're going to talk about some of your
travels on the Senior Tour and some of the things
you learned out there, and some really cool stories. All right,
this is the Rich Comwell Golf Show. Welcome back to
rich Comboll Golf Show. We're joined by Ron Skyles. Ron
is a retired public school teacher and an incredibly gifted
(32:40):
golfer who has some incredibly insightful things about this game
and actually about life. Because you know, if you we're
going to revisit those two big statements he made about
success hiding and and and you know, God, God given,
God given confidence and things like that. But for now, Ron,
So now you're you're you're qualifying for tour events. You're
(33:02):
trying to play the Tour, the Senior Tour, and so
then you go to Monday qualifying. So you so, how
fifteen times you qualified? Who are the most famous players
you ever played with in a tour event?
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Well, I played with Palmer, played with Gary, player Ray Floyd.
You know it was just mister x Barber. A lot
of us say, you have nor Barber. And so anyway,
I was up in Chicago. I shot sixty five on
the final round and Miller Barber was one of my
playing partners. He said, Ron, that was a great round
(33:40):
of golf. And h and I told you about you know,
moving on to Park City right qualified out there in
my second round, I'm paired with Gary Player, and first
all I stiffed it for a birdie. The second hall
I did the same thing. The fourth hole I made
a par on three, and fourth hall the fifth holes
(34:01):
a part three saw one hundred and sixty six yards
to the pin, and the green angles from left to right,
and it's all water with his bullheads, you know, those
wooden eyes, and for about you know, the right half
of that green. It's all water up until the green.
So where the pen is sitting in the back, left
(34:23):
corner or right corner, excuse me, one hundred and sixty
six yards. So I'm standing by him and listening to
Gary Player and his caddy talk about these holes, and
they're going over the numbers, and I'm checking my book
and I've got the same numbers that they did. So
I'm behaving like a professional. That's how I took that.
(34:46):
And he finally says to his caddy, says, what do
you think? And the caddy says, hits a seven iron.
And I'm thinking myself, rich, he can't hit a seven
ron that far, okay, but he did. He didn't even try.
I mean, he well left to put the put the
ball in the front of the left front of the green,
and I stepped up and I stiffed this ball down
(35:08):
and you know, four feet from that hole, and he
goes nuts. He's going crazy, what a great golf shop.
And I'm thinking to me, it was just a golf shop.
What's so great about it? You know? And then we're
walking to the hole. Instead of him going to his ball, rich,
he came with me.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
He says, look here run and you know the voice,
look here run one yard? You that good? And said
you don't like money is what he said to me. Okay,
And Janet is with me. She heard that and he
wasn't being smart. He was trying to help me, right, okay.
And so later on John and I were to have dinner.
(35:48):
I said, you heard what Gary said? I said, what
did you make of that? And he's, well, what I
heard he said, don't play so aggressive. Okay. So with that,
ill up being aggressive and I never got in another tournament.
And here's why. Which Okay, when you're Monday qualifying, you've
got four spots or one hundred and forty guys, you
(36:10):
better be aiming at pins or you're not making it
or you're not.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
You either win or you don't.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Yeah, what Gary was saying, when you're in a tournament,
play more cautious, you know, conservative, right, But I did
that as a Monday qualifier. I miss misread that, you know,
so I never made another tournament because my proximity to
the whole was never close enough. So you need to
sometimes be careful of the advice you get, okay, or
(36:41):
how you read the advice that you get.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Right right, It's it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
It's interesting. He meant, well, there's no doubt about that,
and he meant, well, but I misread it.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
It's interesting you say that because I talked to LPGA
tour player Chris Cheddar and she spent in college, she
spent time with with mister Hogan, and she said to me,
she goes, I to this day, I know what he said,
but I never understood what he truly meant by it.
(37:15):
So like to to your point, like like like you know,
he was trying to help you, but the way you
interpreted that was, like, you know, not the way it
was intended. And she said he would say things to
me and I'd be like, like, what what's he what's
he trying to say? I mean like because he like
(37:35):
he'd say something like okay, lower, like like lower what
I mean, lower ballflight?
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Lower? What?
Speaker 4 (37:42):
And he was it was like and.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Of course that guy, that guy could do anything to
a golf ball he ever wanted to do.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
Yeah, so, but how did he do that? He dug
it out of the dirt?
Speaker 1 (37:53):
He sure did, He sure did.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
And and and she said, to this day, I'm pretty
sure I know what he meant, but I'm not completely
sure I know what he meant. And and you know
what player said to you, You know, is was well intended,
but you applied it to a little bit of a
different bucket of information.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Yeah, yeah, wow, I applied it to Monday qualifying and
that didn't It didn't work.
Speaker 4 (38:18):
That doesn't carry over to that so well.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
So so okay, so let me ask you a question.
You qualified fifteen times, how many checks did you make?
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Well, every time you're on a senior tour and you're
in a tournament, you make checks. There, No, that's right.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
There was, that's right.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
And so let me ask you a question. What's the
if you don't mind me asking you, what's the biggest check?
Speaker 4 (38:42):
You made?
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Eleven thousand? Wow, and that was in Chicago and I
shot sixty five. I had a hard time Rich putting
three rounds together. I could get one and two, but
to get put that third one together, I never never
was able to do that.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
You know, it's interesting you say that because again and
I'm a huge Hogan guy, but if you read what
people wrote about him and what he even said about
some things, is that was the biggest hurdle for him
when he first got on tour, because back then that
was nineteen thirty two, so back then, you know, you
(39:25):
just went out there and played. But he said he
would travel and travel and travel, and he said it was.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Always one round. It would be one round.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
That back then there was no cut either, but they
only paid the top fifteen, so it's effectively you cut
yourself anyway.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
But he said, like there was always.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
One round, and it took him a long time to
get mentally screwed into seventy two holes. Yeah, and I so,
I mean, I can I can certainly appreciate what you're saying,
because that's it, that's not that's definitely a marathon. You
play fifty four holes in the Senior PGA Tour Monday qualify.
(40:06):
Now you've got more pressure on you. And oh, by
the way, here we go and that's so best round
you shot with sixty five?
Speaker 3 (40:16):
Uh? No, this show I shot on a senior tour
with sixty four. Man.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Wow, Well, i'll tell you what. I'm gonna tell you
something right now. You're a good player, Bud. You're a
good player. You're a good player, because I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
I don't care.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
I don't care where you shoot sixty four or sixty
three whatever, I don't care.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
You're a good player. You're a good player.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
So so when did you decide? I mean, how long
did you know?
Speaker 1 (40:42):
How many? How many years you go to Q.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
School ken okay and made the final stage eight times?
Speaker 4 (40:52):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (40:55):
And then so after ten years now you're now you're sixty.
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
Did you did you make okay? Now back to your declaration,
did you ever like just make a blanket statement like okay,
this is it?
Speaker 3 (41:13):
No? I was kind of that kind of faded away.
In other words, there was like no real, real stop
to that. I'll give you an example. Janet and I
we were going up to New York and I said, well,
there's a qualifying site up in Albany, New York for
the US Senior Open. I said, how about if we
work our way up there and I'll do that qualifier
(41:33):
up there. Well, I go up there and I got in.
I made the qualifier played at the NCR there in Dayton, Ohio. Yeah,
uh yeah, it's two thousand and five, was that tournament?
Speaker 2 (41:45):
So?
Speaker 3 (41:45):
Uh? You know, so it never never just ended real quick,
you know. I just continued to play. But I was
lucky enough to play good enough to get into that qualifier.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
So hight So then I have to ask you this question,
same question I asked. I asked everybody who achieved the
highest level in their sport, with hockey, football, baseball, basketball,
any of it. Did you miss it when you when
you when you kind of to your point faded.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Away, I have to say yes. And then also no,
I had done all as I could. My age was
was pushing me backwards. In other words, I couldn't compete.
The rules of the qualifying were changing. Yeah, you know.
(42:35):
Uh so the tour was pushing out the common man, right,
you know it was, it was pushing you out. So
it was not as it was hard at the beginning,
but it was even harder as time went on because
they would they would take some spots away from you.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
It's interesting because because remember the guy from Pittsburgh Walls
and BRISKI went through that with them with the senior tour.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
He went after with them. He was like, He's like,
this is you guys.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
You guys say we have this, but then you you
actually don't have it because the kids is kind of
a fake door, like you can get in, but no
you can't.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
And you know he yeah, he was so all right.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
So I gotta ask you, like where, what what was
your what's your favorite's? What's your favorite golf course?
Speaker 3 (43:25):
Well, I've got a couple of them. Cherry Hills was
was phenomenal, Oakmont Marion because of their history, Fine, Finehurst, Uh,
Mirfield Village in Columbus, Ohio was really really good golf
course and that kind of like is on my top
list would be? I would say Mirfield Nicholas, Columbus.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Yeah, you know, I I've I've been.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
I've been there, and I've been to and I and
I obviously we'll never probably talk to him about it,
but I tell anybody that.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
At Mirfield is it.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Mirefield Village in Columbus Dublin, Ohio is as close to
Augusta as you will ever say if you've never been
to Augusta, because Augusta's hard to get into, but that
one you get in to see Mirfield, It's like, wow,
this is serious in here as a.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Great Yeah, even though we played Saint Andrews, you know,
it was just the history of that golf course, that
the condition of it. It wasn't near what our American
golf courses were. And then you know, Janet went over.
We we stumbled into that place and I just went
down and ask and we play And I told him
(44:43):
I said I was over there for the British Senior
Open qualifier. And the guy says, well, you have your
clubs and he goes, yeah, he said, we'll go down
on that practice green and I'll call you and he says,
you have a caddy? I said yeah, my wife. He says,
well she has to come and take a tep I
like that. Yeah, that guy wants you over there. You
(45:04):
got to take a caddy test. Well he was surprised
with her knowledge, right, I'm sure. Yeah at St. Andrews.
Speaker 4 (45:13):
That's awesome. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
So all right, so let's wrap this up. So let's
let's let's summarize all this. Now, what are you doing now?
Like what are you doing every day now, because I
can just sense through the phone or through the through
the phone that you do not you hit the ground
running about every.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
Day you're alive.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
Absolutely. Yeah. Well I'm at Taterbrook every day. We have
a great practice facility out there. Tater Brook has been
very good to me over the years. And then recently
rich I became the golf coach with Penn State Fayette
at UH UH Fayette campus.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
In Union Uniontown. Sure, sure, so I'm.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
Currently coaching their their golf team. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
So so you guys, you guys are competing against the
other other branch campuses, right, so you go up against
the Heathport Ye.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
And do you guys you still compete against uh.
Speaker 2 (46:04):
Do you guys compete against uh Pennsylvania College Technology? No, no, No,
that's up and that's up in Williamsport. And I actually
coached them for a semester when I was assistant Williams
part Country Club because they needed somebody to effectively drive
the van.
Speaker 4 (46:20):
I mean, that's really what I did.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
And and my wife was the My wife was in
dental hygiene school at Pennslvania College Technology.
Speaker 4 (46:29):
So you know that's that will always kind.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
Of hold of up, they go over and play like
Penn State barks. They go over to like eastern part
of the state.
Speaker 3 (46:38):
Yeah. So I think there's fifteen the satellite schools around it.
Oh so we played, we compete against them, and then
our our players there they're students first, yes, and then
then they're golfers. Okay, right, and so but anyway, we're
(46:59):
going to win that champion shift that my goal. I
tell my players. I said, you guys better get some
better scores because I'm going to recruit you out of here.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
That's right. That's that's funny. That's why I'm going to
recruit you out of here. Right. So all right, so
we only have a couple more metts.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
So you've got to revisit those two statements for me
because it's really important to me.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Okay, So God, God, God.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
Won't let you think you can do something unless he
gave you the talent to do it.
Speaker 3 (47:23):
He has the ability to do it, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
And the other one is success will hide from you,
but the persistent will find it.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
Yeah, it only belongs to the persistent. You know, there's
a kind of statements that you hang on to that
keeps you going. You know.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
Yeah, you're exactly right. You're exactly right.
Speaker 3 (47:43):
I mean, you know, I'm a kid from Cookburgh, little
Coal Monty town. What do I know? Okay?
Speaker 1 (47:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (47:49):
And what keeps you going? What keeps you going? Why?
Why you? And those statements help?
Speaker 4 (47:55):
Yeah, you're exactly right. You're exactly right.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
That that and the fact that like you been living
your entire life and you OutKick your coverage in the
marriage department. So I mean, you know you keep saying
on how that's working?
Speaker 4 (48:06):
Right?
Speaker 2 (48:07):
Well, Ron, I gotta tell you something. This has been awesome.
This has been awesome. And I'm sure I'm gonna be
at Cedarbrook with somebody one of the teams or somebody soon,
so I will make sure that I find you and
and and we'll catch up in person. But I'll make
sure I tell Floyd you said hi, because I see
him about every other day. So yeah, yeah, he still
(48:29):
goes to work, he still plays pretty well. He he's
a he's a really fine fellow.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
So but Ron, thank you. I can't tell you how
much I appreciate this.
Speaker 3 (48:39):
Well, Rich, let me invite you to come up to
this chipwell and play it round of golf with us
up there.
Speaker 4 (48:44):
Oh, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
Thank you so much, Cearbrook. I understand. So you just
got corrected. I heard that. That's okay, so so again.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
Thanks Ron, I appreciate it, and we'll catch up soon,
probably coming out of the new year.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
Okay, Eric, good Rich.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
Thanks Ron. Take care of yourself all right, I will.
This is this is the Rich Comwell Golf Show.
Welcome to Rich cond Mogolf Show.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
In keeping with trying to find interesting guests to take
the time to speak with me and us and for
everybody to listen to, I was pretty highly successful today
because we have with us Ron Skyles, who has a
really cool, interesting and probably somewhat not unbelievable, but really
(00:26):
remarkable experience in the world of golf. So Ron, first off,
thanks thanks for coming on the show with us, and
I really do appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Hell, you're welcome, Rich that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So Ron, as we as I do with all my guests,
when we start, why don't you talk about your start
in golf.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Well, it's interesting. I was born in Cuthburgh, Pennsylvania, a
little coal mining town, and golf was not even around
us at a time. Anyway, we had a baseball field
behind my house and we'd be playing baseball down there,
and one of my neighbors, Bill Livingston, would come down
every now and then and he'd hit golf balls from
home plate. And I knew how far that baseball would go,
(01:10):
even when the big guys were hitting it. But when
he hit that golf ball and I saw how far
that ball go, that was like an ignition for me
just to pay attention to golf. That was kind of
like my beginning for golf. And then a couple of
my friends they were caddying up at Nemico and Country Club,
(01:31):
so I tagged along and I did some of that,
and then on Mondays we would get to play, and
when I first hit a good golf shot, I was
just really pleased at myself and mesmerized, so to speak,
about his game. So that was my introduction to it.
And then when I was eighteen, got drafted into the
(01:56):
well it was twenty one. I got drafted in the Army,
went to be for a year, and I'm sitting in
Vietnam wondering what am I going to do with my life.
I get home and I knew that one of the
things that I was going to do was was play golf.
Is get involved in golf, and so that's what I did.
And at the same time, I decided to be become
(02:17):
a teacher, and so I was a teacher for a
lot of years, and then I had all summers off
and I'd practice all summer long. And so in nineteen
sixty six I got involved with at Chippewall Chipwall golf
court Inventlegale, Pennsylvania. Sure, and you're famiriy with that.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I sure am, I share.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
It's right on fifty one, right almost on the way
too from Pittsburgh. It's on the way to Columbia, Ohio.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Okay, well this was in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania, which is not
very far from Washington, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I'm with you, know.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Anyway, nineteen sixty six, I came out of the army
and I bought a pass at Chippewall and I was
lucky enough. Of course, you didn't know that up on
the right side of number one they had an area
up there. I could hit eight irons. And I taught
myself how to play a guitar and a piano, and
so I understood that the power of repetition and what
(03:16):
they can bring to you. So when I started playing,
I said, I'm going to go up there on that
heel and I'm going to go hit these golf balls.
And that's what I did. And I did it for hours,
not knowing anything, and just kept hitting those golf balls
and some were getting somewhat better. And then every now
and then you run across somebody who helps you. And
(03:39):
the first person that did that for me. His name
was Chuck Kelly, and he was a teacher at Fraser
High School. And he hands me a book and he says, here,
read this, So what is it. I said, it's a book,
book on what it's a book on golf? And I said,
you mean you write books on golf? Yeah, okay, that's
(04:03):
how naive I was above golf at the beginning. Anyway,
the title of that book was square to Square and Rich.
What I got out of that book was how to
flatten your left wrist at the top of the swing right, okay.
And when I was practicing up there Chipwall, i'd always
walk a towel out, so I knew how far that
towel was. And then my dispersion at that time was
(04:25):
pretty erratic. But once I learned how to flatten that
left wristed to the top of the swing, my dispersion
tightened down to that target and that made me better.
And then the next little lesson that I got was
from one of the coal miners. His name was Wanka Rasilka,
and I would hear stories on how good this guy was,
(04:49):
and one day I'm going to get to play with him.
So and I'm all excited about that. So we'll go
to hit our t shirts on whole number one, and
I'm right there with him, so I'm feeling pretty good
about that. He hit his second shot into number one
and a big sod came flying out of the ground.
I said, whoa, what was that? Was that? That shocked me.
(05:09):
I never saw that before. So second hole he did
the same thing. He hits his ball and that sowd
comes flying out, and that ball he's hitting a ball
straight at that flag, and the whole number four, whole
number five, and then finally on whole number six, I
got enough courage to ask him. I said, mister Rasilko,
why do you do that? He said, do what I said.
(05:32):
You're making that sod come out of the ground. He said, well,
you want to hit that ball straight? Boy? I go,
well yeah, he said, then you hit the ball first
and you hit the ground second. And I got two
great golf lessons from those two fellas. And I kept
playing and practicing and practicing, and I broke part of
(05:53):
the first year I played. Wow, nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
But I hit so many I hit so many golf balls.
You just you're going to get good, right, But with
the help of Chuck Kelly and mister Rasilko, those were
two big little pieces that if you're chasing something that
help comes along.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
You're right, You're right.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
That's interesting you say that because everybody we we talked
to has has stories like that.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
A lot of them have to do with their father
or their uncle or somebody.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
And that's funny.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
But you know, I would tell you, and you know
this because you taught school. And we'll talk about that
in a little bit, but you taught school. You know
that the only way you can learn is if you're
willing to learn. If you want to learn, you'll learn.
If you don't want to learn, you're not going to learn.
You know, you could you could have been resistant to
all that. And so that's that's pretty that's that's that's
really really really interesting. So so you so you're getting
(06:52):
pretty good. Did you played you played in college or no?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
I did. Yeah, I once started college when I came
out of the Army as a gi bill and went
to California University goes on the golf team. And who
was the golf coach was Floyd Shure. You know that name?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Oh, my god, Yes I did not know that.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
While yes, Floyd was my golf coach and he was
quite a player. Yes, yes, so I did that had
some success at the college level. And but you know
that was a big help from Floyd. He was good
and he was willing to share his knowledge as well.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Wow, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
So then, so then once you get done with with
with college, and let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Was it California?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Was it?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Was it California State College? Then it was a California
State Teachers College.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
It was a state teachers college at that time.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Because see, I went to Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, which
at one time was Shippensburg State Teachers College, and it
was Shippark State College. I became Hipperstary University, Pennsylvania. See,
and I think that I think what happened what it
made me the happiest about that when they changed them
all to well, I went to Chipsbag University. But when
they changed them all, it sounded a lot. I sounded
like I was really smarter. I got a lot smarter,
(08:13):
you know, because I came from a university. I'm a
lot smarter now. Okay, So so I mean, you know,
because my brother went to lock Haven and he went
to lock Haven uh Stay College and then it became university,
and he always used to tell me I got I
got a lot smarter.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Once in the end of the university.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I'm like, okay, if you say so, so, all right, so.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Exactly you have more wait back there. So so you go.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
You go to teach school, right, you're an elementary school
teacher and you have summers off. So which is you know,
which has gotta be awesome. It's got to be awesome
because because if you have nothing else to do, you
have you have time off, you can play some golf.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Now, I could play a lot of golf, and I
could practice all day long, you know. And that's kind
of what I did, and play in practice and again
get back to the repetition part. Little story here. One
spring day, I have a beautiful day, and I kept
rushing out to a chipwall to get to that practice
(09:17):
area before anybody else did, so I did. I'm on
that practice area and I'm hitting balls and three of
my friends come and they're going to play and they're
calling me wrong, come on, we need one, we want
to go play, And no, you go ahead. Finally I
convinced them that I was not going to play, but
I decided I was going to count how many balls
I hit by the time they played nine holes, and
(09:42):
I had one hundred balls in a bag and I
hit them. I go pick them up, and I come
back and hit them, and I hit one hundred and
eighty two balls. When the last guy put it out,
and one of the guys was Dan Blackman, my good friend.
He came up. I said, Dan, what'd you shoot? And
he said, even par? Even par on the front nine
of Chipwall was thirty five. So I'm gonna give him
(10:03):
fifteen puts. How many times did he swing twenty?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Right?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
You just twenty versus one hundred and eighty two. Rich
has no chance.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
That's right exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I don't care who you are. It's the sheer repetition. Wow,
that's the teacher.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
That's a really, really, really cool story, because you know
what it is interesting? You said, yeah, you know what,
he played nine holes. Even if he two puts twice,
you just hit You just hit one hundred and sixty
sixty five more golf balls than he did. I mean
I did in two hours and two us.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And then he goes to the back nine and you
do the same thing. You do the same thing. Yeah,
that's that's fascinating. So let me ask you this question.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Is you're getting better and obviously you're teaching school when
you're taking summers off again.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
And you mentioned some of the people that helped you.
Who else helped you?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Well? I got involved with tournament golf. Right, guy by
the name of Pete Scorza. He was a pretty good player.
He was a teacher at Shaulroy and we would play
skin game at Chipwall and Pete says, I said to him,
I'll see it tomorrow and he said, no, I'm going
out to Hershey playing a Pennsylvania Public Links tournament. Said,
(11:12):
what's that. It's a golf tournament. Well, it's a golf tournament.
I didn't know. And so anyway through Pete, I got
introduced to tournament golf. And boy, that was a whole
different walk and a whole different reason, a whole different
reason to practice even more, you know, to get good.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
That's a whole different animal. That's a whole different animal. Yes,
because there are people counting for you. Now, it's not
about what you're counting.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
They're counting for you everything counts, okay. And then also
I got introduced to the tournaments there and Wheeling the Bernharts.
Yes you're familiar with that, yeah a little bit, yes,
a little bit. Well, I won that Bernards three years,
three times. And anyway, I got interested in tournament golf.
(12:01):
And then also a turn of golf was the Pennsylvania
State Public Links and the Nationals, and I got involved
in qualifying for the National Public Links, which I did
three times. And then I joined the country club and
became a US I could qualify for the US Amateur
and I qualified twice for that. And the reason I
(12:22):
say that is because each time that I'm doing this,
I get more courage and more courage and more courage
to expand and look further into golf. And then as
we're going along through that time, they started that Senior
Tour up. I don't know, rich if you remember when
that was.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, I do, because Gardner Dickinson played in Gardner Dickinson
played in it, and Snead played in the early ones.
And they asked mister Hogan and he just said that it
looks like they did away with the backswing and the downswing.
You know, he goes I'm not going I'm not going
out there. I'm not going out there.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Okay, well you're familiar with that. Anyway, I got my attention.
And I'm looking at those scores they published in the
Golf Weekly magazine and remember that. And I'm looking at
these scores, and through my success, I've got course records
and I've played in a lot of amateur stuff national tournaments,
(13:18):
and I thought, yeah, I could do that, you know.
And I must have been like forty years old or
something like that at that time. But anyway, I planted
that little seat. One of these days, I'm going to
go do that. At least I'm going to try to.
And I remember reading the Rich one time and it's
a statement that God will not let you think you
(13:40):
could do something unless you had the ability to do it. Okay,
And I yes, I hung onto that, you know, and
I just kept practicing and practicing and practicing and getting better. Yeah,
without a whole lot of lessons. And hell, I never
had any golf lessons formally, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I think it's I think it's interesting you just mentioned
something that and obviously you experienced it. But you play
in the public links, which is the public golf course.
And but you then when you join, when you join
a private club, you can play in the US Amateur.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
And and it's.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It's fascinating to me that people now have no idea
there was a bit of a division in this world,
in the amateur golf world, you know, and you and
you were either and I I don't use this term lately,
but I kind of use it lately. You're either a
blue blood you know, country club guy, or you were
(14:37):
chipwall guy. And I'm not belittling any of them, but
I'm just saying, I'm just saying you lived in that
world or he lived in the other world.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah. Well, the I joined the mccomack Country Club, Uh
probably know where that is. And and that gave me
the ability to to try and qualify for the US Amateur, right, okay,
which I did. I did that twice. My first term.
I was in Hot Springs, Virginia, down at the Homestead,
(15:08):
which is a tremendous golf course. And then the second
time I played the Cherry Hills when Phil Micholson won
the Amateur. And so it was I used golf a
lot to travel, Okay, Uh, that was that was exciting
just to go different places and play golf.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Wow, that's really interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
So so who won? Who won the one in the
hot springs?
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Uh? That was Billy Mayfair.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Billy Mayfair.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Wow, Billy Mayfair.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
That the body type that we all really don't don't
don't try to achieve. I mean, you know, Nicholson's pretty
pretty healthy guy. Billy Mayfair, you know he probably could have. Well,
we're not going to talk about Billy Mayfair's waistline. So
all right, so when we come back from this break, Ron,
we're going to talk a little bit more about your
amateur career because it's some really cool things you did,
(15:59):
and then we're going to talk a lot about your
senior career. Okay, all right, this is the rich Comwell
Golf Show.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Welcome back to rich Combwell Golf Show.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
We are enjoying a really, really, really interesting and lively
conversation with Ron Skyles. Ron is an unbelievably good player
and kind of, well kind of is a homegrown player.
I mean, just started playing golf and just kept working
at it. Took some advice, took some information, took some coaxing,
(16:34):
I would assume, and just kept getting better, kept getting better.
And when we left off were talking about Ron, we
were talking about your US amateur experience.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Tell me, did you you played in the.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Pennsylvania eminem I'm sure several times correct?
Speaker 1 (16:49):
And what was what was it? What was your best finish?
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Yeah, Rich, I really don't know. It was not very good.
You know, it wasn't anything to speak of. It was
kind of like an Ulco ran. And that was early
in my career, right, doing that, you know, but you know,
just to qualify for the US Amateurs at some big
(17:17):
feather in your hand. But now you're playing with the
best players in America.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Right because the left handed right the left hand left
handed kid at the end of the range down there
is going to go on to win about everything.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
You can win.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Yeah, exactly. Uh so, but you learn two things when
you when you're doing that, you learn one how good
you are and then how good you aren't yet. Yeah, okay,
So I would always come back from those events knowing
how good I wasn't yet.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I love I love that line yet, you know I
love that line, that word yet because I I can't.
I grew up Caddy and for a guy that played
in three US Amateurs and and he and I asked
him one time, I assumember I was. I was on
the whole number three at Rolling Hills Country glob We're
standing there, we're waiting for the group in front of
this and I was looking at bag tags and he's like,
(18:10):
I asked him, I said, so, so, when did you
play your best golf?
Speaker 1 (18:14):
And he said to me, I haven't yet.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I went whoa, because he played at Purdue, he played
through US amateurs and and I'm like, you know what
that's an And you just said it, I'm not that
good yet.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Yeah. Wow, Well you learn how good you are because
you know you've got to be good to get to
that level, right, But then you also find out how
good you aren't yet because you're not winning right right.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Because why would you go there if you didn't want
to win?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
And yeah, that's that's fast. And then another thing for
your listeners as you go through the trials and errors
of practicing, because it's frustrating at times. I always had
this little statement that I would say, successful hide from you.
It success only belongs to the persistent. Okay, so I
(19:05):
just hit those golf balls and kept hitting those golf balls,
and that success will come to anybody who does that.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
You know, it's interesting, you know I I and obviously
you know I know, you know I know enough about
you that you you're a teacher. But it's it's fascinating
if nobody knew you were a teacher you come up
with those statements. I'm telling you, right, we all know
you're a teacher. I mean seriously, like like like like
like God won't let you think you can do something
that you don't have the talent to do and.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
In person, and.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Success will hide from you and it will only be
discovered by the persistent.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I mean that is that is that.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Is fascinating to me, that that that like, that's that's
really cool.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
That's really cool.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
So so you're teaching, and you're playing some golf and
you're playing around, you're down in amicole and this that
and the other thing, and and so now you teach
long enough, tell me when you're really really really kind
of I know it around age forty you saw the
Senior Tour. But when did it really really really grab
(20:08):
on to you?
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Well, over the years, I've started shooting course records, you know,
sixty two's and sixty threes and sixty fours and not
too many people could do that, and I understood that,
and again, God will much you think you could do
something unless you had the ability to do it. So
(20:32):
I'm shooting sixty two's and sixty threes and sixty fours.
I'm winning golf tournaments locally, playing in national tournaments. So
I'm feeding my ego, so to speak, rich right, And
I made a decision when I was forty five. I
think that I'm going to do that, that senior tour.
I'm going to take a shot at that. So when
(20:53):
I was forty eight, I came home and told my
wife says, I'm going to leave my job. He says,
why wanted a senior tour? And I had two years
of preparation to do that. So that was a big leap,
you know.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, I gotta ask you. I gotta ask you because
I'm never gonna have that conversation. But how'd that conversation go,
because that's got to be a shock.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Well, my wife is special. I mean she she hardly
blinked any she knew. She knew over the years that
I talked about it. And then finally I did come
home one day and said I'm going to leave my
job and I'm going to try for the Senior Tour. Okay,
that's a that's a big leap. And my fellow teachers
(21:36):
thought I was crazy. It does. It does border on stupid.
You know when you think about it. The numbers, if
you play the numbers game, right, You're going to National
Qualifying School and there's seven hundred people from all over
the world coming in there to qualify at different places,
and they have eight spots. Yeah, you know you think
(21:59):
about okay, eight spots, and then there was a second
eight for conditional cards. But but I believed that I
could do that, okay, and I got close, but I
never got to the Senior Tour, although I played in
fifteen Senior Tour events right Monday, right.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Well, we're going to talk about the Monday qualifying in
a minute. But so, so you you go to so
you you break the news. You know, you're forty eight
and here we go. So what did you do differently
from the moment you made the decision as far as
practicing or preparation or or or anything between you know,
(22:40):
forty eight and I'm going.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
To do it? And that was that was two year,
that two year run up, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
What did you, what did you kind of focus on
Is anything in particularly focused on?
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Well, initially was focusing on me, okay and get me
ready and ready to do that. And then you're all in.
Once you make you announce to the world. And I
remember saying this, you announce to the world what your
intentions are, Okay, And I would tell everybody I'm leaving
(23:13):
my job and I'm going to the Senior Tour and
I would say that, okay. Now, once you do that,
you're committed, right, You're in. You're all in, okay, and
everybody knows. And then the other thing is people will
help you along the way, but they know what you want.
And they helped me at Nemacola, they helped me at Chippewall.
(23:35):
Now I'm at Cedarbrook and they helped me down there.
So people will help you. Once they understand that you're
serious in what you want, they will help you do it,
you know. So it was preparation for me, not only
my golf game, but for me mentally to go ahead
and believe that I could do that. But I've played
in so many national tournaments and one golf tournament shot
(23:58):
course records. Uh, I believe that I could do that,
and my good golf was good enough, right, but my
other golf wasn't.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah right right, so okay.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
So so so the first year you go qualify. Obviously
turn fifty, you have to have the age and all
that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
So where do you go first?
Speaker 3 (24:21):
First, I believe we went to Florida, right, I think
it was a TPC at uh at Sarasota m hm okay,
and you know you have to you have to qualify
at the that was first stage. Then you qualify to
(24:42):
get into the finals. So first year down there, I
was an alternate to get into the finals, but never
got int okay, so I needed somebody to dropped out,
but that didn't happen. The second year went out to
Point A Verdi where the uh the TPC at Prince
Birdie played the valley course, and so I made it
(25:08):
to the finals there, and you've got maybe fifty percent
through the field, you know about fifty But I just
kept at it, kept believing that I could do that.
So I'd go back year after year and do the
national qualifying. Meanwhile, I'm doing Monday qualifying. So what what
Monday qualifying is? You follow the tour wherever it is
(25:30):
you go there and on Mondays they had a qualifier
for four spots. You get one hundred hundred and forty guys,
uh playing for four spots. And as sharp as your game,
you know, you get tougher, you get smarter, and you
learn how to score. That's all that game is about.
Learn how to score.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
That's that's that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
That's interesting. You know, it's funny because you know, my son,
my son was a pretty good lacrosse player and pretty good,
pretty decent hockey player growing up.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
And and I teach.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I teach a lot of kids, and you know, I
have a golf team around me and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
And that is the one thing I.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Don't It's the one thing that people don't realize. Like
you can do all these nifty things, and you can
dress really well, and you can have really nice golf clubs,
and you can do all this stuff.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Until I get it in the hole number that gets me.
Something doesn't mean anything. None of it means anything.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah, yeah, right, I mean, it's it's all about score,
you know. I mean I was never the longest player,
and and and I rarely went at par fives because
I didn't have the length to do that, but you
build a strategy, you build a game plan, and you
play to your strengths, you know, but you got to
(26:46):
learn how to score. Wow.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
So so Monday qualifying for those who do not know,
I mean, that is a I don't like the word
crapshoot a whole lot, but that's that's even worse technically,
it's worse numbers than qualifying for this qualifying school.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Because you, like I say.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
You get one hundred and forty guys for four spots, right,
you know, when you look at the percentage, was that
one percent?
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Right?
Speaker 2 (27:16):
And you play and and you're only playing one round,
it's not like you it's not like you get to
you can't catch me in round two and three you
were done?
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
How many times did you do? How many times did
you actually successfully Monday qualify fifteen?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Wow? Wow, that's that's gotta be. I got to tell
you something. You're just listening to you.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
It's you have unwavering determination, like and it's actually not
even ego, it's confidence like I can do this.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Yeah. Wow, that's like I said, I taught myself how
to play guitar. I taught myself how to play a
piano not very good, but I can get music out
of them. And I applied the same principles to the
golf game. It was as simple as that. Just go
hit those golf balls and you learn little pieces. You
(28:10):
get little help from Chuck Kelly's and mister Wilko and
Pete Scores and some others and Floyd Schuler and uh,
you know, you get help along the way, but just
just go do it.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Yeah, it's it's it's interesting because I because you know,
it's what I really, really, really really liked what you
said before, is that you don't once you declare out loud,
there's no turning back. We turn back, you know, like
the door is shut now. You can't can't go back
to see those you once you once you walk in
till the school board, you're done.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
You don't get to go. Oh wait, I was just kidding,
you know.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, I'm gonna come back. Actually I'm gonna come back
to the third week of September. I'm just I was
just kidding. No, I'm done. I'm going to do that now.
And it's it's the same kind of it's I was
fortunate enough to talk to to Jack cam one time
and about you know, that's a great career, obviously, Hall
of Fame career and unbelievable. And I asked him about
(29:11):
when he decided to retire, and he goes. I always
remembered what Chuck Dole said, as soon as you think
about retiring, you're retired. And and and it's like you said,
once you decided and you declare, you've declared, there's no
there's no turning back.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Now.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
You can't turn back. You're in. You're all in. And
my wife was all in with me.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yeah I would, I would, oh really, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
She was a school teacher and summertimes we go and
she caddy and uh, she knows she knows golf quite well.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yeah, I would think.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
So he's a little bulldog. I'd call her bulldog. Or
once you get something, she won't let it go.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Yeah, she's well, you know what she had to she
had to well, she had to keep you.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Honest, you know, I mean seriously, I mean because because
she had to have she had to have as much
faith in you as you had and yourself.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Yeah, yeah, she had to believe as well. And a
little story about that. I qualified up in Chicago. I
shot sixty five this final round and made a nice check.
And when you're playing good, you got to keep going.
And the next tournament was in park City, Utah. So
I said, I said, jeah, her name's Janet, and I said,
(30:37):
I need to go to Park City. Okay. She said, well,
what about the car? And I said, well, can you
drive it home? I mean that's a thousand miles. She
didn't blink an eye shed yeah, okay. She drops me
off at the airport, I go to Park City. I
qualify again, back to back, you know, right, And then
then she flew out and she caddied out there, and uh,
(31:01):
I got a great Gary player story if you want
to hear it.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Yeah, you know what. Here's the thing we're about.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
We're almost to a break here, So before we go
to that break, I'm wanna hear all a couple of
really good stories in the third segment. But but I
gotta I gotta tell you there's before we go to break,
you're talking about your wife.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
That's gotta be that's gotta be the.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Biggest blessing in the world that when you walk in
the house and go, you know what, I'm gonna leave
my job and I'm gonna go do this and instead
of you're crazier than hell, she goes all right when
we're start.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Yeah, exactly, that's exactly.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Right, Rich, that's awesome, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Yeah, she's a better teacher than you.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
That's what she wanted.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
You were better.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
She was a better teacher than you. Two write you
can just say it now, It's okay, it's.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
It's okay to say it.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
It's all right.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
She's you know, that's like that. That's like my wife.
She's just a better everything than I am. I mean, like,
had nothing to do with golf, and I don't care
what it is. I mean, she's better, you know, she's
better everything that.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
So and no, kidd o, kidd like, what do they say?
What do they say? They say, you know, surround yourself
with great people. Right, that's all. I married her. I'm good.
I'm good. I don't have to work on that anymore.
I'm to worry about it anymore. All right. So when we.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Come back, we're going to talk about some of your
travels on the Senior Tour and some of the things
you learned out there, and some really cool stories. All right,
this is the Rich Comwell Golf Show. Welcome back to
rich Comboll Golf Show. We're joined by Ron Skyles. Ron
is a retired public school teacher and an incredibly gifted
(32:40):
golfer who has some incredibly insightful things about this game
and actually about life. Because you know, if you we're
going to revisit those two big statements he made about
success hiding and and and you know, God, God given,
God given confidence and things like that. But for now, Ron,
So now you're you're you're qualifying for tour events. You're
(33:02):
trying to play the Tour, the Senior Tour, and so
then you go to Monday qualifying. So you so, how
fifteen times you qualified? Who are the most famous players
you ever played with in a tour event?
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Well, I played with Palmer, played with Gary, player Ray Floyd.
You know it was just mister x Barber. A lot
of us say, you have nor Barber. And so anyway,
I was up in Chicago. I shot sixty five on
the final round and Miller Barber was one of my
playing partners. He said, Ron, that was a great round
(33:40):
of golf. And h and I told you about you know,
moving on to Park City right qualified out there in
my second round, I'm paired with Gary Player, and first
all I stiffed it for a birdie. The second hall
I did the same thing. The fourth hole I made
a par on three, and fourth hall the fifth holes
(34:01):
a part three saw one hundred and sixty six yards
to the pin, and the green angles from left to right,
and it's all water with his bullheads, you know, those
wooden eyes, and for about you know, the right half
of that green. It's all water up until the green.
So where the pen is sitting in the back, left
(34:23):
corner or right corner, excuse me, one hundred and sixty
six yards. So I'm standing by him and listening to
Gary Player and his caddy talk about these holes, and
they're going over the numbers, and I'm checking my book
and I've got the same numbers that they did. So
I'm behaving like a professional. That's how I took that.
(34:46):
And he finally says to his caddy, says, what do
you think? And the caddy says, hits a seven iron.
And I'm thinking myself, rich, he can't hit a seven
ron that far, okay, but he did. He didn't even try.
I mean, he well left to put the put the
ball in the front of the left front of the green,
and I stepped up and I stiffed this ball down
(35:08):
and you know, four feet from that hole, and he
goes nuts. He's going crazy, what a great golf shop.
And I'm thinking to me, it was just a golf shop.
What's so great about it? You know? And then we're
walking to the hole. Instead of him going to his ball, rich,
he came with me.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
He says, look here run and you know the voice,
look here run one yard? You that good? And said
you don't like money is what he said to me. Okay,
And Janet is with me. She heard that and he
wasn't being smart. He was trying to help me, right, okay.
And so later on John and I were to have dinner.
(35:48):
I said, you heard what Gary said? I said, what
did you make of that? And he's, well, what I
heard he said, don't play so aggressive. Okay. So with that,
ill up being aggressive and I never got in another tournament.
And here's why. Which Okay, when you're Monday qualifying, you've
got four spots or one hundred and forty guys, you
(36:10):
better be aiming at pins or you're not making it
or you're not.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
You either win or you don't.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Yeah, what Gary was saying, when you're in a tournament,
play more cautious, you know, conservative, right, But I did
that as a Monday qualifier. I miss misread that, you know,
so I never made another tournament because my proximity to
the whole was never close enough. So you need to
sometimes be careful of the advice you get, okay, or
(36:41):
how you read the advice that you get.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Right right, It's it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
It's interesting. He meant, well, there's no doubt about that,
and he meant, well, but I misread it.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
It's interesting you say that because I talked to LPGA
tour player Chris Cheddar and she spent in college, she
spent time with with mister Hogan, and she said to me,
she goes, I to this day, I know what he said,
but I never understood what he truly meant by it.
(37:15):
So like to to your point, like like like you know,
he was trying to help you, but the way you
interpreted that was, like, you know, not the way it
was intended. And she said he would say things to
me and I'd be like, like, what what's he what's
he trying to say? I mean like because he like
(37:35):
he'd say something like okay, lower, like like lower what
I mean, lower ballflight?
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Lower? What?
Speaker 4 (37:42):
And he was it was like and.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Of course that guy, that guy could do anything to
a golf ball he ever wanted to do.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
Yeah, so, but how did he do that? He dug
it out of the dirt?
Speaker 1 (37:53):
He sure did, He sure did.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
And and and she said, to this day, I'm pretty
sure I know what he meant, but I'm not completely
sure I know what he meant. And and you know
what player said to you, You know, is was well intended,
but you applied it to a little bit of a
different bucket of information.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Yeah, yeah, wow, I applied it to Monday qualifying and
that didn't It didn't work.
Speaker 4 (38:18):
That doesn't carry over to that so well.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
So so okay, so let me ask you a question.
You qualified fifteen times, how many checks did you make?
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Well, every time you're on a senior tour and you're
in a tournament, you make checks. There, No, that's right.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
There was, that's right.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
And so let me ask you a question. What's the
if you don't mind me asking you, what's the biggest check?
Speaker 4 (38:42):
You made?
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Eleven thousand? Wow, and that was in Chicago and I
shot sixty five. I had a hard time Rich putting
three rounds together. I could get one and two, but
to get put that third one together, I never never
was able to do that.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
You know, it's interesting you say that because again and
I'm a huge Hogan guy, but if you read what
people wrote about him and what he even said about
some things, is that was the biggest hurdle for him
when he first got on tour, because back then that
was nineteen thirty two, so back then, you know, you
(39:25):
just went out there and played. But he said he
would travel and travel and travel, and he said it was.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Always one round. It would be one round.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
That back then there was no cut either, but they
only paid the top fifteen, so it's effectively you cut
yourself anyway.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
But he said, like there was always.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
One round, and it took him a long time to
get mentally screwed into seventy two holes. Yeah, and I so,
I mean, I can I can certainly appreciate what you're saying,
because that's it, that's not that's definitely a marathon. You
play fifty four holes in the Senior PGA Tour Monday qualify.
(40:06):
Now you've got more pressure on you. And oh, by
the way, here we go and that's so best round
you shot with sixty five?
Speaker 3 (40:16):
Uh? No, this show I shot on a senior tour
with sixty four. Man.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Wow, Well, i'll tell you what. I'm gonna tell you
something right now. You're a good player, Bud. You're a
good player. You're a good player, because I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
I don't care.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
I don't care where you shoot sixty four or sixty
three whatever, I don't care.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
You're a good player. You're a good player.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
So so when did you decide? I mean, how long
did you know?
Speaker 1 (40:42):
How many? How many years you go to Q.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
School ken okay and made the final stage eight times?
Speaker 4 (40:52):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (40:55):
And then so after ten years now you're now you're sixty.
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
Did you did you make okay? Now back to your declaration,
did you ever like just make a blanket statement like okay,
this is it?
Speaker 3 (41:13):
No? I was kind of that kind of faded away.
In other words, there was like no real, real stop
to that. I'll give you an example. Janet and I
we were going up to New York and I said, well,
there's a qualifying site up in Albany, New York for
the US Senior Open. I said, how about if we
work our way up there and I'll do that qualifier
(41:33):
up there. Well, I go up there and I got in.
I made the qualifier played at the NCR there in Dayton, Ohio. Yeah,
uh yeah, it's two thousand and five, was that tournament?
Speaker 2 (41:45):
So?
Speaker 3 (41:45):
Uh? You know, so it never never just ended real quick,
you know. I just continued to play. But I was
lucky enough to play good enough to get into that qualifier.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
So hight So then I have to ask you this question,
same question I asked. I asked everybody who achieved the
highest level in their sport, with hockey, football, baseball, basketball,
any of it. Did you miss it when you when
you when you kind of to your point faded.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Away, I have to say yes. And then also no,
I had done all as I could. My age was
was pushing me backwards. In other words, I couldn't compete.
The rules of the qualifying were changing. Yeah, you know.
(42:35):
Uh so the tour was pushing out the common man, right,
you know it was, it was pushing you out. So
it was not as it was hard at the beginning,
but it was even harder as time went on because
they would they would take some spots away from you.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
It's interesting because because remember the guy from Pittsburgh Walls
and BRISKI went through that with them with the senior tour.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
He went after with them. He was like, He's like,
this is you guys.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
You guys say we have this, but then you you
actually don't have it because the kids is kind of
a fake door, like you can get in, but no
you can't.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
And you know he yeah, he was so all right.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
So I gotta ask you, like where, what what was
your what's your favorite's? What's your favorite golf course?
Speaker 3 (43:25):
Well, I've got a couple of them. Cherry Hills was
was phenomenal, Oakmont Marion because of their history, Fine, Finehurst, Uh,
Mirfield Village in Columbus, Ohio was really really good golf
course and that kind of like is on my top
list would be? I would say Mirfield Nicholas, Columbus.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Yeah, you know, I I've I've been.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
I've been there, and I've been to and I and
I obviously we'll never probably talk to him about it,
but I tell anybody that.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
At Mirfield is it.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Mirefield Village in Columbus Dublin, Ohio is as close to
Augusta as you will ever say if you've never been
to Augusta, because Augusta's hard to get into, but that
one you get in to see Mirfield, It's like, wow,
this is serious in here as a.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Great Yeah, even though we played Saint Andrews, you know,
it was just the history of that golf course, that
the condition of it. It wasn't near what our American
golf courses were. And then you know, Janet went over.
We we stumbled into that place and I just went
down and ask and we play And I told him
(44:43):
I said I was over there for the British Senior
Open qualifier. And the guy says, well, you have your
clubs and he goes, yeah, he said, we'll go down
on that practice green and I'll call you and he says,
you have a caddy? I said yeah, my wife. He says,
well she has to come and take a tep I
like that. Yeah, that guy wants you over there. You
(45:04):
got to take a caddy test. Well he was surprised
with her knowledge, right, I'm sure. Yeah at St. Andrews.
Speaker 4 (45:13):
That's awesome. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
So all right, so let's wrap this up. So let's
let's let's summarize all this. Now, what are you doing now?
Like what are you doing every day now, because I
can just sense through the phone or through the through
the phone that you do not you hit the ground
running about every.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
Day you're alive.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
Absolutely. Yeah. Well I'm at Taterbrook every day. We have
a great practice facility out there. Tater Brook has been
very good to me over the years. And then recently
rich I became the golf coach with Penn State Fayette
at UH UH Fayette campus.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
In Union Uniontown. Sure, sure, so I'm.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
Currently coaching their their golf team. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
So so you guys, you guys are competing against the
other other branch campuses, right, so you go up against
the Heathport Ye.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
And do you guys you still compete against uh.
Speaker 2 (46:04):
Do you guys compete against uh Pennsylvania College Technology? No, no, No,
that's up and that's up in Williamsport. And I actually
coached them for a semester when I was assistant Williams
part Country Club because they needed somebody to effectively drive
the van.
Speaker 4 (46:20):
I mean, that's really what I did.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
And and my wife was the My wife was in
dental hygiene school at Pennslvania College Technology.
Speaker 4 (46:29):
So you know that's that will always kind.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
Of hold of up, they go over and play like
Penn State barks. They go over to like eastern part
of the state.
Speaker 3 (46:38):
Yeah. So I think there's fifteen the satellite schools around it.
Oh so we played, we compete against them, and then
our our players there they're students first, yes, and then
then they're golfers. Okay, right, and so but anyway, we're
(46:59):
going to win that champion shift that my goal. I
tell my players. I said, you guys better get some
better scores because I'm going to recruit you out of here.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
That's right. That's that's funny. That's why I'm going to
recruit you out of here. Right. So all right, so
we only have a couple more metts.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
So you've got to revisit those two statements for me
because it's really important to me.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Okay, So God, God, God.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
Won't let you think you can do something unless he
gave you the talent to do it.
Speaker 3 (47:23):
He has the ability to do it, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
And the other one is success will hide from you,
but the persistent will find it.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
Yeah, it only belongs to the persistent. You know, there's
a kind of statements that you hang on to that
keeps you going. You know.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
Yeah, you're exactly right. You're exactly right.
Speaker 3 (47:43):
I mean, you know, I'm a kid from Cookburgh, little
Coal Monty town. What do I know? Okay?
Speaker 1 (47:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (47:49):
And what keeps you going? What keeps you going? Why?
Why you? And those statements help?
Speaker 4 (47:55):
Yeah, you're exactly right. You're exactly right.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
That that and the fact that like you been living
your entire life and you OutKick your coverage in the
marriage department. So I mean, you know you keep saying
on how that's working?
Speaker 4 (48:06):
Right?
Speaker 2 (48:07):
Well, Ron, I gotta tell you something. This has been awesome.
This has been awesome. And I'm sure I'm gonna be
at Cedarbrook with somebody one of the teams or somebody soon,
so I will make sure that I find you and
and and we'll catch up in person. But I'll make
sure I tell Floyd you said hi, because I see
him about every other day. So yeah, yeah, he still
(48:29):
goes to work, he still plays pretty well. He he's
a he's a really fine fellow.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
So but Ron, thank you. I can't tell you how
much I appreciate this.
Speaker 3 (48:39):
Well, Rich, let me invite you to come up to
this chipwell and play it round of golf with us
up there.
Speaker 4 (48:44):
Oh, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
Thank you so much, Cearbrook. I understand. So you just
got corrected. I heard that. That's okay, so so again.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
Thanks Ron, I appreciate it, and we'll catch up soon,
probably coming out of the new year.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
Okay, Eric, good Rich.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
Thanks Ron. Take care of yourself all right, I will.
This is this is the Rich Comwell Golf Show.
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