Kathy Whitworth - Audio Test SHORT TRACK

Intro Music 0:10

It went straight down the middle. Then it started to hook just a wee.

Mike Gonzalez 0:16

Welcome to another episode of For the Good of the Game and Bruce Devlin. We've got a tremendous guest this morning. And he'd say something about something sensational about you. And please welcome Kathy Whitworth. Hi, Kathy.

Kathy Whitworth 0:31

Hi, Mike. How are you?

Mike Gonzalez 0:33

Well, good. Yeah, so just I'll just let you talk for a while.

Kathy Whitworth 0:36

You could tell me about the weather or your last golf game or whatever you don't talk golf around here much anymore. But it's um no, it's well, it's hot and it's blessed because it's windy. And of course I'm watching the PGA right now, and uh they've got a lot of the same kind of wind. And um it's really uh it's difficult for them, I know that. And the you know, the the greens always seem like they're setting up higher than um uh you know, they're they're elevated, you know, it's almost like a tabletop. Yeah, so they can't they try to run it up, but they can't because it's it's kind of like this, and then it levels off. So, and if they carry the green, it goes over. So they're having a hard time.

Mike Gonzalez 1:22

Have have you played that golf course before?

Kathy Whitworth 1:25

No, I you know, I I had an opportunity years ago, but I was out there once, but uh, and then of course I know about it and uh have watched it uh over the years, but no, I uh I never did play.

Mike Gonzalez 1:38

Yeah, we we've talked to a couple of the fellows that won there, won the PGA there. Of course, we we had Dave Stockton on the program, and he talked about being Arnold Palmer there. That was Arnie's sort of really last chance, real chance that winning the PGA. That was back in 1970. Uh is that right? And then uh Nick Price was on the show, and he won at Southern Hills in 1994.

Kathy Whitworth 1:59

Oh my gosh. Yeah, big fan of Nick's, he's a terrific guy. Well, all of them really. Dave Stock, Arney, of course. Yeah, but uh I know it's got a lot of history, and uh, you know, a lot of great players played there. And of course, then it's going back to Rochester next year, so yeah, right. That was always a favorite. We didn't play O'Keel, but we played Locust Hill. And um but one of the fun things about it at Rochester is they have a uh a hill of fame uh on one of the hills separating the one of the uh some of the holes there, a couple of the holes. And you and they put plaques up there uh on some of the trees. And um and I'm on one right next to Bay. Yeah, I'm right next to Bay. That's the closest I ever got to Bay.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

That's pretty cool.

Kathy Whitworth 2:54

Yeah, yeah, it is. Uh it was really a nice ceremony, but Oak Hill is uh I I've I've played it once, but um not well. But um it'll be fun to watch him play there too.

Mike Gonzalez 3:07

Yeah, I was only up there as a fan back uh when Curtis Strange won his second US Open in a row.

Kathy Whitworth 3:15

Oh, and I think I think I was there you know they had Try Look up there, yeah. And I I was there to watch a couple of days there or when they had it there. That was exciting.

Mike Gonzalez 3:26

Yeah, yeah. So uh Kathy, as you know, you are our first woman uh golf professional that we're gonna be interviewing, and we've got a bunch of them we're doing in the next four weeks. So uh you and Laura Davies are next week, the f and then two weeks hence, we're gonna do uh Beth Daniel and Dottie Pepper. Okay, and then the week after that, we're gonna do Sally Little, uh Martha Nows, and Nancy Lopez.

Kathy Whitworth 3:54

Okay. Well, that's great. I'm glad you're doing it. And of course the older players quicker than later, because I don't they're uh I'm I'm doing okay, but then there's some that are a little on the you know wiggy side. So I think uh the more you can do that is but I think what you're doing is just terrific.

Mike Gonzalez 4:20

Yeah, and and you know, we're really hoping that in 50, 100 years uh uh you know kids learning the game can listen to all these stories of all the golf's greats, and uh we've already got the World Golf Hall of Fame and the USG uh interested in archiving these for posterity, and we hope to get uh LPGA, PGA of America, PGA Tour, and the RNA involved as well.

Kathy Whitworth 4:45

Oh wow. Well that's great too. Yeah, yeah, all of that's wonderful. I think uh you know, I the history is so important and uh uh and I love the history of the excuse me of the LPGA and and how it has evolved over all these years and it uh and the women that were involved in it and and also the men and uh the sporting goods companies that uh supported the tour so early on. And uh it you know, they were just coming out of some of the players were just coming out of World War II.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

Yeah.

Kathy Whitworth 5:18

And you know, Patty was a she joined the Marines, Patty Burr. So she was yeah, she was a and when she gave an order, you did it.

Mike Gonzalez 5:31

Well, speaking of speaking of history, you know, uh Bruce, of course, Bruce lived it, uh you lived it, I did it, I didn't. But having now interviewed forty-three people, I've certainly learned a lot over the last uh say thirteen months about the history of the men's tour and professional golf. And I'm trying to put myself on a very quick learning curve on the women's side. And you know, what what we'll talk about Monday and and we'll be like sponges soaking it up, is just to hear as much as we can about the history, how it developed, uh your your recollections of some of the founders and you know, just almost decade by decade how the game evolved for you.

Kathy Whitworth 6:12

Yeah, that'd be great. It's it's uh I go down memory lane a lot, and it's a great lane to go down.

Mike Gonzalez 6:19

Well, yeah. Uh make sure you dust off all your old stories. And you know, one of the things I'm gonna be interested in hearing from is just how equipment availability and and quality evolved for the women players over the years.

Kathy Whitworth 6:34

Mm-hmm. Well, it was pretty much the same for the guys. We played men's equipment. Did you? Uh they didn't have yeah, they didn't have ladies' clubs basically back then. And uh I don't think any of us well they might have, but it w they weren't gonna work for us. Um but yeah, we played uh we played men's equipment.

Mike Gonzalez 6:56

You did, okay.

Kathy Whitworth 6:57

I think I remember learning it might be different in the shaft and the weight uh of the club, you know, the swing weight. But the um uh but the length was pretty much standard, you know, like well, back in those days, 43 was the standard length of a driver. And now it's like 45, I think, or something like that. It they bumped all the uh lengths of the clubs up, and um so I mean my seven iron years ago is probably an inch or two shorter than the seven iron that they do today. So it's uh but it's not uh uh men's equipment, and but they've done a lot with women. I mean, I'm not saying that either, but and uh golf equipment is uh I I I couldn't I couldn't even begin to tell you they I I think the shaft seems to be the key. Uh I talked to a um golf uh club uh designer and I said, Well, I I really like your the head of the club you have, and he said, Yeah, but it doesn't do anything until you put that shaft in it. And um uh if you get the right shaft. And I think that is such a key, uh, because people ask me all the time about, well, what do you think and what what would you recommend? I said, I have no idea because it's so much out there. I said, if you want to go to one of those demo shows, you know, they have them uh periodically at the driving ranges or country clubs, yeah. Sure. And they have all the manufacturers come out there and show their wares and everything. And I said, if you you go up and down the line and if you hit maybe ten balls for the club and you haven't hit a good one, walk on. Because it's not gonna that club is not for you. So because a lot of times you just send a club down and it just looks great and you feel good about it, and you just hit the fire at them. And it's just it's a matter of confidence when you look at a club. So club design and you know, uh there, but like I said, gosh, there's just but I have to say this, Harvey always told me I blame you first, me second, and the club third. So I never got into blaming equipment for my bad play. And um uh and I still feel that way, you know, it's it's what you do with it. And so it doesn't, you know, it it'll it it can help you, and Harvey never said it it couldn't help you, but if you don't have a good swing and don't know how to do it, it's nothing's gonna help you.

Mike Gonzalez 9:36

Right.

Kathy Whitworth 9:36

So spend more money taking a lesson than you do on a club.

Mike Gonzalez 9:40

We we heard the same thing from Lee Trevino earlier in the week in uh and his line, which you heard is uh it's the it's the it's the Indian, not the arrow, right?

Kathy Whitworth 9:51

That's right. I mean, you know, he I mean he can talk about where how he grew up and what he played with when he was growing up, my gosh. Yeah, it was like just taking a tree branch. So he can make it work no matter what. But yeah, what a great um great personality and a great guy.

Mike Gonzalez 10:09

Now, when when you started, were you playing steel-shafted clubs or were there any hickories uh around?

Kathy Whitworth 10:16

No, well, not quite that old. Um, they were steel shafts. True temper was uh was the shaft of the day, I think. And um, but you know, there was like just uh Wilson, Spaulding, and McGregor.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Yeah, yeah.

Kathy Whitworth 10:32

And that's all there weren't any golf companies back then. Right. It was just the sporting goods companies, and they and they all made the golf clubs, and of course, but they made tennis, football. I mean, they were a sporting goods company. And so um uh uh McGregor, I thought had some really uh nice looking woods uh over the years. But um I signed with Wilson and um so I was a Wilson girl for a long time.

Mike Gonzalez 11:03

Yeah, well they they were sort of Chicago based, weren't they?

Kathy Whitworth 11:07

Yeah, they were and uh but the great thing about that was well there were many great things about it, but when you signed with Wilson, the uh requirement was that you had to uh do clinics and exhibitions for when when you weren't on tour, or if you had a break on tour, you had some weeks off or a week off, you would the salesman would um take you around to some of the clubs, uh local clubs that sold Wilson equipment. And so we did a lot of clinics and exhibitions, but we had to go to Fort Myers for six weeks and take clinic construction from Patty Burg. And that's gonna be one of the greatest experiences ever. And um it definitely made me a better player, but uh doing these these clinics and exhibitions over the years, we'd do 30 or 40 of them a year. Uh for but it was wonderful because we they paid us to to do them, you know, so we made a little money on the side and and kept us um going, and then we'd go to the next tournament. But um, you know, that's where I really began to learn. I didn't know it at the time. Uh Mickey pointed it out to me years later, but but that's when I really began to learn how to um, and of course Harvey gave me that chance with um an instruction, but I began to learn how to play shots. And there wasn't a it, unless the if the lie was good, uh I could pretty much hit any shot I wanted, and I could go at almost any pin, and I could play almost any golf course. I didn't have to wait for a course to suit my game.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Right.

Kathy Whitworth 12:51

Uh I could I could you know make my game suit the golf course or hit the shots that I needed to hit. But I didn't think much about that. I mean it was just it just morphed into that, and you get confidence because of these clinics, you had to you had to pull these shots off. You'd talk about it and explain and then you'd execute it. Well, there was a you know intent. And so when you got back on tour, uh, well, I got I got voted best trouble player twice.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Okay.

Kathy Whitworth 13:24

Well, I never thought much about it. I didn't think I was in that much trouble. But I I guess I was, but but I knew how to get out of it.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Yeah.

Kathy Whitworth 13:31

Because I knew how to play these shots. I could reroute my uh swing if I had to. And um uh and so I I think that's one of the reasons why uh uh you know I played better than some because I could I could play hit those shots.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

Yeah, yeah.

Kathy Whitworth 13:49

But it was because I was I was taught.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Yeah.

Kathy Whitworth 13:52

You know, everybody can do it. It's not, I mean, I wasn't anything special or had a special talent. Everybody that had done those clinics and exhibitions did the same thing. Yeah, yeah. You know, Carol Mann, you know, Mickey Right, Betsy Ross, Patty Bird.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

Yeah.

Kathy Whitworth 14:08

And uh list goes on. And then they kind of stopped doing that after a while. So uh the younger players didn't get that opportunity that uh we got when I first signed with Wilson.

Mike Gonzalez 14:20

Yeah, I remember there were there's been several of our uh uh male guests have talked about the same experience where they would say as a youngster they'd come on tour, and some of the old veterans would grab them and teach them the ropes of how to entertain and and take care of your corporate clients if you're doing an exhibition. Uh teach a good bedside manner, how to speak, how to present yourself, how to dress, the whole thing, right?

Kathy Whitworth 14:44

Yeah, yeah. Well, uh I don't remember anybody grabbing me like that, but but you did learn from watching the other players, and and uh of course back then there were only about 30 or 35 of us, but they were the best of the best.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

Yeah, yeah.

Kathy Whitworth 15:02

I mean, in those early years, Patty was still playing, Louis Suggs, Mickey and Betsy. Um, you know, those were great players back in that era were still on tour, so I could I got to learn and uh watch them play, and uh Marilyn Smith, of course, and um uh but uh they were just terrific. But they were very kind to me and very nice to me and and uh and took me in, so to speak, and uh so I I I had a I I had a good I had a good experience.

Mike Gonzalez 15:36

We hope you've enjoyed this short track of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 15:57

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. And it started just like just smacked off line. My headache, as long as you're still in the stage, you're okay.