Mary Mills - Part 3 (The 1973 LPGA Championship)

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to Well let's go on.

Mike Gonzalez 0:16

Let's go on to uh 1973, and we're now going to take you to a golf course that I think you both like, actually, because again, you both had victories there. We'll start with uh we'll start with Mary. We're talking about the 1973 LPGA Championship. So you talk about validation. Uh, this is LPGA Championship number two, major number three, but we're talking about the site being Pleasant Valley Country Club up in Massachusetts, and you won that one by one over Betty Bert Bertfind.

Mary Mills 0:48

Right. Um Pleasant Valley was hilly. Um, it had a lot of trees, and I can remember, you know, an example of the last uh number 18 and maybe uh number 16 or something, there was a hole right next to it, and it had a group of huge trees that divided the fairways. And if you hit it into the woods or into the opposite fairway, there was no way that you were going to get out. Those trees were so thick, birch trees. And uh so it was another example, and I think you know, we can say that you had to know where the ball was going to play Pleasant Valley. Um, and I think Gary Player later uh helped come and maybe uh change it a little bit, but in those early days it was very tight, and uh, of course, you know, good fast bent greens. Um and you know, I I think I won that tournament by shooting like a 30 or a 31 or two on the last nine holes. So I came from behind. So I've won tournaments, you know, by then being ahead every day, sleeping on the lead, uh playing along, maybe winning by one, going in a playoff. But the easiest way to win, I think, and Bruce might say, is just put on the steam on the last few holes because you haven't gone through that type of pressure of leading. And that's what I did when I won uh that that tournament at PV.

Bruce Devlin 2:36

Well, you'll remember a great supporter of the game of golf, a guy by the name of Kazim Mingola, who was the owner of Pleasant Valley back in those days. Really a wonderful man, and his son, his son took over the golf tournament after he passed. But uh, yeah, I have fond memories there too. As a matter of fact, I beat uh a gentleman that we just lost, a guy by the name of Lee Elder. He finished second that year to me at Pleasant Valley, and uh we unfortunately we lost him this year, so that's a shame.

Mary Mills 3:11

Yeah. But um tell me about you know um how you played the the course, Bruce. Did you find it really tight?

Bruce Devlin 3:21

Oh yeah, it was tight, and uh I I think the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes were you better you better be like you said, you better be able to hit it straight. I think it was 16 was downhill dog right, and then uh 17 come back the other way, and then 18 come up the hill to finish, par five finish.

Mary Mills 3:41

Yeah, but yeah, it was a pretty testy golf course, and of course, that's where my caddy Van Costa was from.

Bruce Devlin 3:51

That's right, he was.

Mary Mills 3:52

You know, he he knew uh that course like the back of his hand. And you know, I can't remember if Van was caddying for me that year. Uh I just can't recall. I'm sure he's gonna tell me after this.

Bruce Devlin 4:08

I think he I think he said he started the caddy for you in 1974.

Mary Mills 4:13

Okay, yeah.

Bruce Devlin 4:14

Would that be right?

Mary Mills 4:15

Yes, because when we said the professional caddies came out, but you know, he he was playing as a little um boy before because when we would show up, Mike, in a town, um the the LPGA and the USGA would just give us what we call little bag toters. Well, those were kids off uh in the summer that um were in the caddy programs. There was no professional caddies in the 60s to speak of, or until you know, 1974, because we couldn't afford to pay them. And um a lot of times those bags would be really so heavy for those little young boys that I felt sorry for them. Uh but you know uh they they were gonna do it, come hella high water, and those were you had to pick your own clubs. There was no like, okay, what do you think I should hit here? It's just you know, keep up with me and and don't make a lot of noise and uh right. So those those were real pioneering days.

Bruce Devlin 5:29

So late in that 73, you won the uh Lady Terra Classic at Indian Hills Country Club in Georgia, and guess who's finished second again, Mike? Sandra Haney.

Mary Mills 5:44

Well, she and I must have been playing pretty good golf, you know, in those days. And uh, you know, I I didn't really get into trouble with my putting until probably 76 or in those last few few years. Uh and uh, you know, it it was a great way to make a living by the 70s. Some money was coming in, and I think uh in that year of 73, I won a little over$50,000, which wasn't bad money for a woman, even a woman doctor back then.

Bruce Devlin 6:21

Back in those days, yeah.

Mary Mills 6:23

It was growing, and uh the men were not making much money either until you know the late 60s and early 70s. So we saw the LPGA kind of follow behind the lead of the PGA, and uh television had, of course, the biggest thing to do with the money coming in.

Mike Gonzalez 6:46

Yeah, you know, we were talking about the uh uh that previous win, the LPGA championship, and you mentioned uh finishing strong. You actually uh you were three under in the final round, including four back nine birdies. Well, in this tournament, you made five straight birdies early in the final round.

Mary Mills 7:04

Yeah, I I don't know where it came from, but uh that's golf. If we knew how to get to the zone, uh we'd be millionaires by now. But uh, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 7:19

You remember a young 18-year-old by the name of Laura Baugh who finished uh second to you that tournament? That was her first pro event.

Mary Mills 7:27

Right, I do, and uh, she had uh a very good swing, and um I think later I heard that she was very upset that because she really did have a chance to win, and that I kind of stole it from her. And that happened.

Mike Gonzalez 7:46

I'll go back to the point you made about the pioneering days and the you know the caddies and unprofessional. I I had a chance on the men's tour to caddy as a 15 and 16-year-old back in 1969 and 1970 in the Robinson Open. And so you talk about unprofessional. I mean, I I I was a golfer, of course, but uh knew nothing about the professional game or players of that caliber. But to stand out in that field by yourself with 30 or 40 other caddies shagging balls with balls flying everywhere, yeah. I had I had wished I'd had a suit of armor. It's true, that's very true.

Mary Mills 8:29

Yeah, it's a different game today, that's for sure.

Mike Gonzalez 8:34

You know, it sure is. Well, uh we talked about uh we talked about the 1973 Lady Terra Classic that you won at Indian Hills Country Club in Georgia. That was that was your final LPGA win. Um you actually, and I want to uh relate this story a little bit for our listeners because it was in 1977. You were leading at the Long Island Charity Classic when the Wide Grooves issue came up with Ram Irons. Tell us a little bit about that.

Mary Mills 9:05

Um I I can remember that uh Ram um really was I think bought by Colgate, and we were playing their clubs, and you know, that issue came up, and um to me it it just um seemed like a stickler that the USGA was making, but you know, it was part of the rules, and and I believe you had to be careful that you played the same type of ball, you couldn't change. I mean, you know, the rules were changing pretty much every four years. Uh in this past few years, they they changed drastically every year, you know, with the anchoring puttering, uh, with a lot of different things. So that was kind of the beginning of the USG saying, you know, we've got to uh be firm here. This game is changing, and and it was because of the mechanics uh of being building golf clubs really differently, you know, and the ball was getting more lively, um, but not being able to have us work the ball right and left at will. And I think part of it was they were trying to help the average golfer uh be better, uh, but the groove issue was something that uh, you know, to me was uh very technical, and I didn't get real involved in it.

Mike Gonzalez 10:40

Yeah, Bruce, were you impacted uh at all by that?

Bruce Devlin 10:43

Uh no, uh I the the only thing I remember about it was uh I think was it Ping that was involved in that as well at one point?

Mike Gonzalez 10:53

That was the square groove. That was more the square groove distance.

Bruce Devlin 10:56

Yeah, the square groove, that's right. Yeah, yeah, that's what it was. That's what was later, yeah. No, not really. I mean, uh, of course I I I'm assuming Mary was the same as me. You know, we played through our career. Basically, with the uh, you know, I was a spalding guy, uh, so I used spalding golf clubs, you know, through my 60s and 70s career. So uh we didn't have it, we didn't have that problem.

Mike Gonzalez 11:20

Yeah. Mary, you retired uh from professional golf uh in terms of playing on the LPG tour about 1980. You talked about putting woes. Most of us as golfers don't like to use the Y word, but Beth Daniel was quite up front with us in our interview with her. She says, I went through three stages of the Yips in my career.

Mary Mills 11:39

Well, you know, um Hogan uh really uh was struggling with his putting, and he was, you know, pretty much the first real popular champion. Uh Bobby Jones retired so early, probably, that uh his nerves were still intact. You know. But what we have come to see is that when people um play year after year under tremendous pressure of trying to make a living on a three or four or five put putt, uh, that it takes a toll. It takes a toll on your your motor skills and it frays the the the pathways. Uh, you know, the the big clinics like Mayos and Oshners are trying to still figure out uh what uh causes the Yips and how to get rid of them. And they have come to say that it's part of a nervous disease called dystonia, and maybe a little combination of PD PTSD, like uh a soldier who, you know, starts really getting uh flashbacks of the poor stuff that complicate the nervous part of the mechanical way the body is put together. So it it's you know, I met Bernard Longer here in in uh Bogretone where I live in the park system one day, uh, and I knew he he had uh the yips at a very early age. I mean, it can hit you at any age, and it can come in the big swing, and it can come in the small motor skill. But the small motor skill, the short putts are usually where it hits you most people the most. And um just like Bernard said, um, you have to go through and work out of it and change the pathways. And so he was able to take that really long putter, you know, up by his clavicle and and collarbone. And I had already started doing belly putting, you know, from Paul Runyon uh way back in the middle to late 70s. Um but after a while, you know, uh you you run out of ways to go into these different pathways. And that's kind of what happened to me by uh, I would say 1979, it's like, okay, uh, it's over. And uh I'd had some pretty good indications, like playing at uh the dinosaur where Van was my caddy, and I should have probably at least tied for the for the championship in the playoff. And um I three-putted um and missed a really tiny putt with a yip. So it wasn't easy.

Mike Gonzalez 14:41

Well, Mary, we've talked about your career. Uh let's just touch on a few of the majors because I there's one thing I want our listeners to know, and that's when Mary Mills played golf and won three major championships, there was a stretch in her career, in the prime of her career, when there were only two majors on the LPGA tour. And most people don't realize that. But uh, starting with uh the LPGA championship, which was uh in effect really throughout her career and still exists, uh uh you won twice. You also had a second place finish to Mickey Wright in San Diego in 1963, which would have been your first year out, I guess, probably, right?

Mary Mills 15:19

That's right. Um it was it's been interesting to see how both men's and women's golf have shuffled what they consider uh to be majors. You know, like I said, in the women's golf, the title holders in Augusta was considered a major. But I think in those 60s, early, maybe early 70s, uh, we had the U.S. Open, we had the LPGA championship, uh, and they were pretty much, of course, uh even the women's British Open hadn't even come on the scene. So um it was a progression, and then the dinosaur uh starting putting enough money up there in publicity and political pressure to become a major. And so it's like you take somebody that's won some majors in their time when they only had two or three majors, period, and you take today where they made five six, that doesn't seem quite fair, uh, for people who you know uh might have enough points to be in the Hall of Fame. Um you had to, you know, maybe have a major in the women's, and and but you had to win quite a bit of tournaments. And so I had the majors, but I didn't have a lot of uh tournaments uh because there wasn't many to play for back then.

Mike Gonzalez 16:52

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, you mentioned the title holders uh uh really that sort of ended in in 66. There was uh uh it came back for one year in 1972, but for all intents and purposes, it was done in 66. You had a T2 finish to Kathy Whitworth there. Of course, Augusta Country Club was the permanent home of that championship over those years. And then you also had the Western Open as a major for women up through 1967.

Mary Mills 17:19

Well, my first um I think encounter with um the women's Western Open, which you know was out of Chicago, and the Western Open did so much for amateur golf. Um we played um 1954 of the Western Open in Chicago, and that's where Louise Suggs beat me four and two because it was match play. And um it was, you know, um, I'm sure probably a major back then. I I don't really recall, but um, you know, like I said, uh every decade or so, different uh tournaments are considered majors, and that's pretty political, and some of it's money, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 18:11

Yeah, right. It does seem rather arbitrary uh when you think about where they drew the lines. For example, the Dinosaur didn't really get kicked off until 83 as a major. The British Open, you mentioned uh for the women, came on stream in 2001. Uh that was right after they uh ceased having the DeMaurier be a major, which was a major for about a 21-year stretch. And then, of course, we mentioned the the title holders, the Western Open, and now the Avion, which started in 2013. So, as Bruce mentioned, five majors now where for most of your career you only had two to compete in. So uh quite a spectacular professional career. Uh you're a member of uh multiple Hall of Fames, including uh your state's golf hall of fame and sports hall of fame, your college's uh athletic hall of fame. Um you're still teaching golf, aren't you?

Mary Mills 19:03

I am, and and um, you know, I had great teachers who were in their 80s, like I said. Um I took lessons from um, you know, um, I I guess starting from Bravolta um and went into people like Paul Runyon, uh, but also Tommy Armour, who was, you know, uh from Boca here at the time, he was quite a character, and he was my first introduction to playing. He wanted to play matches in his 80s with Betty Jameson, Mary Lena, me, and a few other girls who were wintering in Florida. And he was at the stage in those 80s, and he he really enjoyed playing, but he would waggle 20 times before he take the club back. And I thought this is a strange malady, you know. Uh, and so it was, you know, uh very unusual. But uh the last um really uh Angel Delatory uh had a son, Manuel, but Angel taught a lot of the big movie stars, you know, out in Palm Springs, like Frank Sinatra and uh you know Lucia Ball. And uh he was uh teaching the Ernest Jones swing the club head method. Very different overlay of trying to understand the golf swing rather than positions and swing playing and things like that. It was like swing the club. Even Gary Morton, you know, uh with Fox, who was married to Lucille Ball, took he would come out and take a lesson from Angel, and then I would follow up and go behind Gary. And those were great days. And so when I first retired, I I really um tried to teach for a year with Tony Pinna, actually. Uh, and I saw, boy, this is painful. I don't want to have to think about golf with all these women who can't hit the ball. And so basically quit and started um using my college education to put together golf and tennis vents for a big food service company. And I did that for eight years, and the company moved from the Boca area up into the Carolinas, and I didn't want to go. I was starting to really miss golf. And so that's when I kind of went back and uh started, you know, getting into golf by going to graduate school, getting my degree in landscape architecture. That was my master's. You had to be have a higher degree in Florida to. Call yourself a golf architect. And uh Bruce, you know, you were uh I've played some of your courses. You you were a really good architect. I came way too late. You know, I I knew uh Alice and Pete Dye even asked if I could get a job, and they said, well, we we have a different approach, you know. We we already do most of it ourselves, it's really in-house. Uh but I did meet two brothers uh who lived up in the Nashville area who uh allowed me to come and help design what we call a woman-friendly golf course, uh men-friendly. And uh after that was over, that took a couple of years. I started teaching mostly juniors to get golf scholarships. And of course, I was teaching the average uh player, and I had a young man, uh, he was only maybe in his early 30s, and he uh maybe he wasn't even 31, and he was already teacher of the year in Tennessee. He taught me to teach uh, you know, with drills. Uh this is how the average person, and even pros, you you go through not how you're gonna go actually own the golf course and hit a golf ball, but what's gonna take care of the problems and the diseases you have in your golf swing. So that was kind of interesting. And so, yeah, I I found out there was life after golf, but it it wasn't easy at first.

Mike Gonzalez 23:39

Wasn't it good? Okay, so so Mary, I'm asking this for a friend, of course, but uh if you were to give some free advice to someone who's getting ready to play in a tournament but is uh very rusty from lack of play, what what would you tell them to focus on?

Mary Mills 23:54

Uh to swing the club. In other words, practice some maybe just some golf swings with their feet close together. See what happens if when you haven't played, um you you could be lucky because uh quite often uh you can play marvelous golf on the first day out. You but the second and third day, your golf uh muscles are overtaxed because they're out of the way.

Bruce Devlin 24:23

There you go.

Mary Mills 24:24

So you you I would say try and not hit the ball too far, put your feet closer together so you can synchronize the upper and lower body, the you know, your arms with with your legs.

Bruce Devlin 24:39

And uh you know he was asked who he was asking that for, don't you, Mary?

Mary Mills 24:43

No, I don't.

Bruce Devlin 24:44

He would he was asking that for me because I haven't been playing, and I've gotta go, I've gotta come down and take a friend of mine and play with uh with Mr. Gonzalez here later in the month. So I the only thing I'm planning on doing is I have a heavy golf club, one where the shaft is full of lead.

unknown 25:04

Uh-huh.

Bruce Devlin 25:05

Do you recommend me swinging that you know nice and slow so I get a nice good backswing?

Mary Mills 25:11

Well, I not really, because here's the reason: as we get older, uh we can injure ourselves in the strangest way.

Bruce Devlin 25:20

Okay. Oh, okay.

Mary Mills 25:24

Swing your swing, like Arnold said, and swing with the sweet swing speed that you can handle, which is gonna be hard on your ego, but it's a great game.

Mike Gonzalez 25:38

Good idea. So, Mary, we have a few questions we normally like to wrap up with. Before we do that, I want to ask you one, going back to your career. Who are some of your best friends out on the LPGA tour?

Mary Mills 25:49

Well, I started out, you know, straight on having to catch rides with uh people like um Merle Breer, Jackie Pung. Uh, the married uh people who were on the tour kind of took the rookies under their wings. And so those people became very good friends. Betty Jameson, uh Mary Lena taught me uh how to go to New York and enjoy the plays and the art museums. And then later it was people that um you would room just to save money. So we we got to know each other real well. And uh, you know, those were days that um we would uh travel in caravans, so we were like a big family, and so I had friends that uh I kind of tried to stay in touch with, and a lot of the girls that I played in junior golf when we were only like 14 years old, like Sandra Haney, like Big Mama, uh, like Judy Bell, who really became the president of the USGA, uh, these people stayed in golf and they were good friends. Uh and so, you know, it's a game that um you you really have close people for years and years, and even though you might live in totally different countries, like Sally Little is a very good friend of mine who lives in Africa, and I only see her a couple of times uh a year, but once we get together, it's like time is really never past, isn't that right?

Mike Gonzalez 27:32

Uh that's right, that's absolutely true. And you know, Mary, the kids today listening would be astounded to learn that uh you guys somehow got by without GPS.

SPEAKER_03 27:44

Yeah.

Mary Mills 27:45

We had to learn uh to use our eyes, and but we also learn to step off yardage. The average Englishman was only about 5'8 when they discover or put together the uh yardage system in England, and so we would uh with our caddies uh go and mark off the the just just like the army rangers, we would pace. We would pace the yardage from bushes or trees or or bunkers before those books came.

Bruce Devlin 28:19

That's right.

Mike Gonzalez 28:20

Yeah, and then and then of course getting uh getting from city to city, uh venue to venue without GPS in your car.

Mary Mills 28:28

We learned to read a map. That wasn't so hard.

Mike Gonzalez 28:34

Without your car telling you how to get there, huh? Well, Bruce, uh let's uh let's get to our customary questions for our guests. Uh, you want to start? I will.

Bruce Devlin 28:45

So, Mary, if you when you first started, if you knew then what you know now, what would you have done differently?

Mary Mills 28:57

I think that I would have tried to pay more attention to putting. In other words, as a youngster, uh, most of us all we wanted to do was go hit balls as far as we could. And I think I never understood putting. And uh, so that's one thing I would do. Um that's the thing that really comes to mind for me as far as just golf, you know. Um but you have to play within your style, you know. You really you can't play like uh, you know, Lee Trevino if you're not outgoing. You you have to be gotcha.

Mike Gonzalez 29:38

Yeah. Uh next one, uh maybe a quick one will come to mind, but we're gonna give you one career mulligan. Where do you take it?

Mary Mills 29:48

Wow, that that's a question that I would have to think about.

Bruce Devlin 29:52

Um because we're not gonna give you too much time.

Mary Mills 29:59

You need to help me because I I really um like I said, uh, unless it was something very unusual, uh I I don't recall uh strokes, you know. So that I would say I'd have to look back and really think hard. It it must have been someplace I needed like one shot on the last hold to win, but I can't think of any.

Mike Gonzalez 30:28

Okay. Okay. Well, you mentioned you mentioned, I'll I'll give you a couple hints. Uh and this may not have made a difference in your tournament. You were second to Mickey Wright by two uh back in um in the the LPGA championship in 1963, but I do remember you mentioning uh three putting at the dinosaur. Would that have been one you want back?

Mary Mills 30:49

Um yes, probably that um and I think Van would remind me, yes, because if I had uh made that putt, I had a big chance of being in a playoff. And that those yips really came in, and and that that was the real sign, okay. I think you're in serious trouble.

Bruce Devlin 31:14

We'll go with that one. So, Mary, the last one, the last question is how would you like Mary Mills to be remembered?

Mary Mills 31:25

Um as um a three-time major champion and and a great ball striker.

Bruce Devlin 31:33

Very good. A very appropriate finish.

Mike Gonzalez 31:36

It sure is. Uh it's been a delight to welcome Mary Mills, three-time major champion on our podcast for the good of the game, Bruce.

Bruce Devlin 31:46

Yeah, it's been fun, Mary. Uh, we we appreciate your time. We've uh we learned a lot about you that we didn't know. And uh we thank you, seriously thank you for all your time and uh and putting up with Mike and I. It's been fun being with you.

Mary Mills 32:01

Well, it's been a pleasure, and like I said, you know, when those days are over, uh, we love to go back and talk about ourselves. So it's it's really been fun. Thanks. Thanks very much.

Mike Gonzalez 32:15

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. That's when McKenzie. 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 32:39

It went smack down the fairway. Just smacked offline. Mac heads, as long as you're still in the stage, you're okay.