Paul Azinger - "Career Influencers" SHORT TRACK

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Let me take you back to something you mentioned, Paul, because I'm sure our listeners had their interest peaked when you talked about career influences. You mentioned a couple, Crenshaw Trevino with the with the shut face thing. Tell us a little bit more about what you're talking about. Just give us a couple of examples of those influences.

Paul Azinger 0:31

Well, uh, around the greens, you know, I played with Crenshaw and Sevy after I lost the British Open in 87. We played at PJ National, and there was no first cut or rough in 1987 down there. It was either fairway or three inches. And every fairway I missed, I made I missed the green. And every green I missed, I made Bogear double. I didn't get one up and down. I double chipped. It was a disaster. And and I'm playing with Sevy and Crenshaw, the two greatest short game artists I'd ever seen. And I I I'd kind of I hadn't given up, but I was in the 80s both days, and I think, and I remember just with arms folded watching Crenshaw and thinking, there's no way I'm getting this up and down. I don't know how to do it. And he pitched it in there, gimme. And Sevy would get in a spot, and I had my arms folded over there thinking, No way. I don't think I know how to get that up and down. I swear to God, this was in 1987 now. And I you know who helped me first off was Dennis Watson. I saw him a couple weeks later, and he I had a ping sandwich, the one I hold all the bunker shots with, right? And I kept it in the bag, but I added an a 60 degree, a 59 degree after being with Dennis Watson at Hilton Head chipping around. And um turns out that the club I hold all those bunker shots with had about 55 degrees of loft. Which is a standing, really. He said he said to me, There's no way in hell you're gonna be able to hit a decent chip shot. You you can't you got not enough loft. He said, This is the worst sandwich I've ever seen. And I didn't know. And we're talking about, you know, later in your career, 87, I was a player of the year in 1987. And I didn't know how to, and I had a 55 degree sandwich. Think about that, Bruce.

Mike Gonzalez 2:13

So it's amazing.

Paul Azinger 2:15

Yeah, I learned so Dennis Watson got me, he flipped me into getting the 60-degree wedge, which I did, and uh Crenshaw one knee on my bag, smoking a cigarette, watched me chip and pitch for two hours one day, him and Redmond, and he changed my life. And then Trevino, the same thing um back in colonial early on. Trevino taught me stuff about how to curve the ball, when not to do this, you know. It's just it's invaluable stuff. Invaluable stuff. Hale Erwin, Raymond Floyd, Andy Bean helped me so much, it's incredible. And I had my Andy Bean technique. You know, I think I was halfway decent at trying to imitate what I thought they looked like and being able to produce a result that they were getting. Crenshaw taught me how to hit a pitch to where you could read the logo on the ball and it spun perfectly straight. Not that side spinny thing. He taught me how to pitch it where you could read the logo on the ball. Holy cow.

Intro Music 3:16

Interesting. Very interesting.

Mike Gonzalez 3:17

I remember our talk with Tom Watson, and he talked about the same thing about trying to get better with chipping and pitching. And he said at some point, I don't know where he picked it up, but he had he had somebody sort of cutting across the ball. Right? Cutting across the ball. He tried that a few times and he said, boom, from that moment on, I just felt like I could chip everything in.

Paul Azinger 3:41

I remember Watson did a little commercial and talked about his right knee moving forward. And um that was in 1988, and that's I remember thinking every chip shot to make sure my right knee went forward as I pitched the ball out of this Bermuda Rough at the PJ Championship. Uh, and I ended up losing to Sluman that year when he shot 65 on Sunday. But I was thinking about Watson and what Watson said. So, you know, the influences are incredible, aren't they? Things that we link onto.

Mike Gonzalez 4:14

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, buddy, tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 4:34

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. And it started just like just offline. My head is as long as you're still in the state, you're okay. It went straight down the middle of the way.