Paul Azinger - "I Was So Naïve" SHORT TRACK

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle.

Paul Azinger 0:13

Then it started to You know, I was so naive about professional golf. I really was clueless to what it would take. And uh Yeah, well, I don't know. I don't know. I never really practiced one day in my life until I went to college.

Mike Gonzalez 0:29

Huh.

Intro Music 0:29

Isn't that amazing? Quite a story, Paul.

Mike Gonzalez 0:32

Yeah, what was it that changed then? What sort of collectance said, okay, I I I may take this a little bit more seriously.

Paul Azinger 0:38

Well, I again I was just naive about what it was gonna take to play professionally, and um I had never broken seventy in my life when I went to college, couldn't break 82 days in a row, really. But I got there with Dr. Jim Sutty, the golf coach at the time. Floyd Horrigan was the golf coach I thought was gonna be there. He went to Sentenary where Hal Sutton was. Yeah, sure. And Doc Jim Sutty was there, which is the greatest blessing ever for me because he was addicted to golf, and I became addicted to golf and incredibly passionate. I didn't go home on weekends, and when I did it was just to be so excited to show my parents about what I was figuring out about how to hit a golf ball. And uh about my second year of college, I was probably hitting four or five hundred balls every day and learning how to chip and putt a little bit, and I finally broke 70 about halfway through my second year of college. It's unreal. I remember two putting for a 68 on the last hole and you know, all of a sudden I I was, and I I I couldn't believe it. John Redman, I met Redmond, you know John. John's passed away now, but uh great coaches both. John was this crusty kind of you know uh irascible sort that was very tough in his teaching. He he was taught by Sneed and he had a certain philosophy how to play, Redmond did. And uh Suddy, I had all that technical part and was able to see stuff on video during when Suddy was there, and and John and Doc Suddy got along real well. And those two together really I got you know, the first time I saw my swing on video, I thought it looked okay. And uh Suddy says, Well, you're across the line, your paths parallel, you're on your left side of the top, you got no leg action, and your club face is shut.

Intro Music 2:39

You're pretty good.

Paul Azinger 2:40

Yeah, where do we start? And that's really how I started. That was the first time I ever realized that there was a way to do it. I'm not kidding, yeah. That was college.

unknown 2:50

Yeah.

Paul Azinger 2:50

Where I really realized there was a certain technique required to play golf. I was so naive, and I thought, I'll get out there and be a pro. But I was I think I've always been really physically smart. I can pick stuff up, you know. I used to throw darts until I I I could hit the triple and all day long.

Mike Gonzalez 3:14

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, tell your friends straight down the middle until we tee it up again. Good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 3:37

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