STEPHEN STILLS
Occupation: Singer, guitarist, composer, arranger, author, publisher.
Age: 50
Low Score: 79 ("at Medinah, just after the U.S. Open, and the rough was still real hairy, but I was in a zone and didn't see the rough all day.")
Handicap: "I play to about a 21, but I tour 10 months of the year so I'm never in one place long enough to turn in my scores.")
Introduction to the game: "My uncle, Tommy Collard, was a club champion in Illinois and my cousin Doug was a junior champion. When I was a kid, we visited in the summers and they'd take me out. Tommy taught me the Sam Snead side-saddle style of putting and it's stuck with me... But I hated the game as a teen-ager, that country club scene. I didn't touch the game again until 10 or 12 years ago. I was recording in Miami and a couple of young guys took me out and I got the picture. I discovered The Game. I was hooked. And then I started spending a lot of time at Grand Cypress and really learned to play from Paul Solano, the director of golf, and Lee Lockhart."
Strength: "I've learned all these amazing shots from playing with PGA Tour guys who happened to be my fans -- Larry Rinker, Payne Stewart, Mark Lye, Donnie Hammond, Peter Jacobsen. We'd hook up in Florida during the off-season. From watching them, I've developed a big swing and can smack it with authority."
Weakness: "My energy level is such that my hands get too fast -- like a race car driver, my hands can do more dangerous things in a the wink of an eye than you can believe. It helps in playing guitar, but not golf. When I get quick, I get handsy and hit it fat."
Favorite courses: "Once I figured out that you're not playing other people, you're playing the course and the guy who designed it, I started seeking out great courses. On the road, Graham (Nash) and I try to play the coolest course wherever we are. I love anything by Alister Mackenzie, especially the Valley Club in Monticito (Ca.). I like Pine Valley, Firestone and Medinah. I love Westchester in the fall with the leaves. In Hawaii, I really like the Village Course at Kapalua. Grand Cypress is special. And Joondelup, in Perth, Australia, was unbelieveable."
Appeal of the game: "The mental and emotional exercise has a Zen quality to it. You have to put the rest of the world out of your head. I know that Graham and I have figured out that it's good for our heads... This morning, you could have had a huge fight with the IRS or your wife, but at 3 p.m. you're looking for your ball in the rough, or your partner's ball, and that's the big issue, the only thing that matters. And then when you hit it good, everything connects... The game was invented by Scotsmen who had to justify not going to church, so they made it as punitive as possible. That's the nature of it, so go with it. I'm not too fond of the tightly wound approach to golf."
Favorite golf story: "I was playing a course in Edinburgh that started in 1761 and is populated by some fairly persimmonous old Scots, but I was paired with this one old gentleman who was very pleasant. It was so cold and wet, my feet didn't forgive me for a week. I lost all sensation below my knees and at one point I hit an ugly shot and some of the members looked at me like I was a barbarian. But on the 18th hole, with everybody watching, I crushed my drive 260 uphill and put a 6-iron within three feet and put the putt down. And with that wonderful Edinburgh accent my partner said: `Remember the SOBs who gave you that look and didn't like your ponytail? Well, you just (bleeped) them in the arse. Good for you, laddie, I'm proud of you.'"
Ideal foursome: "Mitch Kemper, my broker, who used to play the mini tours, Fuzzy Zoeller and Arnold Palmer. I've never played played with Fuzzy or Arnie, but I've followed them around and they both make the game so much fun. And what Arnie says about how he deals with people is how I feel about my fans: Treat them the way you'd like to be treated, be conscious that we're all here together."
Back to Reading Room Home page