The Key to Success
A welcome week watching the future of a wonderful game, and a memorable evening with one of its greats.
Atlanta, GA
October 30, 2023
As the day warms and the dew dissipates we find a quiet corner of an exclusive enclave, to absorb an idyllic scene while our coffee cools.
Every October, the East Lake Golf Club hosts the East Lake Cup, a three day tournament featuring four top men’s and women’s collegiate teams.
Well…almost every October.
This year, Bobby Jones’s home course is being renovated, so this morning I’m at the Atlanta Athletic Club. For this event, the replacement links are an apt alternative.
Founded in 1898, the Athletic Club originally occupied a ten story building in downtown Atlanta. Six years later, it constructed a golf course at East Lake that took the name of that location.
For six decades, the Athletic Club owned East Lake. Georgia Tech football coach John Heisman became the club’s athletic director, and Georgia Tech alum Bobby Jones grew up playing the course.
In the late ‘60s, the Athletic Club sold the property (which, thru various vicissitudes and revivals, became the East Lake Golf Club we know today), and began building its current courses north of Atlanta. From the rolling piedmont came a couple immaculate tracks.
This venue has hosted a Ryder Cup, three PGA Championships, a U.S. Open, a US Women’s Open, a Women’s PGA Championship, and the US Amateur.
This week, it accommodates the East Lake Cup. For nine years, this competition has featured the four top men’s and women’s college teams from their respective NCAA championships.
The official event begins this morning. But yesterday…in separate foursomes…my wife, son, and I played a preliminary round with members of the men’s team from Florida State University.
Georgia Tech, our Alma Mater, is among the teams in contention. Their leader is Christo Lamprecht, a 6’-8” senior from Western Cape, South Africa who is perhaps the top amateur in the world.
Lamprecht was low amateur in last year’s British Open, and led that tournament after the first round. Unfortunately, tee time conflicts precluded him…or any of Tech’s players…from playing with us.
But the draw we received was ample compensation. Joining my foursome was Tyler Weaver, a talented and genial freshman from Newmarket, England who, as he put it, has played golf “since birth”.
Playing with my wife and son was one of the more impressive young men they’d ever met. A sophomore at Florida State, Luke Clanton is already among the top 30 amateurs in the world. Within a couple years, he’ll doubtless be on the professional tour. And he couldn’t have been more personable or engaging.
Each player described the discipline needed to succeed at college golf, which entails constant travel, frequent tournaments, and heavy demands to maintain grades. Rising before the sun to study, writing reports on buses or completing projects on planes, and devoting evenings to books rather than bars are essential sacrifices to keep academics up to par.
“Wait”, I joked to Tyler, “they actually make you study to stay in school?”
“Yes”, he quipped, without missing a beat. “This is golf. Not football.”
After our rounds, we were treated to a hospitality tent for an al fresco feast. Both young men made a point to visit our table to thank us for the day, and to say goodbye. Neither had to. But it was a nice touch from a couple players who’d made new fans.
This wasn’t the first East Lake Cup that worked out well. Last year my son, David, and I had a terrific time playing with freshman Keaton Vo from the University of Texas. But with our older son at Auburn, my wife was thrilled to be with a delightful girl on the Tiger team.
Like Tyler Weaver, Rachel Gourley was a freshman from England who’d been in America only a couple months (Tyler mentioned he and Rachel knew each other from junior golf tournaments on the scepter’d isle). With all her family and friends still across the pond, she’d play the tournament without a gallery cheering her on.
So David and I decided to give her one. We followed her on every hole. When she finished, Rachel walked toward us, thanked us for our support, and handed David a souvenir ball. The next day, she and her teammates won the Cup.
Last Tuesday, in a different context, we were pleasantly surprised to see them again.
A couple hours south of Atlanta, the Country Club of Columbus hosted a golf clinic by the ANNIKA Foundation.
Run by one of the greatest female golfers to grace the game, this wonderful organization “provides golf opportunities at the junior, collegiate, and professional levels”, with special emphasis on integrity, fitness, and nutrition.
It might be understating her performance during her era to call Annika Sörenstam “the Tiger Woods of women’s golf” (and Tiger Woods would probably appreciate the comparison).
The only woman to ever break 60 in an official event, she dominated the game, with 90 victories and eleven Major championships. Her latest came a couple years ago at the US Senior Open…thirteen years after she originally “retired.”
Annika was in Columbus to run an afternoon clinic for dozens of young girls. Joining her was the Haskins Committee, which annually bestows the Haskins Award on the greatest player in college golf. Fred Haskins was teaching pro at the Country Club of Columbus, and his eponymous award is the Heisman Trophy of this sport.
Arriving from Atlanta on a gorgeous day, Rita and I approached the course under blue skies, falling leaves, and lengthening shadows. We were pleased to see the clinic still underway.
As we walked toward several “stations” of young girls stretching, driving, chipping, and putting, I noticed an older one sporting an Auburn logo. Then I saw another.
And another.
“I think that’s the Auburn golf team”, I told Rita.
It was. They’d made the short trip across the state line to help teach the kids, and to meet the icon overseeing the event.
While Rachel and her teammates instructed the girls, we chatted a few minutes with their head coach. Melissa Luellen was good enough to (or kind enough to pretend to) remember us from East Lake last year.
She was a contemporary of Sörenstam on the LPGA tour, and noted how excited her team was to receive a few pointers from a living legend. As Luellen returned to her duties, we said goodbye and adjourned to the clubhouse.
Over cocktails we were delighted to meet Rob Ohno, who’d recently joined Annika as president of her foundation. He’s as pleasant as he is impressive.
A former hockey player with a couple decades in executive positions with the PGA Tour, Ohno decided earlier this year to bring his experience and energy to Annika’s cause. We’re glad he did.
As we moved to the dining room after drinks, we learned Rob arranged for us to be seated beside his boss. Over a delightful meal, we enjoyed an engaging conversation with Annika Sörenstam.
She’s a delight. Her charming personality and captivating smile are accurate reflections of the woman within…unless, as Coach Luellen would doubtless attest, you were on the course competing against her.
Fortunately, at our table we were on the same team. Annika hails from Sweden and lives in Orlando, so we exchanged admiration for her native country and my home state. And she listened empathetically when my wife told her she’d grown up in the Ukraine.
After dinner, Annika took the stage for an interview with golf broadcaster Brian Katrek. She recalled challenges, milestones, obstacles, and triumphs from, prior to, and since her illustrious career. She then took questions from the crowd, including several from star-struck girls justifiably enthralled in the presence of their hero.
From her answers we inferred the key to success, which we also expressed yesterday by the Florida State players. It’s the one thing everyone has, but that most of us waste:
Time.
Each day, Annika Sörenstam, Luke Clanton, and Tyler Weaver have the same number of hours as anyone else. But they use theirs wisely and well, which requires unseen sacrifice, discipline, and diligence. And, as important, generosity and gratitude, which each of them express in refreshing abundance.
When formalities ended, Annika graciously remained to take photos, give autographs, and share stories with any attendees who decided to stay.
We were among them, tho’ with an eye on the clock. Yet despite having a two hour drive home, my wife and I were among the last to leave the room.
Rob and Annika were going the same direction, to the Atlanta airport for a morning flight home to Florida.
But Annika Sörenstam will be back in Georgia. Earlier this month, she honored another of Bobby Jones’s renowned clubs by becoming its newest member. The Augusta National will be further enhanced by the worthy addition.
JD