Glenn Johnson: five-time Michigan Amateur champion
It was something shared by five-time Michigan Amateur Glenn Johnson that has stuck with me through the years. I don’t even recall how the subject came up but Johnson, a Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member, was talking about hard-earned lessons from playing match play competition. In so many words, Johnson said when you’re in competition and happen to see your opponent engage in some rules-violating behavior, you must immediately take charge of the situation and voice your concern, even if you’re not exactly certain of the rule or even what you saw. “Otherwise what you observed will gnaw at you and affect your game and possibly even the match,” said Johnson. “You must reverse the situation and place the situation’s mental burden on your opponent.”
I only followed Johnson’s wise and golf-savvy advice once. Later that night and still going over our round while trying to sleep on the couch, I wondered: “Why in the hell did I ever bring that up to my wife?”
