{"id":3063,"date":"2020-06-17T20:24:56","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T20:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/?p=3063"},"modified":"2020-06-18T18:06:26","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T18:06:26","slug":"mac-ogrady-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/golf\/instruction\/3063\/mac-ogrady-and-me","title":{"rendered":"Mac O’Grady and me"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mac<\/a>

Mac O’Grady<\/p><\/div>\n

As some of my golf buddies will attest, I had a brief but memorable encounter with the legendary Mac O\u2019Grady, the former PGA Tour player of the \u201880s best known for attending qualifying (Q) school 17 times before earning his Tour card in November 1982. He won twice on the Tour, swinging right-handed while putting left-handed.<\/p>\n

An eccentric character who was ambidextrous with his full golf swing, O\u2019Grady was once affectionately called \u201cWacko Grady\u201d by TV commentator Gary McCord, who has known him since their teenager days together in Southern California. It takes one to know one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How \u201cwacko?\u201d Well, O’Grady once tried <\/i>to enter the Chrysler Team Championship as both halves of the same team. He planned to play one ball left-handed and the other right-handed. Another time, according to Los Angeles Times<\/i> golf writer Tom Bonk, Mac tried <\/i>to enter the B.C.Open under the name Mac O\u2019Grady II and was going to do it left-handed. As Bonk wrote, \u201cHe wanted to play with Mac O\u2019Grady I, who could get in [with his PGA Tour past champion status]. O\u2019Grady played as a right hander, but wanted to enter under the second name as a left hander.\u201d<\/p>\n

When covering the Buick Open in the \u201880s at Warwick Hills in Grand Blanc, I would regularly follow O\u2019Grady and marvel at his flawless swing. Even so, he rarely made the cut and his best finish was a T-47th in 1984. Still, I was fascinated by him and his colorful and controversial ways.<\/p>\n

Forced to retire in 1990 from the Tour due to a spine disorder, O\u2019Grady gained new fame as a sought after golf instructor schooled in and mentored by the esoteric swing principles of Homer Kelley\u2019s The Golfing Machine. <\/i>(Even this past February, his name was mentioned as influencing the teaching of elite player instructor Drew Steckel who counts among his students Kevin Na, Pat Perez, and Jason Kokrak.)<\/p>\n

When I founded the West Michigan Golf Show in 1989, my goal was to complement exhibitors\u2019 booths and displays with a stage area where some of the game\u2019s best teachers would provide free clinics and seminars. As a golf magazine editor, I knew providing credible and attractive golf \u201ccontent\u201d in terms of expert instruction would be vital for a paid admission show.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That first year, the WMGS teachers were: Hank Haney, celebrated then as Mark O\u2019Meara\u2019s teacher; Mike Hebron, a PGA Master Professional and author from NY; and Michigan\u2019s very own Evan \u201cBig Cat\u201d Williams, a two-time National Long Driving champion. They were all popular with the attendees and I knew top teachers had to remain a staple of the show. (Thankfully, ShowSpan Inc.\u2014the new owner of the WMGS beginning in 2002\u2014has carried on that tradition.)<\/p>\n

In the early \u201890s, I had the bright idea of inviting O\u2019Grady to be part of the Show as a headliner. His name recognition was high and his golf school in Palm Springs, CA had a cult-like following, especially among fellow teachers.\u00a0 <\/span>But how was I going to contact him in a direct and personal way, given his reclusive and wary personality? I needed to pin down his telephone number.<\/p>\n

It might have been Jack Berry, good friend and mentor, who suggested I contact a certain West Coast media colleague of ours with the idea that person likely knew Mac and had his number.<\/p>\n

And he did!<\/p>\n

But this was the strict condition under which it was given:<\/p>\n

\u201cTerry, under no conditions do you tell Mac how and from whom you got his home number. Before you pick up the phone to call him, have a white lie story in mind or simply tell him \u2018it\u2019s confidential.\u2019 But I\u2019ll tell you now, if you try the latter it won\u2019t fly with Mac. One more thing, Mac won\u2019t answer the phone. His wife Fumiko screens all his calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mindful of the journalist\u2019s credo to protect and honor one\u2019s confidential sources, I devised a story about how I got his number.<\/p>\n

I then called O\u2019Grady\u2019s home number.<\/p>\n

As predicted, Fumiko answered and quietly said hello. After I asked for O\u2019Grady she politely inquired who I was and the purpose of my call. Upon listening to an abbreviated spiel about myself as a golf writer from Michigan who used to cover her husband at the Buick Open, she told me to wait while she spoke to him.<\/p>\n

A few tense minutes passed before Mac came to phone and said, \u201cWho is this?\u201d<\/p>\n

I went into my best Irish charming self, expounding on my credentials as a golf writer and the Buick Open while also sharing my admiration for Mac\u2019s Tour career and his excellent reputation as a golf instructor and teacher. Taking a few breaths, I next explained the reason for my call\u2014about the West Michigan Golf Show and how it would be an honor to have him as a headliner at the next year\u2019s show. \u201cAnd of course, Mr. O\u2019Grady, I would pay you an appearance fee and all travel expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

During my pitch, he never said a word, which seemed encouraging.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I finished, and after another long pause, he said:<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, before we started talking about this Golf Show of yours in Grand Rapids, I have one big question to ask first: \u2018How the *&$#%!# <\/i>did you get this number?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Heat and fire seemed to pour like lava through the receiver.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, Mr. O\u2019Grady, a Tour caddie at last summer\u2019s Buick Open gave it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGive me the name of that caddie!\u201d<\/p>\n

More heat, fire and lava.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t remember his name,\u201d as my nose suddenly grew more in length.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil you give me that caddie\u2019s name I won\u2019t have anything more to say to you or about your &%$#!!<\/i> Golf Show!\u201d<\/p>\n

Call abruptly ended. Dial tone.<\/p>\n

No surprise, I never called him back.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ll always appreciate the quote he made to The New York Times <\/i>sports columnist <\/i>Dave Anderson in 1983 about how he\u2019d celebrate if he ever won a Tour event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m going to go back to the Q-school and tell all those guys that your happiness in life is measured by how deep sorrow has cut within you.\u201d<\/p>\n

True to your words, Mac, the call cut deep. Guess I deserved it.<\/p>\n

But I finally got over it\u2026just last week.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

photo courtesy of the PGA TOUR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As some of my golf buddies will attest, I had a brief but memorable encounter with the legendary Mac O\u2019Grady,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":3065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,7],"tags":[526,1013098,1028390,1028391,2832,2797,2833,1028393,2862,1544,6725,1036836,528004],"class_list":["post-3063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-instruction","category-personalities","tag-hank-haney","tag-big-cat-williams","tag-mac-ogrady","tag-mike-hebron","tag-terry-moore","tag-the-golfing-machine","tag-grand-rapids","tag-homer-kelley","tag-michigan-golf","tag-q-school","tag-west-michigan-golf-show","tag-pga-tour","tag-jack-berry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2020\/06\/42765CD8-D5E5-44BA-8036-294AED5ACB59_4_5005_c-e1592503564462.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3063"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3068,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3063\/revisions\/3068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}