‘Golf will not defeat me’

SEATTLE – Like everyone who has ever gripped a club, Tyrone Willingham can recall his best moment in golf.

“My best moment,” he remarked the other day, “was my worst moment.”

Say what?

True story, said Willingham, the head football coach at the University of Washington. “And it’s a good story,” he went on, “because it earmarks my whole passion for the game.”

It happened back in the early 1980s, when Willingham was a young assistant coach at Michigan State University. Some of his colleagues, knowing Willingham had never played golf, suggested he take up the game because college coaches are often asked to play in offseason alumni and fund-raising events.

“They said it was one of the better things I could do professionally,” he recalled, and so he agreed. Not long after, Willingham played for the first time at a course on the MSU campus. On the opening hole, a par 4, Willingham had a very beginner-like score of 14.

More than shame or chagrin, what he felt in that moment was resolve.

Right then, he said, “I knew I wanted to master this game. I said to myself, ‘Golf will not defeat me,’ because I was convinced that I could do a lot better than that.”

Twenty-five years later, Willingham has yet to master golf – no one ever does – but he has indeed done well with the game. Very well, if you consider he plays no more than three months a year.

And, again like many of us, Willingham has discovered a genuine passion for golf.

“I do enjoy the game,” he said. “I enjoy all aspects of it, including watching it on TV. I don’t gamble at the game, but I love any competitive part of it. Putting contests and any of that is good.”

Willingham plays often in the early summer, but come August his clubs go into storage until the football season ends. He may get in a round or two in the winter, usually on a coaching junket to a warm-weather site, but when spring football approaches the clubs go away again.

When he does play, though, Willingham embraces the game with all the analysis and absorption he brings to football. Often, after a meet-and-greet summer golf tournament with UW boosters, he will spend several minutes at the driving range polishing little flaws before heading to the clubhouse to shake hands.

That kind of devotion allows him usually to score from the high 70s to the mid-80s, which is impressive for someone who spends most of nine months every year not playing golf.

Of average build, the 52-year-old Willingham is not a big hitter, generally reaching 240-250 yards with his driver, 160-170 yards with a 5-iron and 100-110 yards with a sand wedge from the fairway.

“I don’t have a real strength of my game,” he said, “but when I’m playing well, I’m pretty consistent with decent length. And I keep it in play for the most part. … I’m a solid putter. When I’m playing well, it’s a solid game.”

UW athletic director Todd Turner, a onetime member of the University of North Carolina golf team and still a low handicapper, gets out with Willingham from time to time. In fact, the two met initially during a coaches convention several years ago – on a golf course.

“I watched him compete in a friendly scramble event and I came away impressed with his determination and the honorable way he approached the game,” Turner said. “At the time he was still just learning, but he treated the game with respect and an appropriate amount of dignity. He loves the tradition and the integrity of the game.”

As a player, Turner went on, Willingham “has great fundamentals and he has a terrific short game. He analyzes his swing all the time, he knows what he’s doing (wrong) and he tries to correct it.”

One mistake Willingham readily admits is a lack of proper golf instruction. Which is perhaps ironic, considering he is a coach.

“I’m one of those persons who tries, for the most part, to teach himself,” he said. “And in golf, that’s a terrible thing. What makes the game so difficult is that most of us don’t seek instruction. We believe that because that ball is not moving, we can teach ourselves. We think we can make the ball go where we want it to … but that is so far from the truth.

“Golf for me is difficult. It was difficult (as a novice) and it still is difficult. But if you can get the proper fundamentals, then you have the ability to repeat the swing over and over. Luckily, I’m getting closer to sound fundamentals now then I ever have before in my golf game, and therefore my scores are getting better.”

As long as he coaches, Willingham likely will continue to play golf sporadically. Even in his eventual retirement, he vows not to be someone “who is obsessive about golf 24 hours a day.”

“But as I grow older, I’ll still want to do something highly competitive,” he said. “And golf can be highly competitive when you’re by yourself or when you’re with a group of guys. For me, it’s a great sport to be involved with.”