D.J.'s Blog: Catching up with Bob Tway

text size

Welcome to the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines Golf Club. For the second consecutive week, we have a tournament that uses a multi-course rotation. During the first two rounds, players play on both the North and South courses. Typically, the South Course is the more challenging of the two courses, and it will host the U.S. Open in June.

D.J. Gregory

This week I was fortunate enough to spend a few days with PGA TOUR veteran Bob Tway. His rookie season on TOUR was 1985, so I found it very interesting to discuss the differences in equipment during his 23 years on TOUR. When I asked Bob how equipment changed from his rookie season in 1985 to 2005, he said. "When I was playing -- I am going to date myself here and may sound old -- but, we had wooden drivers and wooden 3-woods and pretty much the golf ball was totally different. We really didn't have much graphite shafts, so the combination of all that, the ball didn't go very far. Dan Pohl led the driving distance back then at 280 yards and I was averaging about 263. Now, guys are over 300 yards so it just changed drastically, and now they keep building more and more longer golf courses, so I've seen a big change in the 20 something years I've been out here."

When asked how he thought he could play in 2008 using his equipment from 1985 Bob said: "Well, I don't know that I would play that much different, to tell you the truth. To be quite honest, the equipment change obviously helps a little bit, but when I learned to play it was pretty much hit the middle of the face with the driver, work the ball both ways. We didn't have a 60-degree wedge back then and that's probably the number one difference. We only had 56 degree wedges so from that standpoint, it would be a little more difficult, but other then that, I would love to go back to the old equipment."

As with the other players I have had the opportunity to spend time with, I found that family is extremely important to Bob. "My main activity is probably watching my kids participate," he told me. "Any time I have a chance I go watch my son play. I don't get to watch my daughter dance as much as I probably should, but I enjoy doing that. Just watching them (my kids) is probably more important and more fun then anything else."

He also said, "I get more thrill out of watching my kids do stuff then me do stuff. I mean if I couldn't play golf anymore and only watch them (my kids) do stuff, that would be fine."

Bob's son Kevin is an accomplished amateur golfer who currently attends Oklahoma State University. I asked Bob whether he is more nervous when he is playing or when he is watching Kevin compete. He said, "No question, watching him. When he was playing the U.S. Junior and won the U.S. Junior, I had never been that nervous about anything in my life. I have never hit a golf shot anywhere close to as nervous as I was watching that last match. I wouldn't have been able to hit a shot, I couldn't have functioned.

"I remember Coach (Mike) Holder was walking around with me and he goes, 'What is wrong?' and I said, 'Coach I can't breathe.' I'm over in the woods trying to catch my breath. I mean, it was unbelievable, I've never felt anything like that in my life. Its funny, watching him in high school and stuff was not that big a deal, but that tournament, I knew what an important thing that was -- not just to say that you won it, but just, you know, you can never take that away. Winning a USGA event is just unbelievable."

I also learned that Bob is very passionate about the game of golf and loves to play and practice. I asked Bob about his 23-year PGA TOUR career and why he has been so consistent through the years. "I think the main reason is just the passion I have for the game," he said. "I enjoy working at it, and I think about it a lot. When I play poorly I get frustrated, but you go home, have a good dinner and a good night's sleep and come back and do it again."

Bob also said, "I think the fact that I just like to work at it is how I've been able to keep a consistent level of play for a long time."

I also enjoyed having the opportunity to meet Barry Williams, who is Bob Tway's caddy. Barry, ironically, at one time lived in Greensboro, N.C., where I also lived for 13 years.

Since Bob missed the 36-hole cut this week at the Buick Invitational, I followed Aaron Baddeley and Boo Weekley during round three and I followed Boo during the final round.

I found that both the North and South courses were decent walks, but not too difficult. These courses have a few hills here and there, but overall, I thought the two courses were relatively flat. Having said that, I still recorded three falls for the week. Two of my three falls this week were caused by my foot catching a tree root.

To learn more about me, please tune in to the GOLF CHANNEL on Saturday, Feb. 2 and Sunday, Feb. 3 to watch a two-part feature on me. Thank you again for all of your e-mails and support.

As I end my week here in San Diego, I would like to express my appreciation to Bob Tway for his kindness and generosity for the entire week. I would also like to send a special thank you to Brandt Snedeker and Mandy for their hospitality at dinner on Wednesday night. One final thank you for the week goes out to Boo Weekley for his generosity and hospitality at dinner during the week in Palm Desert.

I'll see everyone next week at the FBR Open in Phoenix where I will be following Jeff Quinney.