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Timeout with Billy Casper
Billy Casper, the winner of 51 tournaments on the PGA Tour, helped form Billy Casper Golf in 1989. The company is based in Vienna and manages nearly 80 golf courses and driving ranges across the country.Casper, 76, lives in Chula Vista, Calif. but visited Reston National Golf Course - one of the clubs the company manages - last week. After meeting with employees for dinner, Casper showcased his short game skills at the practice green for patrons. Before that, however, Casper sat down with the Times for an interview.
The winner of two U.S. Opens and one Masters title, Casper talked about the company and his thoughts on how golf has changed, and also told a story about his idol, Ben Hogan.
Q: What are the origins of Billy Casper Golf?
A: In the early 1980s, Bobby Morris was with Pro Serve, and contacted me. He was my manager and later on, he decided to leave Pro Serve and start a company called Pinnacle. He said, 'You think I should do it?' I said, 'Sure. You got me.'
I was involved with golf course design in the Phoenix area, and we did approximately 35 golf courses for Dell Webb in the Southwest, as far east as one in Chicago. Three in Texas. Then there got to be so many people involved in golf course design that my partner decided that he wanted to go on his own because he couldn't accept a lot of the deals that were available for remakes and things because our fees were too high.
So we separated ways and, because there were more and more golf courses coming on, and more and golf courses were struggling with financial problems, the company was formed with Bob Morris, Peter Hill and myself.
We went from struggling in the first few years to where we are today, where we manage 75-80 golf courses. I think in the first couple years there weren't more than a handful.
I have never been involved in the day-to-day work. My contribution is the use of my name, and doing things like I am doing today, where I visit several of our facilities and make acquaintance with the people that run and operate the facility, the members and the people that are in the area, to develop a relationship.
Several years ago, we had the opportunity to give a presentation to the Forestry Service in Cook County (Ill)., near Chicago. We manage 10 of their golf courses, plus two driving ranges. We manage seven facilities in Cincinnati, Ohio for the city fathers there. Those are our two biggest of managing, but we manage courses all over.
Q: Are you surprised by the company's rapid growth?
A: I think it can be attributed to the people that work with us and for us. They are given great tools from the upper echelon of the company to operate and carry on the business of managing the golf courses. Our whole key is to upgrade the golf courses, condition-wise. Also, to treat people as if they were royalty when they come to play. We want the people to come back.
The first time I went to Chicago, the Roger Detton course was a very fine golf course. A lot of people were playing it and the conditions went downhill tremendously. A lot of people stopped playing it. We took over, and rebuilt the condition of the golf course because it is such a great golf course. When I was there, four men came up to me and said, 'We're members down the road. We used to play here all the time because we love the golf course. We're back because the conditions are so great, and the reception we receive from the people here makes it worthwhile for us to come back.'
I get that all the time. I walked in at Augusta [National] two years ago, walked through the front door, and there was one of the security men that had been there for years. He said, 'I just came from Hawaii and I played your course out on the north island of Hawaii, and they treated us like royalty. It was the most unbelievable experience I ever had in my life.'
I get this all the time from people. These guys are doing a great job for us, and that's why we have a reputation in the business, and that's why we're growing.
Q: There is a quote from you on the Billy Casper Golf Web site. It reads: 'The people who read this company are the best people in golf.' What does that mean?
A: We just had lunch with all the young people that have worked in the office. We used to have four or five in the office; now we have over 40. They enjoy working because of the atmosphere. And, the atmosphere only comes from the leaders. The leaders are very conscious of creating this atmosphere that Billy Casper [Golf] has established through the years. They're excited to be there.
I said to the leaders today, 'All of this is being done because these people enjoy what they're doing, but it comes from you and what you have established for them.'
If you treat people right, they want to be around you. That's basically what that quote means.
Q: After your successful career as a professional golfer, is it rewarding to be a part of a golf course management company?
A: I don't think I ever had any concept that I would ever be in the golf course management business, years ago. But as you go through your life, and you are given the talent and skill that you have success with, you come to the realization of how fortunate you are and that you want to create avenues whereby you could bring enjoyment and satisfaction to other people as well, whether they participate on our golf courses, or if they work for us. We have over 3,000 employees.
Q: I heard something about a story about you, Ben Hogan and putting. Can you expand on it?
A: I started caddying when I was 11. We used to take our putters to the golf course - we had a little putting course in the caddy pen and we putted for nickels, dimes and quarters. But after the day was over and it got dark, we always carried our putters home with us.
We always stopped on one of the greens and putted in the dark. What you would do is walk up to where you could see the hole, and then you would walk backwards to where you were gonna putt from. You kept the position of the hole in your subconscience.
You'd go back and you'd make the putt and you'd be surprised at how close you'd come to holing the putt because you had it embedded in your subconscience. So this is where this putting all started with me. Developing this touch and feel was putting in the dark.
I was always a good putter because of that. When I went out on the tour, I had some success so I got an invitation to play in the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas. It was Ben Hogan's home course, and there was memorabilia there. It was really inspiring to walk in the front door and look at all these trophy cases. And, it was very special for me because Hogan was my idol.
So one of the days of the practice round, I was walking from the pro shop to the locker room, and here comes Hogan. It was sort of a long corridor and I could see him coming and I was scared to death. I wanted to hide but I couldn't find any place to hide. I finally got to him and I said to him, 'Good morning Mr. Hogan.'
And in only Hogan's way he said, 'Good morning.'
He took a couple steps, and he turned around and said, 'You're Billy Casper, aren't ya?'
I said, 'Yes sir.'
He said, 'You've been playing some mighty fine golf.'
That's how we started. He had an admiration for me because of my golf. The next time I saw Hogan was later that year. There was a tournament being played in upstate New York - it was in Westchester County - it was called the Round Robin. It was sponsored by Palm Beach. There were 16 players, you played all four days with three different players. You compiled points on the score that you shot. The lowest score got one point from each player that you beat. Every player played every player in the four days and the one that had the most points was the one that won the tournament.
Fred Hawkins, Dow Finsterwald, Ben Hogan and myself all played. At the end of the round, Hawkins had shot 67, I had shot 68, Finsterwald had shot 71 and Hogan had shot 70. So as we're walking to the clubhouse, Hogan says to Hawkins and I, 'If you two guys couldn't putt, I'd be buying hot dogs from you on the 10th tee. Everything went away and the next morning when I arrived at the locker room, I walked in and Hogan was on the other side of the locker room. I said, 'Good morning Mr. Hogan.' He said, 'Come here Billy.'
So I went over and he asked me how I putted. He asked for a lesson. He is my idol and he is asking me how I putted. That was our relationship. He was the type of person that selected the people that he wanted, and I was one of them.
It was unbelievable. Just for him to even speak to me was unbelievable. It was unbelievable for him to tell ya, 'You've been playing some great golf.' Wow. Double wow.
Q: What do you think of all the new high-tech golf equipment available these days?
A: I think it's great. I think what it's done is it's brought such enjoyment to the average player. I think the professional is an athlete today, where he wasn't in our time. We didn't go to the gym and train.
I once stayed with Gary Player when he came over and we went out to dinner. When we came back, I got the TV on and he's on the floor doing push-ups. He said, 'Billy! Do you do any exercise?' I said, 'Yeah! Let's go to bed' [As he said that, Casper pounded his belly with both hands].
So these guys are athletes today, and they have the technology that is unbelievable. When I started there were four shafts. Now there are 200 shafts. We had a balata golf ball, just a few years later the solid ball came into existence. Your manufacturer, you saw maybe four times a year. If you wanted any work done, you had to go to the plant.
There wasn't much technology, there wasn't much research going on. Now, there are trailers that carry all the equipment for the players on tour today at every tournament. There are several trailers. The manufacturer's rep is out there day in and day out. They're right with you all the time. They've got the technicians and the engineers that are perfecting all kinds of golf equipment for the masses, as well as for the professional. The golf ball is the greatest golf ball that's ever been made. They've got a dimple configuration that the ball won't come out of the sky. If you can generate the clubhead speed, it's gonna stay in the sky.
That's why guys are hitting 8-irons 170, 180 yards. They're so strong that they can generate the clubhead speed and they go to train like mad. They generate this clubhead speed that they get the ball in the air and they keep it in the air. And, if the average player can generate the clubhead speed, and there are devices that he can use ... The game of golf has really improved tremendously, but I think it's improved more for the average player than the professional.
Q: When you were playing on tour, did you envision golf to make this technology leap? And did you think players would work out as much as they do now?
A: We thought lifting weights was the worst thing you could do. The golf swing is not natural because when I reach for the ball, I reach this way [gesturing out with his arms]. And when you're hitting a golf ball, you're hitting this way. So it's against your muscle tone. We figured if you start lifting weights in the way that you normally do, you were destroying your muscle tone the other way. That's what it revolved around.
To make things even better is there are people that are dedicated to club fitting today. You can go to an individual, go through a series of tests to find out exactly what loft, what lie, what weight, what shaft, everything. You can learn everything to make it more appealing.
These guys are the ones that make it enjoyable for the players to come out and use those things which are helping them to play better golf, to make it more enjoyable for them. What a beautiful formula it is. To me, it is a beautiful formula today. The equipment, the club fitters, the professionals, the people that run and operate the facilities. And, I can tell ya, that if people are not getting service at a facility, they won't come back and play. Or, if money is not being put into the golf course to improve conditions of the golf course, they won't come back and play.
People talk to me about it all over. So it's just not here; it's everywhere.
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