This weekend is the 60th anniversary of the Bank of America Colonial Invitational Golf Tournament in Ft. Worth, so the sponsors have invited a number of the tournament’s former champions to this year’s event to celebrate the venerable tournament. One of those past champions is Austin’s Ben Crenshaw, who passed along a funny story about the lengendary Ben Hogan, as reported in this Steve Campbell/Chronicle article.
Hogan, of course, was one of the best ball-strikers of all-time. A self-taught player who quit school as a youth to earn money as a caddie to supplement his impoverished family’s income, Hogan was a taciturn and serious man who literally outworked his competitors by refining his skills on the driving range. Hogan lived in Ft. Worth most of his life, and ended up dominating his hometown tournament during the immediate post-WW II era, winning it five times (1946, 1947, 1952, 1953 and 1959) and coming in third as a 54 year-old in his second-to-last Colonial tournament in 1967. But for developing a case of the “yips” while putting in his later years, Hogan was such an extraordinary ball-striker that he likely would have continued to win golf tournaments well into his 50’s.
Crenshaw, on the other hand, was a product of the post-WW II boom in wealth in the United States. Growing up in a relatively wealthy family during the 1950’s and 60’s, Crenshaw developed his game on the country club circuit of Austin and then as a collegiate golfer on the University of Texas’ outstanding golf teams of the early 1970’s. Although Crenshaw developed into one of the best putters in PGA Tour history and was a gifted natural athlete, he was never considered a particularly good ball-striker and often struggled with his golf swing during extended periods of his career.

With that backdrop, Campbell passes along the following story about Crenshaw meeting up with Hogan for the first time at the Colonial:

“[Hogan] could just say things that would stop you in your tracks,” Crenshaw said. “And the way he said it ó his voice was just real authoritative. He was so emphatic about everything he said. No wasted words.”
Crenshaw said he was intimidated “every time” he was in Hogan’s presence. . . .Once, after a scrambling round at Colonial, Crenshaw went to Hogan’s home course, Shady Oaks, to practice. Hogan was hitting some balls on the range, so Crenshaw stopped to watch.

“What did you shoot?” Hogan asked.
“Sixty-five,” Crenshaw answered.

Hogan said he was about finished, that Crenshaw could hit his clubs. It didn’t take long for Crenshaw to determine Hogan had “the most unhittable clubs ever.” Spraying shots left and right, Crenshaw inwardly sighed with relief when his clubs arrived on the range. To Crenshaw’s embarrassment, he continued to spray the ball all over the lot.

“What did you say you shot?” Hogan said.
Sheepishly, Crenshaw said he’d posted a 65.
“Well, good luck to you, fella,” Hogan said, departing.

Two-time champion Lee Trevino still laughs about a champions’ dinner after Crenshaw’s second Colonial victory. Sitting at the dais, Hogan pointed at Crenshaw and said to Trevino in a stage whisper, “There’s no way he won twice here. There’s just no possible way.”
Crenshaw remembers seeing Hogan get in a car ó a 1956 black Cadillac limousine ó after the dinner. Hogan pulled up to Crenshaw, rolled down the window, said “I still don’t believe it,” and departed into the night.

Crenshaw’s story reminded me of my favorite Hogan story, which was passed along to me years ago by one of Hogan’s close friends, the late Claude Harmon. A young pro in the mid-1950’s had just worked his way on to the PGA Tour for the first time. Although the young pro idolized Hogan, he could not bring himself to introduce himself to Hogan, who was a particularly intimidating presence while working and competing at golf tournaments.
One evening during a tournament, the young pro walked into a hotel bar near the course and saw Hogan sitting alone at the bar over a drink and a smoke. The young pro finally garnered the courage to approach Hogan and introduced himself to the legendary pro. Hogan was gracious in his response, which comforted the young pro, at least temporarily.
Because the young pro was struggling with his swing at that point and he prized Hogan’s views on the golf swing, he used the chance meeting to ask Hogan a quick question about his swing.
“Mr. Hogan,” said the young pro. “Could you help me? I find that I’m hitting everything to the left and I don’t know why.” The young pro took his stance and made several practice swings while standing next to Hogan at the bar. “As you can see, It seems like I’m doing everything right in my swing, but the ball still goes left. I would really appreciate it if you could give me some advice on how I might try to correct this problem?”
Hogan took a long, last draw on his cigarette and finished off his drink. As he rose from the bar stool to leave, he turned to the young pro:
“Yeah, I’ve got some advice for you,” responded Hogan in his no-nonsense style. “Aim right.”