I am very fortunate to belong to Preston Trail, a golf club in Dallas noted for having professional and amateur players. Among them is Lee Trevino, and we actually have a bit of history.

I was working at The Haney Ranch as a club fitter in the early 90’s when I developed the Tight Lies fairway wood. I also did basic club repair and can confidently say the repair part was not going to be a career move. Some guys are handy, neat and efficient. None of those adjectives apply to me.

Hank had a young teacher by the name of Tony Trevino who would help me when my inefficiency got me behind any normal repair schedule. His name was Tony Lee Trevino, Lee’s son. When the Tight Lies was gaining a bit of a reputation at the ranch, unbeknownst to me, Tony shafted one up for his dad.

This led to a phone call one evening.

“Barney, this is Lee Trevino,” to which I responded, “Who the hell is this? It’s late and I’m tired.”  

After he reintroduced himself, it dawned on me that the caller was really Lee Trevino, arguably one of the greatest ball strikers in golf history. He went on to explain that he loved the Tight Lies and was preparing to show it to his sponsor at the time, Spaulding. He gave me his agent’s name and phone number so I’d have him available when negotiations started.

My net worth at the time qualified me for food stamps (literally), so suffice to say I eagerly waited for the call from Spaulding. I’m still waiting, a story Lee told the membership of Preston Trail at an evening function. Shall we say it not one of Spaulding’s great decisions. 

The idea of approaching a professional golfer for a game has always seemed intrusive to me, but years later at the club, Lee said “anytime” and I jumped at the chance. I had played with Tommy Bolt and Moe Norman. Now, the chance to add another one of the greatest ball strikers to the list was a like the kid in the proverbial candy store.

Related: Best Ball-Strikers (Part 1): Tommy Bolt and Moe Norman

Lee Trevino won six major championships. Here he is after winning the 1972 Open Championship, his second Claret Jug.

What was it like? How do you explain golf shots executed at a level barely comprehensible? This wasn’t Lee Trevino from the PGA Tour; this was Lee Trevino who is “no longer competitive,” explaining shots as he prepared to take his backswing.

“This calls for a baby fade … I’m going to draw this one so the ball is rolling towards the pin.”

And with every explanation, a shot as described. His drives were from the fairway, as he said, “only about 260” ( I had hit several yards ago). Every shot into the green ended up pin high, unless he wanted to be short or long for a better putt. The old, washed-up guy could only shoot 65-66 and this while giving me a tutorial on shaping the golf ball.

We’ve had several conversations about the finer points of golf shots and equipment; it’s like listening to Elon Musk talk about one of his projects. I pay really, really close attention because he’s always on the verge of going over my head.

And by the way, he plays from tees where he can still hit the irons into the greens he used to hit. He thinks 99 percent of us are tripping over our respective egos by playing back tees, trying to fit hybrids between traps. To that I say, amen!

Tom Watson

Tom Watson won eight major championships. Here he is after winning the 1983 Open Championship, his fifth and final Claret Jug.

Last alphabetically, but a man I’m proud to call a friend. Tom was on the Adams staff for many years and during that time when I was CEO we had very little contact unless it was a discussion about a particular club design.

When we first signed him, I said that unless he had a specific request we really wouldn’t be seeing much of each other. My analogy was a doctor: If I had a friend who was a doc, I wouldn’t be dropping in on an operation to see how he was doing.

That’s how I viewed playing the PGA Tour. It was his office (or in his case, his operating room) and using the staff relationship to “drop in” would be intrusive. We each had jobs to do and in a sense were close, but not physically. As a result I cannot recall many actual times on the course with Tom, but three memories come to mind.

When I first talked to him about being on staff, the plan was for me to meet him in Kansas City with our new irons for him to try — basically to see if he liked our stuff. He had already used and liked the woods.  

I flew from Dallas and met him on the range at Wolf Creek. Neither Tom nor I are much for small talk. He explained to me that he was going to hit some shots with his regular irons and the same with ours. He proceeded to open a shag bag, and using 3-to-4 different clubs he hit about 25 of the most beautiful iron shots you could imagine.

I was ready to go back to Dallas on the spot. He then took our irons and repeated the process, looked to me said, ” I could play with these,” whereupon it was over. I went back to Dallas, his agent called and we established him as our spokesman — a relationship that exists to this day. My total range exposure time was maybe 45 min.

Every year, Tom would invite his sponsors to play with him at The Greenbrier, and the first two years I went before handing it off to other employees. We were teams and he joined us for three-hole stretches. What do I remember? Leaning!

Every time he hit a shot, it was straight at the flag and I had to lean to see it land. Subsequently, we have evolved into an annual fishing trip, something we both enjoy and he doesn’t have to suffer my golf. I am not including anything on his thoughts on the golf swing. He has out an instructional package and I know he devoted a serious amount of time and effort for it to be complete.

Last year, Tom came to Dallas and I was very proud to be included in his game with George Bush (43) and a dinner afterward.

I was telling my brother about the event, and he reminded me that when I came home from college I used to hire out to muck stalls at local dairy farms. His comment: “Boy have you come a long way.” I have, and the memories and the great people are one thing the game of golf has in abundance.

If it’s a bit hokey; I don’t care. It’s the core of golf and why I fight to stop the loss of players.