The value of experience
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- May
- 28
It is maybe fitting that on the same week that Johnson Wagner missed his sixth consecutive cut on the PGA Tour, his teacher Bobby Heins persevered through back spasms to make the cut for the third time in four tries in the Senior PGA Championship.
I say fitting because student and pupil are approaching tournament golf from two entirely different perspectives, and yet it underscores what the 27-year-old Wagner may be struggling with right now.
With a world of talent at his disposal, the Garrison product is now confronting the inevitable wall that many young players come across in their rookie season. His season started brilliantly, and yet now it seems like he can’t catch a break, routinely fading on days when he needs to be moving in the other direction. There are invariably some swing flaws to be corrected, and his putter surely isn’t cooperating as well. But what he really needs is to simply learn how to grind it out even when he doesn’t have it.
That’s where Heins come in. After his back gave out earlier in the week, the 56-year-old Old Oaks Country Club head pro could barely pull the club back at times at Kiawah Island. The difference is he knows how to get by without all your tools at your disposal.
It’s something you usually learn over time. And fortunately for Wagner, that’s something he has plenty of.
This entry was posted
on Monday, May 28th, 2007 at 12:54 pm by Sam Weinman.
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