GOLF Originals shouldn’t be a PBS manufacturing, however we’re going to steal a PBS line right here anyhow: This sequence is made attainable by the assist of Callaway and its CEO, Chip Brewer.
So far, GOLF Originals has allowed viewers such as you to see David Feherty, Tom Doak, Mike Whan, Brandel Chamblee and Padraig Harrington in (we hope!) new and fascinating methods. And right here, in Episode 6, we deliver you O. Gordon Brewer Jr., alongside his namesake son, OHGORDON3, aka Chip.
So, sure, we’re aiming our digicam at our patron and, extra straight, his father. We accomplish that with pleasure. OGB is the OG. He’s certainly one of golf’s secret legends, just like the late Sandy Tatum or Adolphus (Golf Ball) Hull. Gordon is an authentic.
Gordon Brewer grew up in a sure ma’am working household — little leisure time, few frills, church on Sundays — in Winston-Salem, N.C. He discovered his approach to golf by going to a mom-and-pop driving vary whereas attending Guilford Faculty in Greensboro on a basketball scholarship. A decade later, he was a husband, a father, a rising company govt — and among the best amateurs in a metropolis, Philadelphia, that’s loaded with them.
Gordon performed in 42 USGA occasions, together with six U.S. Senior Opens, and gained the U.S. Senior Newbie twice. He was the Pine Valley president for a decade after which some. He was on the USGA board of administrators for years and gained the Bob Jones Award, the USGA’s highest honor, in 2009. Tiger Woods gained it this 12 months, for his taking part in report and his education-centered philanthropy. Gordon acquired it for his taking part in report and his golf-to-the-core integrity. There’s quite a lot of Bob Jones in O. Gordon, and a few Ben Hogan, too. He doesn’t want quite a lot of phrases.
I first met Mr. Brewer in 1988, at Pine Valley. His golf was extraordinary and so was he, exact in each means. Gordon was even par by 13. Even and quiet. On 14, a protracted, downhill par-3 over a pond, he rinsed his tee shot and uttered (just about) his first phrases of the spherical. It was a query for his caddie: “What did you say the yardage was?” Adopted by, “I hit the incorrect membership.”
Darren Riehl/GOLF
However probably the most telling factor in regards to the spherical got here earlier than we performed our first photographs. (No mulligans. PV shouldn’t be a breakfast ball sort of place.) I used to be a reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer then. On the day of our sport, there was a front-page story I had written a few 15-year-old Philadelphia highschool scholar and soccer participant who had been stabbed to loss of life by one other scholar outdoors their faculty, Frankford Excessive. “It made me cry,” Mr. Brewer mentioned.
Golf at its finest informs your world. The world as it’s and correctly informs each facet of Gordon’s life. You’ll hear the phrase integrity typically on this 10-minute mini-doc. There’s a telling story in it, father and son taking part in in an occasion at Pine Valley, and father calling a penalty on his son and educating him a lesson, one which has knowledgeable each facet of Chip’s life since then.
In a way of talking, Callaway’s assist of this sequence is a wee reward to this sport, serving to us discover fascinating lives and fascinating folks within the sport, in fascinating locations. (We shot Feherty in Las Vegas. We shot the Brewers in Pine Valley, N.J.) I solely want Sandy Tatum and Golf Ball have been nonetheless alive. They might have been nice for this sequence. When you’ve got ideas of individuals we should always characteristic, please ship them my means, well-known or not. I’m attempting to get the retired lefthander CC Sabathia now. I do know from speaking to him that golf has improved each facet of his life. Gordon Brewer would say the identical. It’s a place to begin for lots of issues, together with a spot on this sequence.
Attempt to comprise your self as you watch him play pitch photographs on this video. He’s 88! The rhythm! Exhausting to think about pitching it with higher rhythm at any age.
Gordon loves baseball, basketball, golf, competitors. His son and his daughter and his lengthy, lengthy marriage have all been enriched and formed by golf and its values. Some would snicker at that sentence, however these individuals are not, as an previous editor used to say, of golf. Gordon is. I as soon as launched Gordon to a baseball lifer named Joe Pignatano. He was a Brooklyn Dodger and Los Angeles Dodger who hit right into a triple play in his closing at-bat. When Gordon, then the membership president, approached us, I believed we could be in hassle for sluggish play, for loud play, for one thing. Nothing of the sort. Gordon shook Joe’s hand, they usually talked about Koufax.
Topgolf is a big a part of Callaway’s enterprise immediately. I bear in mind Chip telling me about Topgolf years in the past, underneath the tree at Augusta. It didn’t sound like a match for Callaway to me. Reveals you why I sort for a dwelling. Chip knew how his father discovered his approach to golf, by the use of a driving vary with somewhat stash of baked-out golf equipment. It did the job. Now think about a driving vary with good balls, new golf equipment and chilly beer?
The daddy might see the entire thing. He knew from his personal life and occasions: If you may get folks to golf, it’s an excellent factor. Right here’s Gordon.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your feedback at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com.
