David Games Interview

Great question lag, used an anser variant all my life but toying with the idea of a blade, and weighting it up. its an itch thats gonna have to get scratched!!!

Yes Lag, a lot of my glory days were with the 8802. Although it’s especially true with that putter,but even with a face balanced putter, I feel the head of the putter “swing”.
I try not to manipulate the path much, but “let” it arc with a sense of lag in the shaft actually. Most putters will swing, and arc inside to inside if you just let 'em. Simply applying some compression to the the ball, letting it turn down and left as opposed to guided “square” (probably part ala Locke) gives the most solid hits, whereby you learn to control speeds best, which is to me by far the most important aspect of putting.

Craig, like your comments. Aren’t most things about “attitude”. :sunglasses:

Cleaning out the attic last weekend I found these in a shoe box of childhood golf memorabilia…

Notice the guy finishing 4th this week

A rare week with someone else holding the trophy…

So a funny story about Cathy Hanlon (pictured above)

Cathy was actually on my high school golf team. She would later finish runner up in the 1982 US Women’s Amateur losing to Julie Inkster. She then went on to play the LPGA Tour for many years.

So she also played at my home course Palos Verdes CC, and when I was 16, I played Cathy in the final round of our Junior Club Championship. I had won it easily going away the year before, and no one thought the final would be much of a match. I remember being two up early on, and thinking I didn’t want to bury her too badly. Big mistake. She starts making birdies, and I didn’t and through the 15th hole she has me one down! We both par 16 and I catch an iron heavy off a sidehill lie on 17 and land in the front greeside bunker. She pars and wins the match! :smiling_imp: I was hitting the ball 40 yards by her all day… but this is a very tricky layout and all about position and angles as David here talked about.

On a side note… regarding Cathy at the US AM… the very next year, another gal from our home course WON the 1983 US Am. That being Joanne Pacillo. Incredible really when you think about this. With all the courses in the country, and great female players… what are the odds of that happening?

But this little golf course PVCC really prepared a golfer to deal with small sloping greens, sidehill lies on every shot, and stiff winds coming off the Pacific. PGA Tour winner Mark Pheil also played out of PVCC when I was there. We had a couple other good college players at that time playing on scholarship at UCLA, John Perless, Ken Tanagawa and Kevin Leach. All these guys had won tournaments of substantial recognition at one time or another. It was just a real players club… more about golf than clubhouse amenities. I remember the head pro Jerry Zar Monday qualifying into the LA Open at Riviera.
Just a pick up game around the club and you were playing with guys who could shoot 66 hitting persimmon and balata.
It makes you a better player being around that kind of environment.

On a final note… if you ever watch the Hogan bio pic film “Follow the Sun”. Hogan’s action shots where filmed at PVCC.
Some of the elder members around at that time followed Hogan around the course. Apparently legend has it that one of the members asked Ben on the 6th tee, “What is the toughest tee shot on this course for you?” Ben replied, “This one right here”. No further explanation was given. We don’t know if it was the 6th which requires a draw up the hill for the back right pin placement of if it was just Ben suggesting whatever shot you are facing at the time is the toughest shot. To this day it is anyone’s guess.

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Cool story Lag. Funnily enough I knew Ken Tanigawa quite well first meeting him when I had won the Australian section and he had won the North America section of the Doug Sanders event and we played off in the World Final in Aberdeen Scotland (1984)
I was also fortunate to grow up on an array of amazing golf courses in Melbourne. My home course-Rossdale- was not one of the major courses in the area but it was very narrow with a few dog legs to be shaped around. It had scrub and bushes and trees that allowed for lost balls or chip outs if you did in fact find your ball. The greens were small by regular standards so iron play had to be precise and you had to be a good chipper because greens were hard to hit. It was a perfect golf course to learn the art of playing golf on. The Australian PGA Championship was held there in 1962 & 1963 when it was matchplay. Billy Dunk won there one of those years and Alan Murray beat Frank Phillips in the final the other year. All excellent players that were shotmakers
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I got to hunt down David Games again…

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I read David grew up playing golf at the Compton Par 3. A few years back I played in their Men’s Club…oh the stories. Anyway, I saw he did instruct in Long Beach, at my home course, around 2011. Any ideas where he’s teaching today?

According to Yelp, David Games is teaching at Los Amigos GC in Downey, CA, where he shot the course record of 62 at the age of 14. Funny thing, the course is right down the street from my place of work.