With his 70th birthday awaiting him on Wednesday, Hale Irwin realizes the odds of adding to his record win total on the Champions Tour (45) are long. But his renowned competitiveness simply won’t allow him to close that door completely, even though no one older than 63 has won on the circuit.
“To say I can’t win, I’d never say that,” the World Golf Hall of Famer said on Monday in a visit to Colorado, where he grew up and started making a name for himself. “I’ll retire before saying I can’t win.”
Still, there are ways of further building on a legacy that have nothing to do with adding to his record with further victories. That’s where Monday came in. Without question the finest golfer to grow up in Colorado, Irwin came to CommonGround Golf Course to do what he can to pass along some of his values and experience to an up-and-coming generation of talented young golfers.
Specifically, the three-time U.S. Open champion put on a short-game clinic and conducted a Q&A for about 250 people on the eve of the inaugural AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, presented by MusclePharm. The 54-hole tournament will be contested at CommonGround Tuesday through Thursday.
Asked in an interview later if he felt good about the career he’s had and what he’s accomplished, Irwin said, “I would feel better if we could take this particular event and turn it into something very special for these kids. And hopefully they’ll go out and work in their communities at some point in time and do the same thing and we can grow it exponentially. These kids are our future. It’s not us standing here. If we can help formulate a better citizen — a contributing person to our future — then we’ve done our job.”
Indeed, at some point in the careers of most successful and well-meaning people, their attention turns increasingly toward giving back and doing what they can to effect positive change in the younger generation. And so it is with Irwin. If he can use his influence as a golfer who has won 20 times on the PGA Tour, 45 times on the Champions Tour, an NCAA title, and four Colorado state amateurs, all the better.
On Monday, he was giving some instructions to AJGA competitors and others in attendance about how to be successful at golf. He was also conveying messages about what it takes to be a person of integrity who contributes to society in a larger sense.
“I hope I can pass on at least some of the things I’ve been able to learn through all these years being around golf and the people associated with golf,” Irwin said. “If there’s a lesson to be learned about yourself, I’m sure you can learn it in the game of golf.”
Asked what he hopes the junior players take away from events such as Monday’s, Irwin said, “Be positive about themselves, be positive about things. You can get so caught up in the negativity surrounding what’s happening in the world. Their world right now is golf. As they get older, it’ll expand; it’ll become something else. When you learn as a young person to stay connected to yourself — be true to yourself and do the right things, make the right decisions — then as an adult you’re going to be a contributing citizen rather than maybe being a drag.”
That certainly fits in with the message that the CGA and CWGA tries to impart through their youth programming at CommonGround like the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy, the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program (at bottom Hale posed with current Elite Players) and other community initiatives. (Not coincidentally, Hale’s son Steve, beyond being one of the state’s better amateur golfers, also serves on the CGA board of governors.)
But while Irwin and event organizers hope such messages sink in, the Boulder High School and CU graduate also had plenty of helpful tips to convey regarding becoming a better golfer per se and managing expectations. For instance, Irwin told the story about when he was approaching the end of his CU days, he was trying to figure out the best career path for himself. Using his marketing career and going into business was one option. Pro football was another, as he was an All-Big Eight defensive back, though that option was less likely to play out. And then there was professional golf.
“I made this pact with myself that I had to win a major tournament outside the state of Colorado so that it would convince me that I could play on a national level,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to win the NCAA tournament my senior year (1967), and that was the catalyst that got me out there and got me through an eight-round, six-day qualifying event (for the PGA Tour).
“And once I got to the Tour there were some really good players out there, and you have to learn how to play with those guys. I went out and I watched other really good players. I watched Jack Nicklaus, I watched Arnold Palmer, I watched Gary Player, Lee Trevino. And I adapted what I could to my game.”
And the rest is history as Irwin won the Sea Pines Heritage Classic in 1971 for his first PGA Tour victory and captured U.S. Open titles in 1974, ’79 and ’90, becoming the oldest Open champ with the last of those wins, at age 45.
Irwin’s last victory on the Champions Tour came in early 2007, and age, ailments and various other interests likely will lead to him playing considerably fewer Tour events in the not-too-distant future.
“The older I get, the less focused I become, the more interest I have in watching my granddaughter and spending time with my family,” he said. “That’s more important to me than golf right now.
“I’m not looking to break myself playing anymore. Playing badly is not fun. I’ve played at such a high level for a long period of time, and that’s what I’ve grown to accept. To accept anything else, in my world, I’m accepting less than what I’m telling these kids to do.
“What I want to do is go through the summer as best I can, and if these (muscle) issues don’t work themselves out, then next year I’m going to really slow it down. I think it’s time to start enjoying those things I’ve talked about — the people, my family — and start taking advantage of a few trips that my wife and I have put off for so many years and leave the golf clubs behind. There are places we’d like to go and see and do that I don’t get to do because I’ve been so busy all these years.”