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Bobby Bowden....The Golfer: By Doug Bell
Bobby Bowden…..The Golfer
By Doug Bell
As I sat in Bobby Bowden’s office in the end zone of Doak Campbell stadium in Tallahassee which overlooks the field that bares his name you can’t help but notice several things. A lifetime of memories hang on the walls and sit on tables and shelves. There are National Championship trophies, coach of the year awards, pictures with Heisman trophy winners Chris Weinke and Charlie Ward, just about every book ever written about Bear Bryant, not to mention, a huge leather golf bag in the corner, with putters leaning up against the wall, not to mention an autographed picture of Coach Bowden and Arnold Palmer, arms around each other, after they played in the pro-am event several years ago at the Champions Tour event in Birmingham. I was there to talk with the Birmingham native before the UAB game in which I was announcing the next day for ESPNU, but as we talked about his team, and prospects for the season, our conversation turned to golf, thanks in part, because that’s were my mind is always headed. You see, earlier in the summer, I had the opportunity to play with the 78 year old coaching legend at Limestone Springs in Oneonta. It’s all part of his annual pilgrimage through the states of Florida and Alabama, which raises money for his beloved Florida State University and the Kenny Morgan scholarship fund he and his childhood friends set up in the name of their beloved Woodlawn high school football coach.
At 78 years of age, it’s hard to imagine the coach playing golf 53 outings in a row, but it’s become a ritual, which not only keeps him close to family and friends, but gets his body acclimated for another go round of 2-a-day practices in the sweltering Tallahassee August heat. “We start in the middle of April, and play just about every day through May and mid-June, that’s how we raise money at Florida State. I do 25 dinners, it’s in my contract, play golf in the morning, have a banquet at night, that’s how we raise money”, the coach explained. It goes without saying, that he has grown to love the game,and it clearly ranks second behind football. “I do love it, it’s about the only recreation I’ve got. I don’t hunt or fish, I get about three months of golf and I really enjoy it, but about July it’s no fun anymore”, as he bellows that hearty Bowden laugh, which has become one of his most recognized idiosyncrasies.
Different from many of his coaching counterparts, who are competitive on the golf course, Coach Bowden is a recreational golfer, who enjoys playing with his childhood friend Deacon Jones, who explained to me before the round at Limestone Springs, that the paradise rule would be in effect. Basically, that means you can take a mulligan on any shot that seems appropriate. As Deacon explained, “It takes cheating out of the equation” which draws another belly laugh from the all-time winningest coach in college football history. “I started out , hate to say, shooting in the hundreds, then I got down to the 90’s, and just now getting them into the high 80’s. At the end of the summer, I might be in the mid 80’s, unless I get a real short course. It has to be short, I can’t hit it very far anymore. Distance is my biggest problem. They’ve got me playing up about as close as I can play. If I play any closer, I’d be wearing a skirt.”
The coach and his buddies always play a round at Roebuck golf course in Birmingham, which is right down the street from the house he grew up in, and still owns to this day. “ We’ve been doing it since 1978, haven’t missed a summer, we raise money for the Kenny Morgan thing, put a few kids through college with that, I really enjoy it. I think we all find this as we grow older, there’s no place like home, no place like home.” Even though he grew up down the street from a public course, and Birmingham is a city that loves golf, Bobby never even thought about playing as a young man. “No, I never played until I was about 30. I was a life guard and coaching at South Georgia College and the golf course was next to the pool, and I’d watch these guys play everyday so I’d go out and start hitting balls. The biggest mistake I made was I taught myself and if I had to do it all over again, I would have started with lessons, learn how to do it right”.
Coach Bowden is a delight to spend any amount of time with, but especially on the golf course, where you get to hear golf and footballs stories for 4 hours. Many of the stories have been embellished over the years, and most of them have been told hundreds of times, but it never seems to matter, especially to those closest to him. “You remember when you were a kid and used to wait for Christmas”, says Jones, a lefthander who always asks Coach for a comment after his shot,” that’s the way I am, and I think all the other guy’s agree, we just really look forward to Bobby coming home. It’s hard to believe he puts up with us, and we appreciate it, but it’s like Christmas.”
Back in his office, I find myself sitting on a leather sofa, and I have to ask about fellow Alabama native and long time defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews, who has one of the most famous scowls in all of college football. I had to mention that I couldn’t imagine Mickey having the right temperament for golf, which draws another belly laugh from Coach Bowden, “He’s got 2 temperaments, gentleman and get out of the way. He doesn’t play much golf. He’s had both hips replaced, and was playing lots of golf until those hips were replaced, and that’s slowed him down”.
I couldn’t help but notice the autobiography “Bear” on his desk, and I wondered if he had ever played a round of golf with his coaching idol. After taking the F.S.U. job in 1976, he invited the Alabama coach to Tallahassee to play in a charity golf tournament. “My plan was to get Coach Bryant to agree to play us again in football. Apparently he had not forgotten the game from 2 years before, when they beat us 8-7, on a last second field goal in Tuscaloosa. As long as I’m A.D. at Alabama, we ain’t playing ya’ll, he told me, and that was that”.
There have been so many rounds of golf and so many memories. The huge leather bag that bears his name in cursive writing sits in the corner with putters and drivers that have been given to him as momentos.
More to come at a course near you.
