- Staff
- #1
Shelley Mayfield told me, "I played a lot of golf with Ben Hogan ... maybe more than anyone else." In this series, I share Mayfield's memories of Hogan as a golfer and a person. Along the way, I'll tell you about Mayfield and his long and rewarding life in golf. Read INTRODUCTION, Part 1, and Part 2.
WITH BEN HOGAN IN FORT WORTH and Shelley Mayfield in Dallas, the game was on.
âI remember the first time I played with Hogan at Brook Hollow,â Mayfield said.
âThe 3rd hole was a dogleg left, and itâs really a 3-wood and about a 6-iron or a 5-iron, it could be a 4-iron hole, and the green is sitting down well below you. Sometimes you canât see the pin on the green.
âHogan, when he started to hit his second shot, kept squatting and looking, squatting and looking. It didnât dawn on me at the time, but he hit his shot, and I think he hit a 4-iron, but he should have hit a 5-iron, and he hit right at the back edge of the green, right by a marker pin, a pin that they placed off the back edge of the green to show you where the green was. He thought that was the pin, so that tells you what kind of judgment of distance he had.
âHe was like a machine.â
That first Brook Hollow round sparked another memory of Hoganâs prowess.
âHeâwhich I never had any ability to do at all myselfâhe would say 278 will win this tournament. And believe me, it wasnât over one or two shots away. I donât know how he could predict it like that, but he could.
âToday, as I think back, that may have cost him a few tournaments. He was always so positive about everything. When he said 278 will win this tournament, he put that in his mind and Iâm going to shoot 278 or 277, and when he did that somebody might shoot 276 or 275.
âBut who knows?"
Shelley Mayfield played the professional tour for a few years in the mid 1950s.
âWhen I went out in â53,â Mayfield said, âI won the St. Paul Open that same year, in July.
âI played a couple winter tours. I went out in â48 and I couldnât even qualify for a tournament until I got to San Antonio. By then I knew you got to find a job and find out how to play the game. Youâve got to build two or three steps higher than where you were. I was a good player, but those guys out there could beat my brains out.
âSo I was lucky enough to find a job at Winged Foot with Claude Harmon. I worked all summer there, with Claude.
âClaude said, âShelley, you know youâre not ready yet to go back out on tour. Why donât you come down to Seminole and be my assistant down there this winter?â
âSo I said, âThatâs good. Iâd like to do that.â
âThat was a great thing for me because we had to go to work at 8 oâclock in the morning and we got off at dark. But nobody showed up until about noon. I mean, one or two people. Nobody. So that left me from eight to 12 to practice.
âClaude said, âI donât want any of my assistants hanging around the golf shop. I want them either on the practice tee, playing golf, or giving a lesson.â âHe said, âI want good players as assistants.â
âAt that time, that was unique. So he had no problem at all with me practicing four hours every morning. That kind of set the stage.
âThen I got my own job the following year at a small club called Rockaway Hunting Club on Long Island. All it had was an 18-hole golf course.
âOf course, Winged Foot was a [Albert] Tillinghast course. Rockaway Hunting was a Tillinghast course. Meadowbrook was a Tillinghast course. Actually, it wasnât when I was there because they had just run the freeway through the old Meadowbrook and moved it over. Thatâs how I got to know Dick Wilson, and built the new Meadowbrook golf course. And then Brook Hollowâthe only clubs I ever associated with were Tillinghast courses.
âI went to work there at Rockaway Hunting and was there for three years, just a wonderful little club, wonderful members. They couldnât have been nicer. I practiced late every evening. They all went to their parties and things fairly early. That left me two or three hours every evening to practice. I honed up my game. By the time I left to go on the tour, believe me, I was ready. I knew how to play golf.
âIt took me about five months, but I won my first tournament. I should have won the week before. I guess it was just because of lack of experience.â
Next time: Shelley Mayfield on tour travel and more.
Other Installments:
Playing With Hogan (Introduction)
Playing With Hogan: Shelley Mayfield, Part 1
Playing With Hogan: Shelley Mayfield, Part 2
Source: Playing With Hogan: Shelley Mayfield, Part 3
WITH BEN HOGAN IN FORT WORTH and Shelley Mayfield in Dallas, the game was on.
âI remember the first time I played with Hogan at Brook Hollow,â Mayfield said.
âThe 3rd hole was a dogleg left, and itâs really a 3-wood and about a 6-iron or a 5-iron, it could be a 4-iron hole, and the green is sitting down well below you. Sometimes you canât see the pin on the green.
âHogan, when he started to hit his second shot, kept squatting and looking, squatting and looking. It didnât dawn on me at the time, but he hit his shot, and I think he hit a 4-iron, but he should have hit a 5-iron, and he hit right at the back edge of the green, right by a marker pin, a pin that they placed off the back edge of the green to show you where the green was. He thought that was the pin, so that tells you what kind of judgment of distance he had.
âHe was like a machine.â
That first Brook Hollow round sparked another memory of Hoganâs prowess.
âHeâwhich I never had any ability to do at all myselfâhe would say 278 will win this tournament. And believe me, it wasnât over one or two shots away. I donât know how he could predict it like that, but he could.
âToday, as I think back, that may have cost him a few tournaments. He was always so positive about everything. When he said 278 will win this tournament, he put that in his mind and Iâm going to shoot 278 or 277, and when he did that somebody might shoot 276 or 275.
âBut who knows?"
* * *
Shelley Mayfield played the professional tour for a few years in the mid 1950s.
âWhen I went out in â53,â Mayfield said, âI won the St. Paul Open that same year, in July.
âI played a couple winter tours. I went out in â48 and I couldnât even qualify for a tournament until I got to San Antonio. By then I knew you got to find a job and find out how to play the game. Youâve got to build two or three steps higher than where you were. I was a good player, but those guys out there could beat my brains out.
âSo I was lucky enough to find a job at Winged Foot with Claude Harmon. I worked all summer there, with Claude.
âClaude said, âShelley, you know youâre not ready yet to go back out on tour. Why donât you come down to Seminole and be my assistant down there this winter?â
âSo I said, âThatâs good. Iâd like to do that.â
âThat was a great thing for me because we had to go to work at 8 oâclock in the morning and we got off at dark. But nobody showed up until about noon. I mean, one or two people. Nobody. So that left me from eight to 12 to practice.
âClaude said, âI donât want any of my assistants hanging around the golf shop. I want them either on the practice tee, playing golf, or giving a lesson.â âHe said, âI want good players as assistants.â
âAt that time, that was unique. So he had no problem at all with me practicing four hours every morning. That kind of set the stage.
âThen I got my own job the following year at a small club called Rockaway Hunting Club on Long Island. All it had was an 18-hole golf course.
âOf course, Winged Foot was a [Albert] Tillinghast course. Rockaway Hunting was a Tillinghast course. Meadowbrook was a Tillinghast course. Actually, it wasnât when I was there because they had just run the freeway through the old Meadowbrook and moved it over. Thatâs how I got to know Dick Wilson, and built the new Meadowbrook golf course. And then Brook Hollowâthe only clubs I ever associated with were Tillinghast courses.
âI went to work there at Rockaway Hunting and was there for three years, just a wonderful little club, wonderful members. They couldnât have been nicer. I practiced late every evening. They all went to their parties and things fairly early. That left me two or three hours every evening to practice. I honed up my game. By the time I left to go on the tour, believe me, I was ready. I knew how to play golf.
âIt took me about five months, but I won my first tournament. I should have won the week before. I guess it was just because of lack of experience.â
Next time: Shelley Mayfield on tour travel and more.
Other Installments:
Playing With Hogan (Introduction)
Playing With Hogan: Shelley Mayfield, Part 1
Playing With Hogan: Shelley Mayfield, Part 2
Source: Playing With Hogan: Shelley Mayfield, Part 3