You have probably never heard of the "fan grand slam". That makes sense as it is a term made up by our middle son Kevin, who has a different perspective on almost everything. Maybe you haven't even heard of the "golf grand slam". Stick with me and we can explore both.
The term grand slam in golf was first coined by the Atlanta Journal's O.B. Keeler who borrowed the phrase from the game of bridge. Keeler who was a personal friend, mentor and supporter of Bobby Jones, used the term in 1930 to describe Jones' incredible golf achievement. That year Jones won four tournaments - the US Amateur, the US Open, the British Amateur and the Open (often referred to as the "British Open" by everyone but the British who consider it The Open). You may recognize that these four golf tournaments are not what currently constitutes golf's grand slam (more on this later). You may even feel this is not all that significant given two of the four events are for amateurs only. That would be wrong. In the years leading up to and including the 1930s, most of the top golfers in the world (the world of golf at this point meant the US and Great Britain) were in fact, amateurs. They were mainly rich white guys who pursued golf and competitive golf for the love of the game. Most of these "gentlemen" would never sully the game by taking prize money. In fact, professional golf was considered a "low class" and somewhat sleazy profession. At the time, most club professionals would not be allowed in their own course's clubhouse and certainly not into the men's locker room or dining room. Many of the emerging golf professionals made their money by touring the US and playing exhibition matches against top local players (often amateurs). At these matches, the amateur competitors would be allowed into the clubhouse but the professionals would not. Professional golf and golfers really did not emerge as a force until initially Walter Hagen and eventually Ben Hogan. All this to say is that the competition in the four golf tournaments listed above was real and fierce. Jones' accomplishment was significant. Keeler borrowed a description in the New York Sun to characterize Jones' performance - This victory, the fourth major title in the same season and in the space of four months, had now and for all time entrenched Bobby Jones safely within the 'Impregnable Quadrilateral of Golf,' that granite fortress that he alone could take by escalade, and that others may attack in vain, forever.
Interestingly, although he loved golf Bobby Jones struggled with competitive golf. Early in his career, he felt he was underachieving. Considered by many the greatest golfer of all time, he actually struggled to win tournaments. Jones missed his wife and children when away for tournaments. He also suffered from incredible anxiety before significant events which caused sleepless nights and painful stomach issues. He would often lose 20 pounds during a golf tournament and return home weak and unhealthy. Because of this, Jones and Keeler started talking about Jones winning the four golf tournaments in a calendar year, as a way to end his competitive golf career. Jones surmised that if he could do this, he would be able to say there was nothing left for him to accomplish in golf. After winning the four events in 1930, he did in fact retire from competitive golf.
Jones went on to design August National Golf Club and was the initial host of the Masters Tournament. An interesting part of Jones' Augusta design was that he wrote a booklet that described how he wanted the course to be played in terms of risk/reward and specifically the clubs he expected that players would hit to get onto the green. This direction from Jones still dominates Augusta thinking today and largely explains why Augusta National keeps moving the tees back to lengthen the course. They are trying to maintain Jones's original design. This also explains why Augusta National has been supportive of "rolling back the golf ball". Essentially limiting the distance the players can hit their drivers to maintain the integrity of the Jones' Augusta design. One last story about Bobby Jones which I got to experience personally. I have had the opportunity to play East Lake GC in Atlanta, Georgia four times (more on this later). East Lake is now the home of the Players' Championship. Inside the pro shop at East Lake is the locker that the club gave Jones when he won his first US Open. It is the same as everyone else's at the time, a basic metal locker. However, for winning the US Open they gave him two lockers side by side and pulled out the divider so he had a double locker. Hmmm, that's nice but this year's winner of the US Open will take home $3.6M USD ... double locker or ...
The modern definition of the grand slam, the Masters, the US Open, The Open and the PGA could not really be applied until 1934 the first year of the Masters. The tournaments still really did not carry much weight in 1953 when Ben Hogan won the Masters, the US Open and The Open. That year it was impossible to win all four tournaments as the PGA preceded and overlapped The Open. Ben Hogan is the only person to win these three major tournaments in the same calendar year.
In 1960 Arnold Palmer won the Masters and the US Open. According to his autobiography, A Golfer's Life, he and his friend Bob Drum (of the Pittsburgh Press), while on the trans-Atlantic flight to The Open Championship at St Andrew's, came up with the idea of the "Grand Slam". They decided that winning the Masters, the US Open, the Open and the PGA Championship titles would constitute a modern Grand Slam. Drum spread the notion among the gathered media and it caught on. Interestingly Palmer failed to win the career grand slam, never winning the PGA.
Tiger has come the closest to replicating Bobby Jones's accomplishment by completing what many refer to as the "Tiger" Slam. In 2000 Tiger won the US Open, The Open and the PGA. He then went on to win the 2001 Masters meaning he held all four major titles. There was much debate about whether this in fact constituted the Grand Slam or required a different designation (the Tiger Slam). Prior to Tiger winning the 2001 Masters Fred Couples was quoted as saying "I don't know how I can put it more simply . . . if he wins all four, it's a Slam." I tend to agree - Tiger accomplished the Grand Slam.
It amazes me that only five golfers have won the career grand slam. Does that not seem low to you? I guess it just reinforces how significant an accomplishment it is when a golfer wins his first major event. (it also ensures that you get off the "greatest golfer to never win a major list"). The list of golfers who have not accomplished the career grand slam is long and famous. Arnold Palmer, Phil Mickelson, Johnny Miller, Roy McIlroy, Jordan Speith (presumably the last two still have a shot at getting the job done). Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods are the only five golfers to complete the career grand slam. Nicklaus and Tiger have each one the 4 events 3 times so have completed 3 career grand slams. Wow! Clearly, it is an incredible accomplishment when you are part of something only five people have done in the world of professional golf and I would argue in sports overall.
I don't contend that completing the "fan grand slam" is nearly the same level of accomplishment. I had previously attended the Masters and the PGA. In the summer of 2022 Teresa and I were fortunate to attend the 150th playing of The Open at St. Andrews. On returning from our vacation Kevin said "Dad, all you need to do is attend the US Open and you will have completed the fan grand slam". A challenge was born. The 2023 US Open was to be held at Los Angeles Golf and Country Club and Teresa's sister lives in Malibu - 2023 seemed the perfect time to complete the fan grand slam.
Here is my fan grand slam experience.
I spent most of my business career at IBM. It was shortly after I was appointed an executive that I realized there was an opportunity to host customers at the Masters. I was going to get to attend the Masters, all expenses paid and it would be considered part of my job? That seemed crazy but I was certainly up for it. The incredible bonus was that everything IBM did for customers was always first class (in fact if there is something above first class that is how IBM did customer events). Being one of the few corporate sponsors of the Masters, IBM had unique access and privileges at the event. The first Masters I attended was in 1999 - José María Olazábal won that year. The schedule was like a dream. I flew with three customers to Atlanta on the Thursday of Masters week. We drove to East Lake GC and had an amazing round of golf there. After an overnight stay in Atlanta, we drove to Augusta. The Masters takes place during spring break in Augusta and many wealthy homeowners rent their homes to corporations like IBM (back in 1999 the going rate for houses was apparently $15K USD per week). The IBM hospitality house was a mansion in a gated community where all our meals and receptions for the weekend took place. We checked into our house in the same gated neighbourhood then headed over to the course to watch the tournament. Because the field of players is the smallest at the Masters, the golfers playing after the cut on the weekend are very small. This means that typically tee times are later and the leaders do not normally tee off until 1:30 or 2:00. This allowed us to make our prearranged (thank you IBM) tee times for a round of golf Saturday and Sunday before going over to Augusta to watch the final rounds of the tournament.
It is a golfer's dream to attend the Masters. Since the tournament is always played at Augusta National GC and because I had watched it so many times on television, everything seemed very familiar to me. We took in the complete Masters's experience. We walked the course multiple times and followed different foursomes. We sat in various grandstands, drank beer and ate pimento cheese sandwiches. We spent a fortune at the gift shop. IBM also had a corporate cabin just off the first fairway so more time to socialize and drink beer. It was amazing.
When I returned from the Masters's that year I told Teresa I was done. It had been such an incredible experience that if I never got to attend the Masters again I was happy. I loved the event and was grateful I got to attend. I still couldn't believe this was part of my job. Amazingly, I was able to go four more times. Three times as an IBM host and once where I got tickets through the Masters' lottery. On this trip, our two youngest children, Brendan and Lauren attended along with Teresa's dad. Her dad really appreciated the invite and it was great being there with family. I can't tell you how fortunate I feel to have had these Masters experiences.
My next major tournament was the 2006 PGA which Tiger won. A customer of mine at IBM invited me and a colleague to the PGA as their guests. I want to say first, from a business point of view, when your customer is inviting you to an event like the PGA at their expense you know you have a good relationship. The customer had told me that they would be hosting some of their important clients at the tournament and they wanted us to attend to demonstrate their partnership with IBM. Count me in.
To be honest, I was more than happy to attend but was kind of "snotty" about the PGA. I mean, I had already attended the Masters which I considered the most important major and clearly the PGA was the least important one. I was totally wrong on this. While attending, I really got a sense of how important each of the four major tournaments is. It was clear to me that both the players and the fans were excited to be there. I was totally swept up in the buzz around the event and enjoyed every minute of it.
My colleague and I arrived in Chicago Friday evening. The customer had arranged a car for us at the airport. Sure enough, as we walked into the arrivals area we saw the driver holding a sign with my name. We followed him to a huge stretch limo and headed to the W Hotel in downtown Chicago. The limo was stocked with cold beers and scotch - a nice start.
The next morning I woke up early and was in the lobby well before our meeting time. After all, I felt I was on business and was expecting to meet our customer's customers. At the agreed time the customer arrived with his grown son. We chatted for a bit and I was assuming we were waiting for others to join us. After a few minutes, our customer said, "Well let's go". The four of us hopped into the stretch limo and headed over to the golf course. It turns out there were no customers. My colleague and I attended the 2006 PGA Saturday and Sunday taking our customer and his son out for dinner Saturday night. Mike Weir was in the last group Saturday with Tiger which was exciting (Mike faded and never really competed for the win). Medinah is a spectacular course and in many ways a better fan-viewing course than Augusta. Part of what causes the huge crowds you see at Augusta is that there are many areas of the course that are closed to fans. Think of the left side of holes 10, 11 and 13. Hole 12 is basically closed to spectators. This causes a lot of congestion and quite frankly difficulty observing the event. At Medinah, you can walk both sides of almost every hole which makes for a very enjoyable spectator experience.
When returning home on Monday I had to complete a Canadian customs declaration form. One of the questions on the form was "Was your trip business or pleasure?" Although my trip was technically business, which I checked, if the customs agent had asked me what I did that weekend, I would have had a hard time making it sound like business.
My last experience with Medinah was the following year in 2007. I had the opportunity to play the course in a charity event. We played the tips and all I can tell you is that it didn't matter how well I hit my drive, as I walked up to my ball my caddie was handing me a fairway metal. I have never hit a 3 or 5 wood so often in a round of golf. It was a struggle, but a memorable struggle. Medinah to this day is in the top 5 golf courses I have ever had the fortune to play.
After 2006 there is a big gap before I attended my third major event. Although I love golf, attending major golf tournaments was really not on my list of things to do. In the fall of 2021 Teresa and I were in California visiting her sister and our brother-in-law. While there I received an email from the R&A (Royal and Ancient) in Scotland indicating my name had been chosen from the lottery and I could purchase tickets for the 150th Open at St. Andrews in 2022. At first, I was confused as to why I was receiving this email. Then I vaguely remembered that past summer while updating The Open app, a pop-up indicated that because of the expected demand for tickets, they could only be obtained through a lottery. Naturally, I had put my name in. After ensuring the email was not a scam and checking out accommodations I purchased tickets to the four-day tournament. We then started planning a month-long vacation in Scotland around our time at The Open. It was one of our best vacations ever (you can read my blog post on the Scotland vacation here .)
The combination of the 150th anniversary and being at St. Andrews, home of golf, made the 2022 Open very special. Both fans and players seemed to realize what a privilege it was to be there. Even the weather was amazing. That summer there was a heat wave in the UK so we had unusually hot temperatures and very little rain. Teresa and I made sure we had the total Open golf experience. We walked the course multiple times, sat at various grandstands and bought a lot of souvenirs. On Saturday and Sunday, we watched every player who made the cut play at least one hole. On Sunday, from our favourite grandstand, we watched all the contenders play the 15th hole.
Walking onto the grounds on Sunday, it felt like destiny was going to have its way. Rory was in a position to win. What could be more fitting than Rory breaking his major drought at the 150th playing of The Open at St. Andrews? However, the fairy tale ending was not to be. Rory's putter let him down and Cam Smith went on to win the 2022 edition of the Open.
Watching the 2023 US Open at the Los Angeles Country Club is the completion of my fan grand slam. In addition to visiting family, we get to see the US Open played at LACC for the first time. The course was established in 1897 and sits in Beverley Hills in the heart of Los Angles. Interesting fact. It is estimated that the land the golf course sits on is worth more than $8 billion (yes that is a b). It is the second highest-valued open space property in the US. The first is Central Park in New York.
Teresa and I arrived early at the course Thursday morning ready to go. We walked the front nine following various groups. We got to see a lot of Collin Morikawa, Max Homa and Corey Conners which was great. The course is a very unique design. Virtually no water on the course and few spots where there is out of bounds. If they move the tees up on the par 3 15th it will be the shortest par 3 in US Open history at just over 80 yards (there were 3 hole-in-ones there Thursday and Friday). There are some monster par 4s. The greens are very very difficult. With the scores being so low on Thursday and then again on Friday I think there is some concern whether this is a "US Open style" course. I think the course will play tougher on the weekend.
We stopped for lunch and some souvenir shopping at the massive merchandise store. In the afternoon we sat at three different grandstands on the back nine and saw lots of the top players come through.
Friday we were back at it early again and we walked the back nine, following Koepka, Rory, Hideki and Nick Taylor. By walking the whole course we definitely got a very good sense of the unique design of the course. It was great to walk and get a feel for the course. In the afternoon we sat on various grandstands on the front nine again seeing most of the top players. We finished our day watching from the grandstand on 18.
It was a great venue to finish my career (fan) grand slam. We had lots of fun visiting Teresa's sister and her husband. We saw an Angels and Dodgers baseball game and had dinner in some great restaurants.
We flew home on Saturday and will enjoy our family tradition of watching the final round of the US Open with family on Sunday.
The experience at each major was fantastic and I enjoyed each one. Although they are all different, each one has its unique flavour and characteristics. It is amazing that I have been able to attend each of the four events.
What's next? Teresa and I are planning to walk the Camino de Santiago a 780 km trek that starts in France and traverses mostly through Spain leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwest Spain. It should be quite the adventure. Watch in the fall for blog posts on our trip there.
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