"How can you be enthusiastic when you play 30-35 tournaments a year, hitting balls all the time, unless you're a robot?"
/Thanks to reader Phil for this Tony Jimenez authored piece documenting a lovely rant from Tony Jacklin about today's pros in light of Angel Cabrera's U.S. Open win.
"All this fantastic technology that's around, all these psychologists and swing gurus, and here is a guy coming out on top who smokes cigarettes and smashes the ball a mile."Oh come on Tony, life wouldn't be as fun if we didn't have Butch and Rick and agents and managers and personal Pilates instructors.
Jacklin offered up the Oakmont triumph of the portly Cabrera as proof that simplicity is the key to success.
"I hope some of these young golfers, although I'm not talking about the smoking now, can take something from this and realise the whole business (of golf) is being fed by all this rubbish," said the 62-year-old.
"There is so much information out there these days, so many people on the periphery of the game trying to get heard, trying to make a living.
"There is nothing wrong with trying to make a living from the game but golf is a simple game. The core of it is not complicated."
"I was fortunate to play with Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and they all learned by watching other golfers," said the Englishman.
"They questioned some things, for sure, but now they are given so much information, there are many opportunities for young people to go in the wrong direction.
"They (on the periphery) are all salesmen, all trying to sell you their story, their method, their thing.
But thankfully we know that players will never try to sell us something masquerading as golf course architects!
"It's pure and simple, coming into the last nine holes of a major championship you must believe you can do it," he said.
"Not who your coach is, or whether you swing the club this way, or that. It's about getting the job done."
What about a little Adderall, you know, for the pain?
Jacklin, who captained Europe's Ryder Cup team four times, said South African Gary Player was the perfect example of a player who achieved greatness largely because of his mental strength.
And here I thought it was the situps and the black mock turtlenecks.
"A lot of these kids are burned out by 18," he said. "They have heard so much rubbish, they get bored with it.
"Jack (Nicklaus) said to me a year ago, 'if I was out here now, I'd get bored with it'. Jack used to play for two weeks, go off and do different things and then come back refreshed and able to focus on his game with enthusiasm.
"How can you be enthusiastic when you play 30-35 tournaments a year, hitting balls all the time, unless you're a robot?"
Oh I can think of million$ and million$ of reasons to be enthusiastic.
