Article from
Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, Tennessee, USA, Just To Be Frank, by Frank Layne,
1977.
Transcription of the
Article:
"GREENWOOD MAKES CHOICE"
How does an
athlete reconcile his religious convictions to insure his being able to
meet the demands of the athletic world he is a part of?
He doesn't!
That is if his name is Bobby Greenwood, former PGA touring pro and
currently director of golf at Sawgrass, home of the annual Tournament
Players Champion (TPC) at Ponte Vedra, Fla., immediately south of
Jacksonville.
"You have to
make a choice of which is going to be the dominating factor in your
life," he said recently while vacationing here in his hometown. "There
is no real reason you can't be both an athlete and a Christian. You just
don't let yourself get caught up in the 'pride' factor that so ofte
n makes an
athlete forget his priorities in life".
Greenwood knows
the joy of victory, he has won 130 amateur and pro tournaments since
graduating from Central High School (forerunner of Putnam Senior High),
and the agony of defeat, as witnessed by wat
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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND CONCERNING THE ARTICLE ABOVE:
In 1977, the
most sought after club pro job in the U.S. was Baltusrol Golf
Club. Over 300 pros applied for the position of Director of golf
and the selection committee narrowed it down to three pros: Bob
Ross from Sawgrass Country Club, Eddie Merrins at Bel Air
Country Club, and Bobby Greenwood who had just left the PGA Tour
after seven years as a player.
After
Greenwood was interviewed at Dallas, Texas and at Baltusrol Golf
Club in New Jersey, he was selected as the man for the job at
Baltusrol. The selection committee had promised Bob Ross an
interview so they said they would go to Sawgrass for the Ross
interview eventhough they had already awarded the position to
Greenwood. But after the visit to famous Sawgrass which was
preparing for the upcoming TPC, the committee was awed by the
great atmosphere and they changed their minds! Greenwood was
contacted by phone in Florida as he was there at the PGA
Merchandise Show to buy for the newly built Pro Shop at
Baltusrol.
When Bobby
called Bob Ross to congratulate him for being chosen as Head Pro
for Baltusrol he also asked about the Sawgrass position that was
now open. he was surprised to learn that Sawgrass was the number
one club job in the U.S.!
After being at
Sawgrass for a short time, a committee from Houston, Texas
representing the prestigious River Oaks Country Club entered in
the Pro Shop and offered to buy Bobby's contract from Sawgrass
in order to get him to be the Head Pro at River Oaks. Bobby
declined their offer of more money and stayed at Sawgrass. The
selection committee then hired Dick Harmon for the job at
Houston, Texas.
***Interview
done by Elma Greenwood of Bobby Greenwood, Cookeville,
Tennessee, 1998.
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ching a
three-shot lead vanish in the Los Angeles Open in 1971 to come in fourth
place.
However, that
was several years ago, and now his whole life is devoted to living a
Christian life, his two children, and doing his job at Sawgrass - in
that order of priority.
"I have no
problem with my job interfering by putting God and my family first, in
fact I think that maybe the biggest advantage to my new job.
"The Lord has
been good to me, and our philosophy here at Sawgrass is to be of service
to people. I think that's what makes it a good program here," he said.
Even when he
was running from one PGA tournament to another during the seven years he
spent on the tour, he never left his religious convictions behind, he
was part of a group on tour that met regularly for prayer.
"We started
that about eight years ago," he said. "Kermit Zarley, Babe Hiskey,
Labron Harris, Joel Goldstrand, myself and a couple more. It's grown.
It's a way to get together and worship the Lord, have fellowship, talk
to each other, and maybe help," said the modest golfer who grew up in
the First Methodist Church of Cookeville, and on the Cookeville Golf and
Country Club course.
He headed back
to Sawgrass with great expectations for the $350,000.00 TPC tournament
to be held March 16-19 of March.
