As the saying goes, Lanny Wadkins wasn’t born in Texas, but he got here as fast as he could. A junior golf legend growing up with his brother Bobby in Virginia, Wadkins first came to North Texas when he won the Byron Nelson tournament in 1973 at Preston Trail in Dallas and now is a long-time Preston Trail member.
Quick with a quip, a killer look or clutch shot, the Richmond, Virginia native, turned North Texas resident for the last fourth decades, Wadkins became known as one of the fiercest competitors ever on the golf course.
The eight-time U.S. Ryder Cup team member and 1995 Ryder Cup captain won 21 times on the PGA Tour, including the 1997 PGA Championship at Pebble Beach.
Wadkins, a member at Dallas’ exclusive Preston Trail Golf Club, was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame and now is a full-time commentator for the Golf Channel on the Champions Tour before first working for CBS.
He captured the 2000 Ace Group Classic in his first full senior season, then took time off for TV and to treat a variety of back ailments, and has worked with TV for more than a decade sharing the stories from years of golf in a different, less corporate era.
He also still does some golf architecture work, having done the Lake Park course in Lewisville and Lajitas course in Big Bend Region, halfway between Austin and El Paso on the Texas-Mexico border.
Wadkins was as unplugged and straight shooting as ever when he met up with OTL Senior writer Art Stricklin in the locker room lounge at Preston Trail.From, the legendary money games he played, the Ryder Cup matches and gamesmanship plus if John Daly could have fit into the previous Tour culture, his rounds with Mickey Mantle and Ben Hogan and if Wadkins would have feared Tiger Woods in a tournament.
OTL: You grew up in a PGA Tour era with plenty of gambling action before the tournaments started, in a less corporate, sanitized era. What was that like?
LANNY WADKINS: I think it’s a misconception that we always played for big money. We always had a money game and we kept it going every week, but we set it up so nobody could get hurt. Sometimes it hurt a player to lose $10 more than $200, because it all came down to one putt.
OTL: Is that era over on the Tour now?
LW: What screwed it up is the Tour wanted to put on all these skills competitions or long driving shows. ‘Carnival Tuesday’ I called it. Would you rather see that or would you rather see a (money) match back then with Wadkins and Floyd or Watson and Weiskopf playing 36 with Nicklaus and Palmer? Today, you have to work to find a really good money game.
OTL: Did you ever practice the Lee Trevino mantra of playing for $10 with only $5 in your pocket?
LW: Back in college, I did for sure, because I didn’t have anything. I played some guys back then for a few dollars when I didn’t have a few dollars, but I made very sure I wasn’t going to lose.
OTL: Some people have said John Daly is a throwback to an earlier era where players worked as hard off the course for action as they did on. Would he have fit in with your era of players?
LW: I’m not sure we ever had anything like John. A tremendous talent, but his problem was he does everything to excess. You almost expect him to become a skeleton now. There is no middle ground with John.
OTL: With the Ryder Cup coming up next month at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, I know you played and was the Ryder Cup captain, any secrets to U.S. Ryder Cup success?
LW: One thing I think is overrated is the young guys not being ready to play. I was 7-1 my first two Ryder Cups combined. One key is getting guys who can play 36 holes in a day. You need young legs and young bodies to do that in all of the pressure and atmosphere. Hopefully some of the young guys you have played in the Walker Cup or other amateur competitions and know what to expect. If not, remind them of the possible hostile crowd reaction.
OTL: I’m guessing the Ryder Cup meant a lot to you?
LW: That was really one of the most fun things of my career. If you look back on my career, being a part of the Ryder Cup was one of the best things I was a part of.
OTL: What about the gamesmanship which seems to always be part of the matches?
LW: Well the Europeans were masters of that. Seve (Ballesteros) would always jingle coins in his pocket. He claimed it was because he was nervous, but I knew it was to rattle us. I’ll tell you how I got it stopped one day.
OTL: How?
LW We were standing on the first tee and I walked over to him real quietly because I knew the TV cameras were on us and told him, if he didn’t quit jingling the coins I would put my fist where he would never jingle again. He stopped after that.
OTL: Any advice for (2021 captain Steve) Stricker?
LW: I think it’s good he’s getting veterans and former players involved. I think it will help the younger players realize how much importance we put on the Ryder Cup when I was playing.
OTL: Lanny, some people may know you grew up in Virginia with your brother Bobby (a fellow PGA Tour winner), but you’ve lived here in Texas for nearly 40 years. How did you first come to Texas?
LW: Well, I was lucky because I had won the Byron Nelson in Dallas in 1973 before I moved here so I knew the area. Then when I started dating Penny (a TCU cheerleader) I started spending a lot more time here.
OTL: How long did take you to start feeling like a real Texas golfer?
LW: All of a sudden I became addicted to how easy it was to travel from Dallas as opposed to Virginia. About the only early mistake I made was not joining Preston Trail sooner. I didn’t join until 1981 and I should have done it earlier.
OTL: Preston Trail was known back then for having plenty of action on and off the course with some big money games. Was that helpful to your game?
LW: Having that great place to practice was like having your own private course back in the early ‘80s. I had money games anytime I wanted. The money games were so good at PT, when I got back on Tour, the Tour seemed easy. It was great.
OTL: Did you ever play much with maybe Preston Trail’s most famous member, Mickey Mantle?
LW: I played more rounds with Mickey Mantle than I can remember.
OTL: There are plenty of stories about Mickey Mantle’s activities on and off the course at Preston Trail, including the one where Mickey forced the rules all you had to wear some clothes in the dining room at Preston Trail. Is there a lot of truth on most of those stories.
LW: Well I’m sure some of them have been embellished over the years, but a lot of them are true. He loved to play and have a game, and I spent a lot of time with him.
OTL: It seems like Mickey, having grown up in Oklahoma and played in New York, really enjoyed Dallas and Preston Trail?
LW: I think it was really one of those places he could relax and be himself which was considerable. People treated him normally and he enjoyed that. I really enjoyed playing with him.
OTL: What’s the best Mickey Mantle story which stands out?
LW: Here’s one you may not know. One day Mickey tells me Billy Martin was in town when the Yankees were playing the Rangers and Billy was the manager for Texas, and they were going to meet for a quick drink before Billy goes to the game. Mickey asked if I wanted to come with him.
OTL: What happened?
LW: Well we went there and had a couple of drinks and I started looking at my watch and it was 5:30 p.m., then 6, then 6;30 p.m. and I said, ‘Billy, doesn’t the game start at :7:30?,’ and he looked at Mickey and said, ‘I guess I’m not going to make it tonight.’ I finally left about 8 p.m. and Billy and Mickey were still there.
OTL: What was it like playing golf with Ben Hogan?
LW: I went over to Shady Oaks in Fort Worth and played with him many times. We always played money games and for a guy who was into ball striking like I was it was a lot of fun.
OTL: Hogan often had a tough or hard reputation, but how did you find him?
LW: We got along famously. We really got along well. He liked the way I played and we had a great time. I asked him in 1981 if he saw anything in my game I needed to work on, and he just said, ‘I don’t know why you’re not winning more times than you are.’ That really pumped me up and I went on to win 3 times the next year.
OTL: How did you get to know him?
LW: I was with the Hogan Company all through the ‘80s and every time I would stop by and pick up some clubs, he would always insist I stop and have him inspect the clubs personally to make sure they were just right.
OTL: So the image of the cold, distant Hogan didn’t fit what you saw in him?
LW: No. Penny and I had dinner with he and Valerie on occasion, and Penny made the observation he was just shy. He was uncomfortable with all the praise people were heaping on him.
OTL: Any other good Hogan stories?
LW: One day we were playing at Shady Oaks with some other people and started joking around about something and Hogan said, ‘Fellows, I don’t play jolly golf,’ so we went back to playing our regular game. He liked a serious golf game.
OTL: Then you served as lead commentator for CBS Golf from 2002-2006 before moving over to the golf channel. What was that like?
LW: I really enjoyed the people I was working with, (at CBS) but I don’t know if I enjoyed having a boss. I had been on my own as a player for 20 years. I really enjoyed working with (producer) Lance Barrow, and (announcer) Jim Nantz is one of the nicest men ever.
OTL: Do you think of yourself or other broadcasters as just a matter of perception and individual taste like Johnny Miller or Brandel Chamblee who is either the best or worst announcer of all time?
LW: I’m always surprised by how many people come up to me and say how much they like me on TV. That happens all the time or they just recognize my voice, but don’t know the name. Personally, I like Johnny Miller’s work a lot, but one thing you have to know is that he is one of the most honest people I’ve ever known. The first thing that comes into his head is coming out of his mouth. On Tour, we called him the man with a plastic arm, because he always likes patting himself on the back.
OTL: You played in a golfing era where you regularly matched up against Jack Nicklaus, who many consider the greatest player of all time. Were you ever intimidated by him or would you be intimated playing against Tiger Woods?
LW: Nicklaus never intimidated me because I had the mindset that you can’t be intimidated. You have to be there to kick their butt. Now, if Jack played his best and I played my best, maybe he would win, but he didn’t always play his best and I beat him just like he beat me. I can tell you one thing, if Tiger had played in our era we would have beaten him a lot more times than these (current) guys have. He would have still gotten us plenty of times, but we would have gotten him as well.
OTL: You’ve been involved in a lot of great golf events and ceremonies in your career, what was it like to finally be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame?
LW: It was very exciting and one of the nicest things that has ever happened to me in my career. It was the culmination of everything I worked for in my career and a validation of what I had done.
OTL: Were you surprised when you finally got it?
LW: Well, I had been the leading vote getter who didn’t get in the year before and nobody new had come on the scene, so I thought I might. When the ballots were being mailed out, my son Tucker said, ‘Dad, if you can just be nice for two months, you might get it.’ It was tough, but I did it. I was actually in Lajitas in front of the Thirsty Goat Saloon when (commissioner) Tim Finchem called and said, ‘I’ve got some good news.’
OTL: Are there any of the younger guys you like to watch in person or on TV?
LW: I look forward to seeing what Rickie Fowler does. If he could just stay away from all the mental coaches and swing guru crap and just plays golf he could be fine. I think if Anthony Kim could have ever got away from the glitz and decided he wanted to play, he will be a hell of a player.
OTL: Is that a problem with the younger, talented guys now?
LW: There is so much out there and they make so much, so quick, they forget to take care of business. There always is going to be a lot of time to have fun. You always have to take care of business in the beginning.
OTL: Lanny, thanks for the time and the unfiltered opinions as always.
By Art Stricklin