Rinker’s Golf Tips Buddy Alexander, Former US Amateur Champ and University of Florida Golf Coach, was kind of a late bloomer in golf and played other sports growing up. His father, Skip, was a former PGA Tour player and local club pro at Lakewood Country Club in St. Petersburg, Florida where the PGA Tour used to play the St. Petersburg Open which later became an amateur event called the Lakewood Invitational. Buddy’s father was his biggest influence in golf and all areas of his life, and he never forced Buddy to play golf. Growing up on the eight tee, his dad used to always say, “Anytime you need help I’ll be glad to go to the range.” The “New Year’s Invitational,” as it is called now, is a 72 hole stroke play tournament and is still played at the old Lakewood Country Club, now the St. Petersburg Country Club. Buddy said in the old days the guys would come over to the house for dinner or a cocktail and Dr. Cary Middlecoff, who would stay at the house, was his legal guardian if anything should ever happen to his parents.
I asked buddy how he became the golf coach at his Alma matter, Georgia Southern two years after graduating in 1975, and he said that his old coach got the job at Wake Forest when Jesse Haddock left, so they needed an interim coach. Buddy coached there for two years while getting his Masters degree. Buddy would later coach at LSU before coming to the University of Florida in 1988. While at LSU he noticed that he was playing as well as David Toms and other guys on the team, so he decided to compete again in the Louisiana Open where he finished 3rd. He realized that competing was something he loved, so he got his amateur status back, which took three years, and won the U.S. Amateur at Shoal Creek in 1986 at the age of 33.
Buddy told a great story about recruiting Billy Horschel who recently won the BMW, Tour Championship, and FedEx Cup. This particular recruiting year Buddy didn’t have a lot of scholarship money to go around, with only 4 ½ scholarships, and his last spot on the team came down to Billy and another in-state guy. Buddy noticed that Billy had some confidence and believed that Billy had the “It” factor and could ultimately become a good player. Buddy signed Billy in November and he ended up having a pretty good summer before starting school in the fall. Buddy thought heading into the season, hey this guy might be able to help us in his first year. Billy was a fast learner, finished 6th in his first tournament, won regionals, and finished 5th at the NCAA’s earning him first team All-American Honors as a freshman. The team finished second.
I asked Buddy what are the “It’ factors and he said, “Typically when people sit around and say what are the most important parts of the game you’ll hear things like putting, short game, driving the ball, etc. and nobody ever mentions decision making and I think decision is the most important part of the game. If you think about it, how many decisions do you make in an 18 hole round of golf? It’s Thousands. You don’t think about your mind going through this process of making these decisions about every single shot, and there are guys that do that better than others. Dudley Hart was a great decision maker, and you couple that with a common denominator that all good players have, and that is they are incredibly competitive. It didn’t matter if they were playing ping pong, shuffle board or checkers, guys wanted to beat you anyway they could.” Lastly Buddy talked about being able to control your emotions and how he believes these three skill sets go a long way in determining how you are going to be as a college player or ultimately on the PGA Tour.
Lastly I asked Buddy what he takes away from his Hall of Fame Coaching career, “It was a great journey; it was a hell of a ride. I got to meet a lot of great people and got to coach a lot of great players. The championships, 10 SEC’s, and two NCAA’s, those are going to be cherished memories forever. Even more importantly, I got to watch kids become young men in that four year period, and it’s not just the Tour players, but it’s all the other guys on the team as well. I hope that I’ve impacted then in a positive way, not only as golfers, but as people. What I take away is far more than I gave. When you are coaching others it’s imperative to be positive. You can be your own worst enemy on the golf course by being negative. You learn to coach yourself, by how you coach others, and you realize how positive you can be.” Stewart “Buddy” Alexander is a three time National College Golf Coach of the Year, in the Golf Coaches Hall of Fame, and had the second longest tenure of any coach in any sport at the University of Florida when he retired in April of 2014.