Very Superstitious

The idea for this column occurred to me almost a year ago after Spencer Levin made it through U.S. Open sectional qualifying at Lake Merced GC. Each player who qualifies for the Open is required to fill out a questionnaire that asks for personal information and golf accomplishments. The USGA uses it to learn the backgrounds of some its Open qualifiers, which it then passes on to media covering the championship.
    Among the many questions on the three-page form was this one: “Do you have any superstitions?” After I collected Spencer’s questionnaire that day at Lake Merced, I noticed he had responded by scribbling the words, “Too many to name.”
    Spencer went on to have an incredible season, which has already been well-documented in this publication. He finished tied for 13th at that Open and won the State Amateur and NCGA Amateur, among other events. In covering him throughout the season, we talked about many things, but I never asked him about that remark.
    That was until earlier this year, when I approached him with some trepidation. Few are eager to admit their beliefs in otherworldly influences, and Spencer, despite his on-course flair, isn’t exactly the chattiest guy in the world. But a question about his golf superstitions set him in motion.
    “I only play golf balls with 1s and 3s on them,” Spencer answered, almost before I finished the question. “I just like those numbers.” Obviously 3s represent birdies and 1s speak for themselves.
    “I have to have three pennies in my pocket when I play,” he went on, “and whenever I mark my ball with one of them, they have to be facing heads and the head has to be facing the hole.”
    The years on the pennies also matter. “The years have to be 2004 or 2002. Those were both good years for me, but 2003 was a bad year. Or the year could be 65 because that’s a good score. I never use pennies with the mid-70s or low 80s.”
    I was about to end the phone call when I heard, “When I’m on the range, I only use 8-iron, 5 iron and driver. Nothing else. If I had a good day with a certain glove, I’ll use that glove again. Same with a certain pair of shoes. If stuff is working, I just try to stick with it.” Finally, he added, “Usually I always have a visor on with my collar up.”
    Before you form an opinion on Levin’s sanity, you should know he’s not alone among the great players in the world. His idea for the three pennies came to him when he heard Jack Nicklaus used to do it.
    Nicklaus once explained, "If I carried only one penny and lost it, I'd be without a ball marker. If I had only two pennies and lost one and a fellow player needed to borrow one to mark his ball, I'd be still out of ball markers."
    That’s not superstition, that’s just being practical. But Nicklaus did have a few. Unlike Spencer, and reportedly many other players, he always marked his ball with the tails facing up. On par 3s he would keep his good tees in his pocket and search for a broken one on the tee box.
    Tiger Woods has one of the most famous superstitions, the red shirt he wears every tournament Sunday, which his Thai mother believes is a power color. Ernie Els has said that every ball has only one birdie in it, insinuating that he usually ditches them after he makes one.            
    Players of every level refuse to use balls marked with anything higher than a 4, so much so that ball manufacturers hardly make them anymore.
    Tour players initially hesitate to reveal their superstitions, something I found when approaching several at last February’s AT&T. Most of them, when asked the question, would respond with, “Nothing really …” then go on to list two or three.
    Davis Love III: “I don’t really have any, except I only mark my ball with a 1965 or 1966 penny and I only use white tees.
    Tom Lehman: “Not much. I might mark my ball with a dime, if it’s working. If that’s not working I try a penny, or if that’s not working I’ll try a Spanish coin or something I have lying around. If I’m driving the ball great, I’ll make sure I’m using the same color tee. It seems like subconsciously I tend to wear blue a lot when I’m playing well. A lady gave me a tea leaf necklace in Hawaii last year and it was in the bag nearly all year. A buddy of mine gave me a four-leaf clover, so I kept that in the bag. Oh, and I always mark with a penny and I always have the head facing up.”
    Todd Hamilton, British Open champion: “I carry some coins that are supposed to be lucky, just things I’ve picked up over the years and had success with them and kept them in my pocket. But some days they don’t quite work.” Incidentally, he had just shot 74 at Poppy Hills. 
    Joe Ogilvie: “The only superstition I have is when I’m putting well or I make a long putt, I usually use the same ball marker for a while. But I don’t have a specific one that I use. Also, I never change my underwear if I shoot under par.” He paused, then said,
”No, I’m just kidding.”
    Frank Sarubbi, who is the manager of a Nevada Bob’s in the Monterey area, told a story that Mickelson’s caddie, Jim MacKay, came into the shop the week of the AT&T and “bought every short white tee that I had in the store. He said, ‘That’s what he uses, only white.’”
    Doug Sanders reportedly refused to play with white tees, believing them to be unlucky (some associate them with OB stakes). The story goes that he stood on the 18th tee in the final round of the 1970 British Open needing a par to win. He couldn’t find a tee, so someone in his group gave him a white one. He of course went on to bogey the hole, missing a three-foot par putt that has been replayed throughout history. The next day he lost a playoff to someone who undoubtedly was making sure tails was facing up before every putt – Jack Nicklaus.    
    Chi Chi Rodriguez has carried a marble stone that was blessed by the pope and given to him by a fan, a lucky walnut, a quarter to mark his ball on birdie putts, a buffalo nickel to mark his ball on par and eagle putts, and a gold piece when the quarter or nickel “isn't working.”
    Paul Azinger marks his ball with the penny head facing upwards and always with Lincoln looking at the hole. Fred Funk flips his coin on the green, and if it lands on tails he marks the ball in a normal fashion. If it comes up heads, he'll turn the coin to make sure the head is facing the hole. “If it's facing backwards,” he says, “I feel I'll three-putt the hole.
    Pat Bates jots Bible verses on his golf balls. Duffy Waldorf has his wife and kids decorate his. LPGA player Christina Kim, taking the don’t-step-on-a-crack belief onto the golf course, says, “I try not to step on the edge where the fairway meets the rough or a green.”
    But not everybody claims to have such beliefs. Matt Kuchar, he of the constant appearance of wide-eyed amusement, looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if he had any superstitions. And Stewart Cink may have summed it up when he once told a reporter that he avoids all superstitions.
    “Because,” he explained, “all they do is bring me bad luck.”