Traits Of Champions

Chapter One

When you wish upon a star

Ready, Sir?.... Fine!.... You were told I was a special sort of caddie? Well, in some ways I guess I am.... Can I help you play like a champion? I've been asked that before Sir, and I believe I've helped quite a few over the years, especially the ones who really wanted it.... You'll do whatever it takes? If you're really serious, Sir, I can help you do better than you ever thought possible -- not just in today's round, mind you, but in the future as well. I'll show you little things it took others decades to learn, and, believe me, that knowledge will save you more than just strokes, on your golf game.

You are!.... In that case, I'll give it my very best shot. But before we even go out on the course today, let's take a minute or two to think about what you want to shoot and .....how you're going to do it.

The first thing you must do before you can start playing like a champion is think like a champion. As Arnold Palmer's father, Deacon, once remarked, "90% of golf is played above the shoulders." or as the great Bobby Jones said, "Golf is a game played mainly in the six-inch space between the ears." That's as true in life as it is in golf. The way you think directly affects your physical actions and, therefore, determines the outcome of everything you do.... Why is that? I'll tell you Sir!

Thinking like a champion

I recently overheard a group of four young pros talking about what it takes to be a champion. As it happens, the discussion was not limited to golf. They were talking in more general terms. Who are the people destined to make it to the top in golf, in business or in life? What is it, these young players wondered, that makes it possible for an otherwise average person to raise his performance to championship levels? What determines who will be the ones to shoot in the 60s, lead the sales figures, head up major corporations and generally live life on their own terms?

It seemed obvious to one of them, in spite of his lack of worldly experience, that the qualities that make a champion in one area are likely to parallel those in any other field. He was in good company on this point. Shortly after Ben Hogan won the British Open in 1953 to complete a hat-trick of major championships for the year, a reporter asked him to name the greatest player that ever lived? Hogan wisely replied, "I have always felt that a man who can be champion in one era could be a champion in any other era, because he has what it takes to reach the top."

As the conversation progressed, the second of the young men gave his opinion. He suggested the only thing that separated the winners from the losers was luck. "Some people have it -- other's don't," he sighed. He apparently felt that he didn't have his fair share of this mythical attribute!

The third maintained he would have done much better if his father had been rich and able to support him like some of the other guys' dads. He had been forced to work at a range and sometimes as a part-time bartender in order to make ends meet while he was trying to qualify as a competitor. What chance did he have he against the rich kids who could play golf all day and every day? They never had to worry about the rent, or putting food on the table.

The fourth young player declared that racial prejudice had kept him from getting a golf scholarship at a major university, and this had impeded his progress. He believed his career would have been much further along the road to success had he been able to experience the competitive challenge of college golf.

Champions decide they are going to be champions

I realized a long time ago that the people who "make it" in life are the ones who decide to make it! The people who become champions are those who dream big dreams, set tough goals for themselves, put some plans on the table, and "go for broke!" It doesn't matter if they are rich or poor, black or white, young or old. The people who reach the pinnacle of success in this world, the men and women who become champions in whatever field they choose, are the people who accept that they and they alone are in charge of their own destiny.

I smiled as I imagined myself telling Chi Chi Rodriguez, Walt Zembriski and Calvin Peete they wouldn't have qualified as champions if rich parents, luck or ethnic descent hadn't given them a helping hand.

Chi Chi, Walt and Calvin are three of my favorite golfers and also three of my favorite people. Now, I know they aren't as glamorous as Greg or Arnie, but their stories are worth hearing because they help put a lot of things into perspective. They serve to demonstrate that many champions are regular, everyday people who produce superior performance. Their pedigree is character, and that gives hope to the average man.

I don't believe champions are born. Champions are made, or, to be more accurate, they make themselves. By following the same key principles that have guided others on their way, you can become a champion in golf or, for that matter, in any other worthwhile endeavor!

It's what you make of yourself that counts

Juan Rodriguez, or Chi Chi as millions now know him, tells everyone he was born lucky -- he was born into poverty. Now, those are his words not mine. "A lot of people think that poor people are disadvantaged. Not me," says Chi Chi. "I think poor people are lucky. Poor people have to work hard. They do manual labor, they exercise when they work so they become stronger. A poor person never has anything to prove; a rich guy has to prove himself all the time. He has to prove he can make even more money. The goal of a poor person is to make something out of himself."

Chi Chi certainly wasn't born into the country club set. The son of a field worker, he was one of five children. His father worked for 30 years in the fields of Puerto Rico, never making more than $20 a week -- not much to support a family of seven. Rodriguez is quick to point out, however, that the family was happy and never hungry, although dinner was almost always the same; rice, beans, corn and bananas. Because of his poor diet, Chi Chi was afflicted with rickets when he was six years old and was not expected to live. But he survived, although the disease caused his hands to be bent. He quips, "Thanks to God, they form a perfect golf grip!"

By the time Chi Chi was eight years of age, he was working in the sugar cane fields, making a dollar a day. Later he went to the local golf course and began to work as a caddie. The pay was even less, but the work was much more to his liking, and he was soon hooked on golf. By the time he was 12, he was already an excellent player, breaking par one day by holing out five wedge shots in a single round.

After dropping out of school in the 11th grade, Chi Chi eventually decided to escape poverty by joining the army. He found his way into Special Services, where he had the opportunity to spend some of his time working on his game. He even won an army championship. He was also a featherweight boxing champ. Chi Chi chuckles, "I didn't hit them very hard, but I hit them often." The fighter in him never died, and when he later became a golf professional, his fighting spirit would serve him well.

After his discharge from the army, Chi Chi begged Ed Dudley, the head pro at the Dorado Beach Hotel, for a job. He was employed as a caddie-master. In this exalted capacity, he picked up range balls, shined shoes, and stored clubs seven days a week for $75. After work and in the early morning, Chi Chi would work on his game, especially his wedge play.

In 1959, Peter Cooper took over as head pro of the famed resort and quickly became a mentor for the young Chi Chi. Under his tutelage Chi Chi hit thousands of balls and honed his skills to razor sharpness. The following year, with a little backing from none other than Lawrence Rockefeller, who owned the resort, Chi Chi arrived on the PGA Tour. For over two years he toured the country in an old Pontiac, often sleeping in his car to save money. With only one top-10 finish and an average income of just $2,000 a year, this period in his career couldn't be judged a success, even by Chi Chi's ever optimistic standards. Although he wasn't a tournament winner, however, Chi Chi's wonderful personality and amusing antics on the course did bring him some attention from the fans.

Chi Chi finally won his first tournament in 1963, the Denver Open. He promptly used his prize-money to buy a new home for his mother in Puerto Rico. Generosity was to become the trademark of this great champion. He has regularly donated substantial amounts from his winner's checks to orphanages, hospitals and other worthy charities.

Although Chi Chi never set the PGA Tour on fire, he was a regular contender and a gallery favorite for over twenty years and won over $1,000,000. As the years went by, of course, it became tougher and tougher for him to stay in contention. At only 5 feet 7 inches and 120 pounds, and playing on the heavily watered fairways of the Tour, he was having to give away too much in terms of distance to the younger guys, who just seem to get bigger and stronger every year. Fortunately for him, the Senior PGA Tour developed and exploded in coverage, interest and prize money at precisely the right time, giving him a wonderful opportunity and a new set of goals.

Chi Chi joined the senior Tour in 1985 and only had to wait a few months for his first victory in the 1986 Players Championship. It would be the first of many and, along with Lee Trevino, he has became one of the best liked and dominant players on the Senior Tour. He is adept at charming the crowd after making long putts with his trademark sword dance. At other times, he entertains his galleries when he makes a birdie by throwing his hat over the hole, then peeking underneath to make sure the ball is still there. The hat routine goes back to an occasion when, as a youngster, he and some friends were in the habit of sneaking onto the course to play for a nickel a hole. During one such match he holed a long putt and walked forward to retrieve his ball. As he did so, the ball popped back out of the hole, closely followed by a large frog! Chi Chi's effervescent behavior and broad smile brought to the Senior Tour what the regular Tour sometimes lacked -- personality!

In 1987 he won seven times and was the leading money winner, earning over $500,000 in one season. To date Chi Chi has won over $1,000,000 in PGA Tour events and almost $6,000,000 and 22 tournaments on the senior circuit. Not bad for someone who used to cut sugar cane for a living! These days, however, making money is not the only thing that arouses his enthusiasm.

His pride and joy is the Chi Chi Rodriguez Foundation, founded in 1979 to help troubled youths. The foundation aids about 650 children a year and, among other things, features its own school and golf course. It is Chi Chi's goal to help as many children as possible regain their self esteem and build a better life for themselves. He hopes that some of these young people may someday become great champions. If they pursue their dreams it will happen. After all, look what happened to Chi Chi!

Hope for the common man

Being young, poor and Puerto Rican wasn't enough of a handicap to prevent Chi Chi from becoming a champion. Neither would being middle-aged and poor be allowed to stand in the way of a retired steelworker with dreams bigger than the skyscrapers he helped build.
Walt Zembriski always dreamed of being a golf pro. In his early years, growing up in New Jersey, he learned the game the old fashioned way, as a caddie. He didn't enjoy a particularly distinguished amateur career, but, after serving for 14 years in the armed forces, he did win the 1966 New Jersey Amateur Championship.

This victory encouraged him to try the PGA Tour Qualifying School, known to its long-suffering alumni simply as Q-school. Considering his history, it is a tribute to his determination and tenacity that he survived the ordeal, receiving his tour card at the first attempt. After qualifying, he spent two frustrating and fruitless years on tour without making a dime. His sponsor abandoned him and his wife told him it was time to find regular employment. The best job he could find was as a steelworker, earning $13 an hour, where the early starting schedule afforded him plenty of free time in the afternoon. While his buddies went for a few beers, Zembriski headed for the driving range to hit golf balls. For the next eight years he worked hundreds of feet above the ground, moving steel beams into position and changing New York's skyline. During this period, several of his friends and co-workers fell to their deaths. Although he escaped this fate, he suffered a crushed thumb that required major surgery to save it. Fortunately for him, it did not affect his golf game permanently. His career as a steelworker ended when he was knocked from a steel beam by a load of lumber being moved by a crane. Zembriski grabbed the wood and held on for his life.

That may have been the very moment he decided it was time to return to the profession he loved. In any event, he packed up his clubs and headed for Florida. For a few years he eked out a bare living on the mini tours, playing against such future stars as Paul Azinger, Mark Calcavecchia and Bob Tway. Averaging $800 a week in prize money, he wasn't close to breaking even. In order to cover his travel expenses and tournament entry fees, he had to take part time jobs cleaning swimming pools and working on golf course maintenance crews. It was a tough life, but he kept on grinding week after week, knowing that his only alternative was to go back into construction work and he'd already had enough of that to last a lifetime!

By the time Zembriski turned 50 in 1985, the Senior Tour was in full swing and he was ready to take a shot at it. Finishing third in Senior Tour Q-School, Walt Zembriski, a card-carrying union member and retired steel worker, was ready for his second chance at the big time.

His first year was solid, although he didn't record a victory. Nevertheless, the $103,000 he won to finish 19th on the money list was the most money he had ever earned in his life. The following year he doubled his earnings, still failing to break into the winner's circle. His breakthrough finally came in 1988, when he won the Newport Cup and, a few months later, followed with a victory in the Vantage Classic. That year Zembriski earned $348,000.

In the years that followed, some of Zembriski's other cherished dreams become reality, as he played side by side with his lifelong idols, Nicklaus, Trevino and Player. Stars he had been limited to watching on television, sat next to him to put on their golf shoes, and walked the fairways with him as playing partners. To date, his Senior Tour earnings are just a little less than two million dollars, involving a major difference in life-style for someone who lived on the basis of financial survival for much of his life. As he approaches his 60th birthday, he talks about playing in the Super Senior division. "After all," he points out, "what else would I do?"

A diamond in the rough

As we have seen, champions aren't invariably the product of elite country clubs, as was Nicklaus. They don't always appear from behind the caddie shack, as Zembriski did. They aren't all schooled in the pressure of gambling at a fast paced municipal course, like Trevino, and they don't all start at the age of three, like Sandy Lyle, or even two, like the latest phenomenon, Tiger Woods! Sometimes champions have their origins in places you would least expect, but the traits and qualities that enable them to convert their talents from raw coal to fine diamonds remain the same.

Calvin Peete was born in Pahokee, Florida, one of the poorest, least attractive, beat up little towns on the planet! Surrounded by swampland, Pahokee is the reason that the State bird of Florida is the mosquitoe. There were no less than, count them, 19 children in the Peete household. With very little option, Calvin dropped out of school in the 8th grade to pick fruit and bring in a little more money to help the family survive. At 18 he bought an old station wagon and went into business for himself. He drove up and down the rural areas of the East Coast, selling clothes and a variety of other goods to migrant farm workers. In an effort to express his individuality, Peete had diamonds inserted into his front teeth. The people with whom he traded knew him simply as "the diamond man."

At the age of 23, never having played or caddied in his life, and with no desire to learn, a couple of friends coerced him into playing a round of golf with them. He was instantly hooked on the game and although he seemed initially to have no real aptitude, he decided he was going to become a golf pro. For the next five years he practiced every spare minute he could find, continuing to hit practice shots each night, after dark, on floodlit baseball fields.

It took Peete less than two years to become a scratch golfer, and he turned pro three years later. Not content with teaching others or looking for a club job, he decided he wanted to play on the PGA Tour. It took him three attempts to make it, but eventually, at 32 years of age, he graduated from Q-school and received his player's card. For three more difficult and discouraging years, Peete didn't win enough money to meet his travel expenses. His wife, a teacher, supported both of them and their family of four children. Finally, in 1979, he entered the ranks of tournament champions by winning the Milwaukee Open. He followed with three straight years of earnings in excess of $100,000. Although he was never renowned for his power, he led the PGA Tour in driving accuracy, and, in 1984, won the Vardon Trophy, awarded to the player with the lowest stroke average for the season. Before long he had joined the elite group of players with over two million dollars in career earnings and at least 10 Tour victories -- 12 to be exact.

This notable level of success was achieved by a man born into abject poverty, who broke his left elbow in a fall as a boy and was partially crippled as a result of poor corrective surgery, which caused his left elbow to be permanently locked in one position.

Can you imagine the remarks he had to listen to?
"You want to be a what, son?.... A golf pro?.... I see."
"Say, have you been smoking some of that funny stuff?"
"You say you've learned the secret?.... Well don't keep us all in suspense. Let us in on it!"
"Is that a fact?.... All you have to do is start with a big dream, then add mental discipline and countless hours of practice until you can do it every time, automatically. Just keep it simple, you say."
"OK; if you say so, Calvin."

Follow your dreams; they may come true!

First there must be dreams

"To win you must have talent and desire -- but desire is first"
Sam Snead

The journey for many, if not all champions, starts at night as they drift into sleep. While others summon up visions of mansions and sports cars, they dream of green jackets and claret goblets, (the trophy awarded to the winner of the British Open). They fantasize about playing in a foursome with Palmer, Nicklaus and Woods. In their dreams they outdrive their heroes, strike confident iron shots that spin to a stop a few feet from the pin, and roll fearless putts on the perfect, slick greens that disappear into the center of the cup. They break course records at Pebble Beach, Baltusrol and Augusta, and, as the necessity arises, they hit amazing recovery shots that are described with awe in the sports pages of every newspaper in the country.

Indeed, the first trait of champions is to dream big dreams, for it is only big dreams that can produce the level of motivation, dedication and desire needed to become a champion.

You've been looking forward to playing here for years Sir? I'm not surprised,. Millions of golfers would like to be in your shoes right now.... You say you have high expectations of today's round? Well I'm sure you won't be disappointed. The course is in wonderful condition with the US Open being just a few weeks away.

Incidentally, I know the three gentlemen you'll be playing with today. They come here about this time every year. They all play a strong game of golf and they're good company, too. I'm sure you'll enjoy playing with them. Why don't you finish your coffee? I'll go see if they've arrived yet.
Swing Thoughts

Champions are made, not born.
Victory is oblivious of creed, color, bank account, age, injury or hardship. It judges its champions strictly on the basis of performance.

People who become champions are people who believe they can become champions.
Champions have big dreams, for big dreams are the only kind that produce the motivation, determination and persistence to succeed.
Champions have the courage to follow their dreams, regardless of how others rate their chances of success!

Back in the Clubhouse

If a skinny caddie, a retired steelworker and a migrant farm worker can all become golfing millionaires, what on earth are you worrying about? Shortage of money and apparent lack of opportunity, common to Chi Chi, Walt and Calvin in their early lives, could have been overwhelming barriers, if they had allowed it to be so. Yet all three, and many others like them in every walk of life, have hung in there and done what it takes to taste the sweetest fruit life has to offer, the fruit of victory. The key to their success -- the common thread that connects them -- was dreaming big dreams.

In your career and profesional life, the starting point of great success and achievement has and always will be the same, dream big dreams. Nothing is more important, and nothing works faster in casting off your own limitations, than dreaming and fantasizing about the wonderful things that you can become, have, and do.
As a wise man once said, "You must dream big dreams, for only big dreams have the power to move the minds of men." When you begin to dream big dreams, your levels of self-esteem and self- confidence will go up immediately. You will feel more powerful about yourself and your ability to deal with what happens to you. The reason why so many people accomplish so little is because they never allow themselves to imagine the kind of life that is possible for them.

A friend of mine is one of the most highly paid commission professionals in the United States. One of his big dreams was to double his income over the next three to five years.

He applied the Pareto principle, or 80/20 rule, to his client base. He found that 20 percent of his clients contributed 80 percent of his profits, and that the amount of time spent on a high-profit client was pretty much the same amount of time spent on a low-profit client.

So he called other professionals in his industry and very carefully, politely, and strategically handed them the 80 percent of his clients who represented only 20 percent of his business. He then put together a profile of his top clients and began looking in the marketplace exclusively for the type of client who fit the profile-in other words, one who could become a major profit contributor to his organization and whom he could serve in the excellent manner to which his clients were accustomed. And instead of doubling in three to five years, his income doubled in the first year!

What is holding you back? Is it your level of education or skill? Is it your current career or job? Is it your current location or environment or level of health? What is standing in the way of your achieving your dream?

What are your limits?

Three keys to living without limits are clarity, competence, and concentration. Clarity means that you are absolutely clear about who you are, what you want, and where you're going. You write down your goal, and you make plans to accomplish it. You very carefully set priorities, and you do something every day to move toward your goals. And the more progress you make toward accomplishing what is important to you, the greater self-confidence and self-belief you have, and the more convinced you become that there are no limits on what you can achieve.

Competence means that you are very, very good in the key result areas of your chosen field. You apply the 80/20 rule to everything you do, and you focus on becoming outstanding in the 20 percent of tasks that contribute to 80 percent of your results. You dedicate yourself to continuous learning. You never stop growing. And you commit yourself to doing something every day that enables you to become better and better in your field. You realize that excellence is a moving target.

Concentration is the self-discipline to force yourself to focus single-mindedly on one thing, the most important thing, and stay with it until it's complete.

Concentration is perseverance, without diversion or distraction, in a straight line, to accomplish the things that can make a real difference in your life.

When you allow yourself to dream big dreams, and when you creatively abandon the activities that take up too much of your time and focus your energies on alleviating your main constraints, you start to feel an incredible sense of power and confidence. As you focus on doing what you love to do and becoming excellent in those few areas that can make a real difference in your life, you begin to think in terms of possibilities rather than impossibilities, and you move ever closer toward the realization of your full potential

Question to Ponder
How big are your dreams?
Where could your business and career go with no restraints?
What would you do differently in your life if you knew there was absolutely no possibility of failure?