Guy Yocom
Verified
Golf, landscape painting, severe weather, WW II history and buffalo-nickel collecting. I noodle on clarinet and advise plugging your ears.
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Guy Yocom
Arnold Palmer: 10 rules for a golf life
When Arnold Palmer passed away at age 87 in 2016, he didn't leave behind a tutorial on how to live the perfect golf life. Perhaps that’s just as well, because his life and golf game could never be copied by rote anyway. To play the game as well as he did (and look so good doing it), to be adored so thoroughly by the public and his peers, to have a lion-like command of every environment would make a how-to useless.
Who was Payne Stewart?
The neighborhoods aroundBay Hill Club in Orlando are notoriously maze-like, and on a March morning in 1999, I couldn’t find Payne Stewart’s house. He lived just off the 12th tee of the course, and I’d been to his home before but somehow was looking on the wrong side of the street. Suddenly a barefoot guy in shorts and a T-shirt sprang into the street and slapped the hood of my rental car, waving his arms and yelling as though warning of a washed-out bridge.
Who was Payne Stewart?
The neighborhoods around Bay Hill Club in Orlando are notoriously maze-like, and on a March morning in 1999, I couldn’t find Payne Stewart’s house. He lived just off the 12th tee of the course, and I’d been to his home before but somehow was looking on the wrong side of the street. Suddenly a barefoot guy in shorts and a T-shirt sprang into the street and slapped the hood of my rental car, waving his arms and yelling as though warning of a washed-out bridge.
Who Is Payne Stewart?
The neighbourhoods around Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Florida, are notoriously maze-like, and on a March morning in 1999, I couldn’t find Payne Stewart’s house. He lived just off the 12th tee of the course, and I’d been to his home before, but somehow was looking on the wrong side of the street. Suddenly a barefoot guy in shorts and a t-shirt sprang into the street and slapped the hood of my rental car, waving his arms and yelling as though warning of a washed-out bridge.
Tom Weiskopf’s desperate hours trapped in a bog
Editor’s note: In celebration of Golf Digest's 70th anniversary in 2020, we revisied tthe best literature and journalism we’ve ever published. Catch up on earlier installments. Weiskopf died in 2022 at age 79 from pancreatic cancer. Tom Weiskopf of Columbus, Ohio, and Ohio State had the misfortune of playing in the same picture frame as Jack Nicklaus. He was Spyglass Hill to Jack’s Pebble Beach. Against the backdrop of Jack’s six Masters, Tom had four second-place finishes and no wins.
Inside Peter Oosterhuis' battle with early-onset Alzheimer's, and how he vowed to keep swinging
Editor’s note: Peter Oosterhuis, celebrated player and broadcaster, died at 75 on May 2, 2024. The following is a look back at his incredible career and documented health struggles from Golf Digest’s September 2015 issue. Things happen to golfers they’d just as soon forget. If Doug Sanders could erase the memory of missing a short putt to win the 1970 British Open, he would. But there is nothing about my life in golf I want to forget. It’s all been good.
From the Golf Digest Archive: My Shot with Jack Burke Jr. (2007)
Editor’s Note—On Jan. 29, 2024, legendary golfer Jack Burke Jr. would have celebrated his 101st birthday. But 10 days shy of that milestone, the oldest living Masters and PGA Championship winner passed away in Houston.
10 rules for a golf life
When Arnold Palmer passed away at age 87 in 2016, he didn't leave behind a tutorial on how to live the perfect golf life. Perhaps that’s just as well, because his life and golf game could never be copied by rote anyway. To play the game as well as he did (and look so good doing it), to be adored so thoroughly by the public and his peers, to have a lion-like command of every environment would make a how-to useless.
Jay FitzGerald, legendary publisher of Golf Digest, dies at 84
New golfers and younger ones might not be familiar with the late James Walter FitzGerald, who went by “Fitzy” to close friends and “Jay” to a legion of acquaintances in golf. His passing on May 23 at age 84 led to a period of mourning remarkable for its persistence. He’ll be reminisced well at a tribute this June 29 at Winged Foot Golf Club, where Jay was a member and for decades one of its best players. Memories of him will make the trees sway.
Arnold Palmer: 10 rules for a golf life
When Arnold Palmer passed away at age 87 in 2016, he didn’t leave behind a tutorial on how to live the perfect golf life. Perhaps that’s just as well, because his life and golf game could never be copied by rote anyway. To play the game as well as he did (and look so good doing it), to be adored so thoroughly by the public and his peers, to have a lion-like command of every environment would make a how-to useless.
Jack Burke Jnr, the 1956 Masters champion, is turning 100 and still has plenty to say
Jack Burke Jnr’s voice, once commanding and direct, is softer these days. His answers to questions are less thunderous, his opinions have less of a hard edge, and his tough-love parables on golf and life are gentler. For this icon of American golf, there’s a reason for the slight transformation. On Sunday, Burke celebrated his 100th birthday. The oldest living Masters and PGA Championship winner has arrived at a place we would all like to be – at peace and satisfied.
Remembering when this former Masters champ turned 100 and threw an all-star bash to celebrate
Editor’s Note—Jack Burke Jr., the former Masters and PGA champion inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000, died Friday in Houston just 10 days shy of turning 101. Ahead of celebrating his 100th birthday a year ago, long-time Golf Digest writer Guy Yocom reported about the party that was on tap and reflected on Burke's golf life well lived. Here’s that story that originally ran on Jan. 26, 2023. • • • Jack Burke Jr.’s voice, once commanding and direct, is softer these days.
Yocom: Death of the closeout
For the avid golfer, a long-standing partnership can be a sacred thing. Member-guests are filled with characters who are thrice divorced but who treat their golf buddies with a level of respect that, if given to their spouses, would have kept them in the honeymoon suite forever. Partners don't show up late. They rarely show their bad side, and when they do, they apologize profusely first chance they get. Apologies from the other side are accepted out of hand -- no doghouse, not even a lecture.
Five fascinating long drivers tell the stories behind their success
There’s a feeling that professional long driving today resembles ordinary golf only in the way a Nerf basketball hoop over your trash basket resembles the NBA. Kyle Berkshire, the reigning king of World Long Drive, swings at 150 miles per hour and has hit a 474-yard drive in competition—at roughly sea level. Cameron Champ, widely considered the longest hitter on the PGA Tour, has a clubhead speed of 130 mph, a popcorn hitter by Berkshire’s standard.
Five fascinating long drivers tell the stories behind their success - Golf Digest
There’s a feeling that professional long driving today resembles ordinary golf only in the way a Nerf basketball hoop over your trash basket resembles the NBA. Kyle Berkshire, the reigning king of World Long Drive, swings at 150 miles per hour and has hit a 474-yard drive in competition—at roughly sea level. Cameron Champ, widely considered the longest hitter on the PGA Tour, has a clubhead speed of 130 mph, a popcorn hitter by Berkshire’s standard.
Jim Nantz is just like you—a disappointed golf fan missing this week's Masters - Golf Digest
In a perfect world, Jim Nantz would be spending this Wednesday making his annual solitary walk from the CBS compound down to Amen Corner, gathering himself for the demands of the four days to follow. On the eve of the Masters he would once again reflect on what his career has given him, how fortunate he is to be at Augusta National, and the blessings he has in his life.
Jack Burke Jr., the oldest-living Masters champion, reflects on a classic photo from his green-jacket-win - Golf Digest
The Archive17 minutes ago Augusta National Golf Club, Sunday, April 8, 1956. At center amid the sea of jubilant faces is Jack Burke Jr., the new Masters champion, dispatching a kiss to his wife, Ielene. The lack of self-consciousness by the Burkes is understandable. Moments earlier, Jackie had come from eight shots behind to beat then-amateur Ken Venturi by one and 1955 winner Cary Middlecoff (right of Jackie) by two.
My Shot: Pete Dye
'If you want to get your teenager in shape, buy an old-fashioned push mower and have him mow lawns for a summer. When fall comes, he'll be able to move a mountain.' 'If you want to get your teenager in shape, buy an old-fashioned push mower and have him mow lawns for a summer. When fall comes, he'll be able to move a mountain.' __ Age 76, golf course designer, Delray Beach, Fla.__ A good designer makes sure the cartpath runs along the right-hand side of the women's tee.
The story behind this impressive golf-ball collection
There was a time when Jeremy Freeman, a photographer and avid golfer from Atlanta, was no more enthralled by vintage golf balls than the rest of us. Then, in 2017, while rummaging through his father’s attic, he found his late grandfather’s golf bag. It contained a sleeve of Top-Flites from the 1970s, still fresh in the cellophane, their curious dimple pattern, slick texture, old-school typography and unusual paint pronouncing themselves as works of art. This is how the collecting bug takes hold.
Golfers Who Give Back: Steve Young's foundation helps kids forget their troubles
On Tuesdays during his 13 years with the San Francisco 49ers, Steve Young would often drive down to Pebble Beach, sign on as a single and venture alone into the fog, the stillness of the setting serving as a psychic and physical balm. “Dallas games for some reason were the worst,” he says.
Golfers Who Give Back: Steve Young's foundation helps kids forget their troubles
On Tuesdays during his 13 years with the San Francisco 49ers, Steve Young would often drive down to Pebble Beach, sign on as a single and venture alone into the fog, the stillness of the setting serving as a psychic and physical balm. “Dallas games for some reason were the worst,” he says.
Phil Mickelson's swing: A study of the genius and the evolution of Lefty's power
Throughout Phil Mickelson's 28 years as a pro, swing gurus, stats nerds and armchair psychologists have all taken stabs at the reasons for his brilliance. It has been a losing battle. The Paleo diet, martial-arts classes and amazing short game aren't everything, and the puzzle of his career is clearly more complex. At age 49 on June 16, with 44 PGA Tour wins and five majors, Mickelson has flashes where he plays as well as he ever has.
PGA Tour rules guru Slugger White on never being late for work, knowing when to say, ‘I'm sorry,’ and the pain of discovering a 15th club - Golf Digest
When I’m called in to help with a ruling, I try to keep it impersonal. There’s no face on a golf ball, right? But you can’t help but feel some humanity. At Las Vegas in 2005, Kevin Stadler started the third round near the top of the leader board. It was near the end of the season, and he was in danger of losing his card. He desperately needed a good finish. On the first hole, I was sitting behind the green when Kevin approached me and showed me one of his sand wedges, which clearly was bent.
PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh has big thoughts on golf, business, new ideas and the NJA rule - Golf Digest
I'm the youngest of five brothers. Al, who is just ahead of me and was always big for his age, did most of the brotherly hazing. He invented a two-player football game he called Cut-down. We each got four downs, and on my possession he'd let me get to the equivalent of his five-yard line, and then he'd steamroll me. It wasn't designed so much to prevent me from scoring but rather to humiliate. Completely humiliate.
The GOAT: Tiger and The King clash at Bay Hill
Editor’s note: In the April issue, in the last story Dan Jenkins did for Golf Digest before his death at 90, he introduced our Greatest of All Time Invitational—The GOAT. The top 32 in the mythical event advanced from stroke-play qualifying at Augusta National to match play at venues around the world. In the May issue and online daily from March 20 through April 3, Senior Writer Guy Yocom is documenting the 30 match-play results leading to the final at Pebble Beach. Who will become the champion?
The GOAT: Tiger and The King clash at Bay Hill
Editor’s note: In the April issue, in the last story Dan Jenkins did for Golf Digest before his death at 90, he introduced our Greatest of All Time Invitational—The GOAT. The top 32 in the mythical event advanced from stroke-play qualifying at Augusta National to match play at venues around the world. In the May issue and online daily from March 20 through April 3, Senior Writer Guy Yocom is documenting the 30 match-play results leading to the final at Pebble Beach. Who will become the champion?
The GOAT: Snead shows off at the Greenbrier . . . on the golf course and beyond
Editor’s note: In the April issue, in the last story Dan Jenkins did for Golf Digest before his death at 90, he introduced our Greatest of All Time Invitational—The GOAT. The top 32 in the mythical event advanced from stroke-play qualifying at Augusta National to match play at venues around the world. In the May issue and online daily from March 20 through April 3, Senior Writer Guy Yocom is documenting the 30 match-play results leading to the final at Pebble Beach. Who will become the champion?
The GOAT: Woods and Miller get testy, Palmer and Norman get a shot at revenge as match play begins
Editor’s note: In the April issue, in the last story Dan Jenkins did for Golf Digest before his death at 90, he introduced our Greatest of All Time Invitational—The GOAT. The top 32 in the mythical event advanced from stroke-play qualifying at Augusta National to match play at venues around the world. In the May issue and online daily from March 20 through April 3, Senior Writer Guy Yocom is documenting the 30 match-play results leading to the final at Pebble Beach. Who will become the champion?
Dan Jenkins: The Golf Digest Interview
EDITOR'S NOTE: This interview first appeared in the June 2001 issue of Golf Digest. It's hard to imagine a dignified fellow like President George Bush (the elder) devouring a Dan Jenkins novel the way the rest of us do, laughing himself to fatigue, taking vicarious pleasure in the outrageous antics of the lush characters and unashamedly stealing one-liners. But Bush, an unrepentant Jenkins fan, friend and golf buddy, proves how thoroughly Jenkins has penetrated our culture.
My Shot: Doug Sanders
Doug Sanders, photographed May 8, 2003, in Houston. Doug Sanders, photographed May 8, 2003, in Houston. __I missed a 30-inch putt__on the last green that would have won the 1970 British Open. It's all anybody wants to talk about. I won 20 times on the PGA Tour, and if you gave me one birdie, four pars and a bogey wherever I could put them, I'd have five majors. But it's that putt everybody remembers. What can I say? It's what I remember most, too. __The cardinal sin in match play__is to get complacent.
Davis Love III: Doing good work in small places
Davis Love III is cruising around St. Simons Island, Ga., on the premise of cadging a driver shaft from one of the dozen or so PGA Tour players who also live in the area. “I’m not sure if it’s the shaft or the fact I’m using a driver from 2013, but I’m hitting it all over the place,” he says. Just back from his first tournament of the new season, he adds, “I really need to play and practice more. But there are so many distractions.” The “distractions” turn out to be pleasant.
Davis Love III's good deeds in Sea Island, Ga., have had an impact on local businesses and individuals - Golf Digest
Davis Love III is cruising around St. Simons Island, Ga., on the premise of cadging a driver shaft from one of the dozen or so PGA Tour players who also live in the area. “I’m not sure if it’s the shaft or the fact I’m using a driver from 2013, but I’m hitting it all over the place,” he says. Just back from his first tournament of the new season, he adds, “I really need to play and practice more. But there are so many distractions.” The “distractions” turn out to be pleasant.
18 Ways To Rekindle Your Passion For Golf
Is golf making you grumpy? Here are 18 ways to rekindle your passion for the game
How To Have More Fun Playing Golf
The hardest questions in golf are the ones that never seem to get asked. Take that cigar-chomping first-tee starter with a wad of cash in his pocket. You're wondering, Is he as up for a bribe as he looks? If so, how do I solicit a magic-carpet ride to the first tee? Another one: When your opponent hits a hosel rocket into the trees, are you obligated to express sympathy, or can you obey your first instinct and just laugh? How do you ask that LPGA Tour player out on a date, anyway? No guts, no glory.
My Shot: Jim Colbert
In 1997, I drew Kevin Costner as my partner in the Lexus Challenge. He had just finished making "Tin Cup." The 17th hole is a par 5 that Kevin could reach with two good shots, and he did. He made a natural birdie, net eagle, and we wound up finishing second. The next year, I drew Kevin again. By then the movie has been a hit, and we've got a big gallery. We come to the 17th hole with a two-shot lead, and Kevin drives it down the middle, right on the edge of the go/don't go zone.
Does yelling "Fore!" work? Maybe. Sometimes. Not always.
The bruise on my backside was spectacular, crimson red in the center with concentric circles of purple, blue and olive as perfect as the rings of Saturn. Getting hit by a golf ball usually leaves tangible evidence. When I emailed the photo to the perpetrator, a friend and fellow club member named Gary Mastronardi, he replied with a string of apologies and an abashed try at humor: “Good thing you turned around,” he wrote.
Does yelling "Fore!" work? Maybe. Sometimes. Not always.
The bruise on my backside was spectacular, crimson red in the center with concentric circles of purple, blue and olive as perfect as the rings of Saturn. Getting hit by a golf ball usually leaves tangible evidence. When I emailed the photo to the perpetrator, a friend and fellow club member named Gary Mastronardi, he replied with a string of apologies and an abashed try at humor: “Good thing you turned around,” he wrote.
7 ways to break up with your golf partner
If you thought finding the perfect best-ball partner was hard, wait until the time comes when you feel you need to dump that person. Replacing one golf partner with another—firing one guy in favor of someone else is what it amounts to—is one of the most dreaded and difficult tasks in golf. It’s unsavory because, unlike a divorce where you can hire a lawyer to handle the messiest parts of the breakup, you must deliver the message yourself.
7 ways to break up with your golf partner
If you thought finding the perfect best-ball partner was hard, wait until the time comes when you feel you need to dump that person. Replacing one golf partner with another—firing one guy in favor of someone else is what it amounts to—is one of the most dreaded and difficult tasks in golf. It’s unsavory because, unlike a divorce where you can hire a lawyer to handle the messiest parts of the breakup, you must deliver the message yourself.
The trusted secrets of a member-guest juggernaut
Tom McQueeney Jr. is 80 now, his golf in abeyance as he waits to have his right hip replaced. Tall and regal, he likes to give junior golfers lessons on the putting green, and he chips a bit, but his main pastime is keeping the grill room at Race Brook Country Club in Orange, Conn., alive with jokes, gossip, wisecracks and tales of yesteryear.
My Shot: Hubert Green
People assume I was angry at Jim Kelly for what happened at the 1978 Masters. If you've never seen the tape, I had a three-foot putt on 18 that would have put me into a playoff with Gary Player. I was ready to stroke the putt when I overheard Jim, who was doing radio in those days, describing the scene. I backed away and indicated that I needed quiet. Then I got reset and pushed the putt. End of story.
10 Rules from Mark Calcavecchia
I'm 48 and weigh about 240 pounds. That's 25 pounds heavier than I was at 25, and believe me, it's no fun looking in the mirror with my shirt off. But the extra weight around my middle hasn't hurt my golf swing at all. In fact, it might be an advantage, because when I get to the top of my backswing, I don't have to consciously shift my weight to my left side. I just let gravity take over, and allow my weight to "fall" back to the left.
My Shot: Ken Venturi
Ken Venturi, photographed Sept. 29, 2004, at The Club at Morningside, Rancho Mirage, Calif. I often play a few holes in the morning, alone. A while back I made a hole-in-one, which is always fun, and when I got in one of the assistant pros asked how I was doing. "Great," I say.
The subtle ingredients of the best golf clubs
For a small number of old-line clubs like Shinnecock Hills, it’s not about six-figure initiation fees, five-year waiting lists or elite membership rosters. The most venerable clubs are a little past all that. The trademarks of modern, high-end, private golf—a massive clubhouse, world-class wine cellar, day spa, spacious “teaching center,” bow-tied parking valets and on-course food stations—are at best incidental and frequently, anathema.
The subtle ingredients of the best golf clubs
For a small number of old-line clubs like Shinnecock Hills, it’s not about six-figure initiation fees, five-year waiting lists or elite membership rosters. The most venerable clubs are a little past all that. The trademarks of modern, high-end, private golf—a massive clubhouse, world-class wine cellar, day spa, spacious “teaching center,” bow-tied parking valets and on-course food stations—are at best incidental and frequently, anathema.
It's Crucial That The USGA Gets It Right At Shinnecock
Raymond Floyd, who won the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in 1986 and is a longtime member there, placed a phone call to Mike Davis, the USGA's executive director, shortly after last year's Open at Erin Hills. Facing Erin's 7,800-plus yards but massively wide fairways—60 yards in some cases—players whaled away with impunity when typical winds failed to blow. In the final round, winner Brooks Koepka hit his tee shot on the 18th hole 379 yards—with a 3-wood.
My Shot: Carol Mann
You say I'm 6-foot-3. I say I'm 5-foot-15. Either way, until Long Jim Barnes was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, I was the tallest person, man or woman, in the hall. One thing about being tall and a woman: I get a lot of stares from little kids in the supermarket. Johnny Kerr, the old NBA great, told me his approach was to tell kids he was a jockey for a dinosaur. I figured out my own answer. You know how most houses have a growth chart in the form of a giant ruler that measures in inches?
My Shot: Doug Ford
"I came to realize that pool is a great game for a young golfer. It really is." I came to the last hole of the 1957 Masters with a two-stroke lead. My approach shot to the last green was close to being real good, but it just catches the bunker and plugs. I couldn't go at the pin, and Lord knows anything can happen from a lie like that. I played out at an angle, into the tier. The ball broke beautifully and fell into the hole. End of story: I shot 66 and beat Sam Snead by three.
Tales Of Near Death
A TRAGIC BOLT FROM THE BLUE The late summer afternoon at Round Valley Golf Course in Morgan, Utah, began as one of the happiest of Kip VanDyke's life. The teenage golf nut was there for a family reunion, with several of his relatives on the course and others at a picnic area by the clubhouse.
The Tiger Fiasco: Understanding what went wrong and who's to blame
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Buzzards began circling the Tiger Woods rules dust-up about six hours after it happened, and like the buzzard, it began looking uglier the closer one got. None of the entities -- Tiger, the Masters rules committee, the Rules of Golf or an increasingly manic Twitterverse -- have come out looking better for it. To describe the incident and its implications, we can only borrow a movie title and say, It's Complicated.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Guy
Contact Guy, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack