Aug. 25, 2010
By Brent Henningfeld
Media Relations Assistant
As almost any sports fan can attest one of the biggest thrills imaginable is having the chance to spend a moment with the athletes or teams that you grew up cheering for your entire life.
Not too many fans actually get that chance to sit in the same room with their heroes or engage in conversation with them, but for Irish men’s golf coach Jim Kubinski one particular 18 holes of golf will never be forgotten.
While working one day this past summer, Kubinski received a phone call from one of his former golfers, Cole Isban, a 2007 Notre Dame graduate.
Isban, who graduated with a degree in marketing, is currently working with a sports marketing firm as an intern through the Notre Dame MBA program, approached Kubinski with a proposition.
“They were looking for a caddy for a golf event that they were putting on and Cole volunteered me,” Kubinski stated.
“It was funny though. He called to ask me if I could caddy on August 10th. I figured it would be for him, as I had caddied for him in a Hooters Tour event a couple years ago, so I said, `Sure.'”
What Kubinski would soon come to realize, however, is that he would be responsible for the bag of one of golf’s true greats of the game.
As part of the grand opening of a brand new course in Benton Harbor, Mich. – Harbor Shores Golf Club – Isban’s marketing firm had put together an event that would see four greats of the game christen the course with its first “official” round. Jack Nicklaus, who was the course designer, played alongside three of his good friends and fellow golfing legends, Johnny Miller, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson, whom Kubinski served as the caddy for.
Between the four golfers on the course that day, there were a total of 199 PGA Tour victories accounted for, along with 35 PGA Major titles. This was something that Kubinski realized was special but it took one moment in particular before it began to sink in what he truly was a part of.
“I was excited for the opportunity,” Kubinski said. “But, in all honesty, the magnitude of it didn’t hit me until I carried the bag under the ropes and up onto the first tee. To look out and see the genuine thrill on every face in the gallery really made it hit home.”
“Then, as each player was announced with their accomplishments, it really sunk in that this group had combined to win 35 professional major championships. Thirty-five majors. It was surreal. I’m not sure you could put together a different foursome at any time in the history of the game any more impressive,” added Kubinski
Despite being removed from the prime of their golf careers and the fact that they were taking part in a mere exhibition event, Kubinski could still feel how palpable the competitive juices were within the three.
As Kubinski recalls, one particular shot exemplifies the fire that still burns within each of them. With Miller overlooking a putt of almost 100 feet with undulations the entire way to the hole, the thought of chipping the ball up to the hole began to cross his mind. However, as Kubinski witnessed, Nicklaus approached Miller and told him he would show him how to do it and proceeded to pour in the putt as if it was a mere tap in.
“Jack’s putt would have been one of the great putts you could ever see simply because of the distance…nearly 100 feet, slope and break involved,” Kubinski recalls.
“Yet, to ask Johnny Miller if he needed to come down and show him how to do it and then knock the putt into the hole in one attempt, was something I’m not sure could ever be repeated. It was the most remarkable thing I’ve ever seen on a golf course.”
“I think that another moment that stood out in addition to Jack’s great putt was on the very first hole,” Kubinski continues.
“Jack took a little extra time over the ball on his approach. Tom and Johnny, partners for the first six holes, stood together and both remarked on how Jack’s intensity still ran strong at 70 years old and during what was an exhibition match. Golf’s all-time greatest player, to date, was giving us all a lesson in how he became the game’s greatest champion.”
Despite the passion that was shared by all three in their respective rounds, the trio also was able to show the qualities that made them great entertainers as well as teachers throughout their careers, and as Kubinski remembers, there were several quips exchanged between the grouping that were both comical at times but also informative as well.
“There really weren’t a lot of great stories told as they competed, but there were several one-liners that were said,” said Kubinski.
“Those one-liners were either very insightful or very funny…or a little bit of both.”
Kubinski will never forget how truly blessed he was to be a caddy for one of the greatest golfers ever to pick up a club and walk 18 holes in the shoes of one of greatest caddies ever – who was on Watson’s bag for most of his playing career (1973-89, ’92-’03) – in the late Bruce Edwards.
Watson won all eight of his major titles with Edwards on his bag and Kubinski understood that, while it was only one round, he had been given the chance to witness the excellence of Watson’s game and knowledge for the game in general.
“The picture of the late Bruce Edwards, Tom Watson’s longtime caddy, was in my head out there,” Kubinski said.
“He was a great caddy.”
For Kubinski, those fours hours spent on the course will stick with him for the rest of his life and he will carry it with him and try and instill many lessons that he learned from Watson, Nicklaus, Miller and Palmer as he prepares the Irish for their upcoming campaign.
“It really was a pleasure, an honor and a blessing for me,” Kubinski shares.
“From the clinic the four greats put on before the match and then right through the 18 holes, there were so many learning opportunities. The wisdom afforded all in attendance was remarkable. I always tell our players that the guy talking all the time probably isn’t learning much. Of course, if you’re not learning, it’s difficult to improve yourself. The person who opens his ears and his mind is best suited for growth. I spent the day listening. It was a day I will never forget.”