Warren Stephens
Warren Stephens grew up watching his late father, Jackson T. Stephens, fall in love with golf. In time, he’d take up the game himself, though it remained only a casual pursuit until he graduated from college. Today, Stephens’ deep ties to the sport range from owning the Alotian Club in Roland, Arkansas, to being a member of Augusta National—where his father served as chairman from 1991 to 1998. Stephens has also continued another family tradition as the chairman, president and CEO of Stephens Inc., a privately owned diversified financial services firm in Little Rock. We sat down with the 66-year-old businessman to hear how he, like his father, developed a love of the game.
What drew you to golf as a child?
My parents divorced when I was 12 or 13, and golf was something my dad and I could do together. When I would come visit in the summers, he would just make his regular Saturday group at the Country Club of Little Rock a fivesome. I would play with him and all of his friends, and it was so much fun for me to get to know those older gentlemen—they really were gentlemen—and to be around him and to see how they all teased each other and gave each other the needle. Having been in that group with my dad’s friends for his regular game, I felt like I knew how to behave on the golf course and how to behave around older people. So it was a great life lesson in that regard.
What do you love most about the game now?
The camaraderie of the people I play with. It’s really true, you get to know people on the golf course. It’s a great social interaction with other people.
Did your father coach you or give you advice on the course?
One time, when I was a kid and I was getting upset with my golf game, he said to me, ‘Well, son, you don’t have any right to be upset with your golf game.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he replied, ‘Well, you don’t practice, son. Golf requires practice, and you’re going to have to commit some time to practicing.’ I didn’t have the time for it then. Now I actually do, but now I’m so old that it doesn’t really make that much difference!
What brought you back to golf after you finished school?
It was about the only sport I had left! Everything else had moved on. I don’t remember exactly when it was—probably in the early ’90s—I thought, ‘I need to get focused on this.’ We had a corporate membership at a new club here in town called Chenal Country Club, so I went out and started taking lessons on a regular basis from the director of golf there. I got my handicap down to about a six, and it’s amazing how much more fun golf is when you can hit it with consistency.
You built the Alotian Club from the ground up, commissioning Tom Fazio to design the course. What was that experience like?
I found it to be one of the most exciting, fun things I’ve ever done. We bought the land from a timber company, and all the pine trees were pretty mature, and just to see a golf course take shape out of a big wooded area, to see that transformation was really something. It turned out better than I even hoped it would. There are not many things you can do and say after you’re finished doing it—like building a golf course—‘Wow, we’ve made this prettier and more people get to enjoy it.’ If we didn’t buy the land for Alotian, the timber company was going to clear cut it and then they’d plant it and clear cut it again in 20 years and nobody would even know it was there.
Where did you look for inspiration for the club?
Augusta National had a big influence on the design of the golf course. My dad told me years ago that the secret to Augusta National for its members is that every member feels like they could par every hole out there—at least that they had a chance to—if they hit good shots from whatever tees they were playing from. I mentioned that to [Tom] Fazio, and he said, ‘I know exactly what you’re talking about. And we can do that.’ Alotian has wide fairways, so it looks pretty inviting off the tee. You’re not up there shaking because you’ve got a narrow opening and you need to carry it 220 yards to reach the fairway. We don’t have any of that. That’s not a course that I wanted to play every day.
What’s your fondest golfing memory to date?
Getting to play the second nine at
Augusta National in late afternoon, when the shadows are out. When you get around to holes 12 and 13 and 15 and 16… it’s just a spiritual moment, really. In those moments, I find myself thinking, ‘This is where some of the greatest shots in the history of the game have been played and a lot of them around this time of day.’ If you’re fortunate enough to get to do that, you’ll never, ever forget it. I also love being at Alotian late in the afternoon, particularly in the summer. The heat of the day is gone, and with the softness of the light, it’s incredibly peaceful. That’s one of the great things about golf in general—it is peaceful.
You also created the Jackson T. Stephens Cup—a collegiate golf tournament named in your father’s honor. What aspect of that tournament brings you the most joy?
This is only our third year coming up, but to see these young people play and experience Seminole Golf Club in our second year… it’s something that most of them would never get to do. We’re giving those golfers the experience to be around these great clubs and each other. That’s a really great thing, and I’m very excited about that.
What’s the best piece of golf advice you can offer other amateur players?
Sometimes you just have to remember that this isn’t my living. This is something that I’m doing for fun. If I hit a good shot, I’m going to enjoy it more than if I hit a bad shot; but if I hit a bad shot, I’m not going to let it spoil the moment for me. Every time I go to a great club and play, I often think, ‘How lucky am I?’ I’m extremely fortunate to be able to do that, and I try not to take it for granted.