Longevity and the iron master

Every professional athlete has to have multiple dimensions to his or her game to succeed at the highest levels. For instance, the center fielder has to have a great glove, speed and range, a strong arm, hit for average and power, and run the bases. A shooting guard in basketball has to have a silky smooth jumper, attack the basket, pass effectively, play strong defense, and run the court. We could say more of the same for other major sports.

The reason golf is such a tough game to take up is because of the very same multidimensional reasons. You've got to have power off the tee and combine it with accuracy. You need to have a rock solid putting touch from long distance as well as from close range. You need to be an iron master. A short game is crucial to one's success and yet that aspect of the game has its own dimensions whether it's chipping, sand play, or wedge play.

Yes there is a whole lot to this game, perhaps the major reason most amateur golfers find it such a frustrating sport.

Not all golfers are created equal and the history of the game proves that point. The phrase “drive for show and putt for dough” was obviously meant for the bosses of the moss such as a putting genius like Ben Crenshaw or Loren Roberts. Yet driving is also a crucial aspect to the game as evidenced by the fact that some of the game's longest drivers were also collecting major titles. We're talking about the likes of Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods who were always atop driving distance statistics as well as wins. Being able to combine all aspects of the game over one given weekend is what gets one to the winner's circle. This past weekend world number one Scottie Scheffler happened to put it all together as he drove with power and accuracy, knocked down the flagsticks with accomplished iron play, and made his fair share of putts as he romped to victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando.

Earlier this week I was listening to the Rocco Mediate Show on PGA Tour Radio Sirius Channel 92. Rocco was reviewing the past week's tour

nament on the Champions Tour for the over-50 set. Joe Durant, an almost 60 year old journeyman who has had a long career in professional golf, won the Cologard Classic at LaPaloma Country Club in the Tucson area. Durant could probably walk into the grill room at San Francisco's Olympic Club and fail to be noticed, and yet he has been at this professional golf thing for just under 40 years. He has $25 million in earnings. He won a trio of tournaments on the T.C Jordan and capped it off with a win on what was then called the Nike Tour. Durant made it onto the PGA Tour had a big breakthrough win at the Western Open in 1998, defeating then world number one Vijay Singh by two strokes. He had three more wins on the PGA Tour over the next decade with victories at the Bob Hope in Palm Desert, at Doral's Blue Monster in Florida, and at the Walt Disney in Orlando.

Once he turned 50 years of age, Durant went onward with his peer group to the Champions Tour where at age 51 he teamed up with Billy Andrade to win the two man Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri, beating a pair of past Masters champs in Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam. The following year Durant won individually on the Champions Tour with a victory at the 3M Championship in Minnesota. Two years later the captured the Chubb Classic in Naples, Florida beating out a fivesome that included Steve Stricker, David Toms,

Billy Mayfair, Lee Janzen, and Tim Petrovic. It took another three years before he won again, this time at the 2021 Ally Championship in Michigan. That win was especially noteworthy as he held off Bernhard Langer to win by one stroke. This past weekend Durant was spectacularly solid as he carved out rounds of 6766-67 for a -13 under par 200 and a two stroke victory over the threesome of Sacramento's Kevin Sutherland, Steven Alker, and Jerry Kelly.

So why exactly does

Joe Durant seem to win on occasion over a 37 year period of time? True he doesn't run off victories by the handful, and yet it is very rare that a professional golfer can keep his PGA Tour card and Champions Tour card and find a way to get to the finish line in victory lane in the way that Durant does. He never seemed to slump or have a bad campaign.

Most of Joe Durant's statistics don't tell any sort of a story. He averages

283 yards off the tee and that's good enough for 36th place. He's 38th in driving accuracy and when it comes to extracting himself from the sand, he's also middle of the pack at 36th. Keep in mind that most senior tour events only have 78 contestants. His short game suffers in comparison as Durant is 79th in scrambling, 71st in overall putting, and 65th when it comes to three putt avoidance.

However there is one important aspect of the game that Joe Durant has always excelled at. It is in the category of hitting greens in regulation. Currently he is ranked fourth in hitting the greens and having a chance at a birdie putt. It would appear that the times that Joe Durant wins or is somewhere near the top of the leader board, he is knocking his iron shots onto the green and some weeks they are closer to the flagstick than normal. Remember that we're talking about top notch professionals. None of them are poor putters. It's just that some are better than others. There are weeks when Durant hits it to 20 feet and then there are other weeks when he's making tap-in birdies.

Which bring us back to the Rocco Mediate Show on PGA Tour Radio. Rocco had a great stat for his listeners. From 2000 through

2008, Joe Durant led the PGA Tour in greens in regulation for five of those seasons. Keep in mind that this was during the heyday of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, and Padraig Harrington. Yes, for five seasons Durant hit more greens in regulation that anyone else on tour. Those other four years? Well, Tiger was number one in greens on three occasions and Sergio Garcia led the circuit another time. This is pretty heady company for a golfer I have always been comfortable in calling a journeyman. Yet there is no doubt that the numbers don't lie. Throughout the course of his long career, Joe Durant has always found a way to get it onto the green. Those five wins on the PGA Tour and now those four victories on the Champions Tour were weeks when he simply hit his iron shots closer to the flagstick than anyone else. It's a good way to keep your tour card year in and year out.

You don't have to have the total game of a Jack Nicklaus or a Tiger Woods to be effective in the world of professional golf. You can putt like

Ben Crenshaw or Bobby Locke to win. You can be an iron master in the way Tommy Armour was to win and in the way Joe Durant does nowadays.