Giving Back to the Game
VG : What are three words that describe your golf personality ? Phillips : Welcoming , encouraging , supportive . Not everyone is going to play at a college level or a low amateur but if they can enjoy the game and learn to love the game , I think that ’ s the bottom line . Golf mirrors life in so many ways . Bad breaks in golf ; bad breaks in life — how do you handle those and how do you recover from those ? It ’ s not about the good shots or the good moments in life , it ’ s about keeping the bad stuff not so bad .
VG : What is the best piece of advice you have received ( out of tons and tons )? Phillips : Do what you love . Even when people aren ’ t looking , do the right thing relative to the rules of the game . Keep working . Show up on time . There ’ s a bazillion of them . I ’ ve been fortunate to meet a lot of PGA professionals and the late Carol Mann gave me some great advice . She signed something that said , “ Do well in school first , and then golf .” I didn ’ t take that point to heart . I wish I had . I wasn ’ t a good student . I was a good golfer and pursued that more . I ’ ve been fortunate to have a lot of talented people support me .
VG : What do you think of the 12-hole concept at Belmont ? Phillips : I think 12 holes for the average player is a perfect round . I think people start getting fatigued . You know one of the complaints about golf is that it takes too much time . Twelve holes won ’ t take too much time . You ’ ll get around quickly . It ’ s going to be in great shape . It ’ s going to be a great layout ; they put enough money into it ; I think it will be very , very playable and enjoyable to be out there . I think it works .
We need to make the game more enjoyable , with fewer hurdles to cross . People don ’ t want to play too far of a distance . You wouldn ’ t go down a ski slope you couldn ’ t handle . Some of these people can ’ t handle playing all the way back . I feel like we should put players at a golf course ( yardage ) that they can realistically have an opportunity to par .
VG : Can golf sustain the current boom driven by the pandemic ?
After a 32-year run at Windy Hill Sports Complex , Janet Phillips now teaches at Bogey ' s Sports Park in Richmond .
Phillips : I think you are going to find families going back to other sports , but what will help keep it going is that so many new golfers picked up the game . Hopefully the game isn ’ t so hard that they are ready to do something else . I was quite worried when Top Golf and Drive Shack came to town that they could really affect our play . It did in the exact opposite way I thought it would . Seventy-five percent of the people who go there don ’ t own a golf club , but they got the bug . They want to keep trying something a little more affordable . Windy Hill has been grassroots to the game . That ’ s the first place they go , and they pick it up . So it really gave us a boost .
VG : What about the equal pay issue ? Does it spill over into the golf teaching profession ? Phillips : I think it does . Most of the head golf professionals in the industry are men . Claudia Ferrini down at Williamsburg
National , a female head golf professional , does an amazing job . I would say the equal pay on that part is coming . We ’ re doing the same type of job , and we deserve the same income .
VG : What is a good age to introduce children to golf ? Phillips : I was 8 years old when I started . There ’ s really no age that is too late but if you think your child has good hand-eye coordination and likes sports … the younger you start them the better . Make it fun . Kids swing so much faster than adults do because adults are thinking and are afraid to miss . Kids aren ’ t afraid to miss . They just want to see it get up in the air and hit the tractor .
VG : If you had one round to play , where would it be ? Phillips : Pebble Beach because I have never played it .
CHRIS LANG
24 V IRGINIA G OLFER | J ULY / A UGUST 2021
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