Virginia Golfer September / October 2014 | Page 35

player came to me. By the end of that first
year, I was the guest speaker at the Georgia
Section of the PGA’s annual meeting. This
idea started taking the section by storm, and
any time you can apply a theory that leads
to better results in golf, that’s something
pretty dramatic.
Lo and behold, I wrote a little thought
piece, which was called “Mastery Versus Ego
In Golf” that I photocopied. This was before
e-mail and the Internet. It started making its
way around the southeast and I started getting
phone calls from people, high and low. One
of those was Heath Slocum, then a rookie
on the PGA Tour. Within a couple of weeks,
he almost won at Hilton Head. Then Davis
Love III called me, followed by other PGA
Tour players.
I went to spend time with Jack Nicklaus
at Murfield in Dublin, Ohio, near his place.
Then he made his first cut on the PGA Tour
in two years and he was asked why. He said,
‘There’s a young fellow staying with me at my
house this week and he’s reminding me of the
way I used to play golf.’
When Nicklaus went out and, to a degree,
attributed it to me, it just sort of took off.
VG: It isn’t easy to gain Nicklaus’ trust.

How did that happen?
DR. VALIANTE: For sure. While staying
with him, I was working with his son, Gary.
After a few days, Jack was skeptical and very
resistant at first. But then he largely agreed
with