AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — One was a young teenager in Ohio whose family was moving to Texas. Another was a college kid at Kansas looking for help with his swing. And then there was Scottie Scheffler, a 6-year-old in New Jersey whose mother had taken a C-suite job at a Dallas law firm.
At different times, in different parts of the country, they all got the same advice when they left for Dallas: Call Randy Smith at Royal Oaks.
“I met Randy and he gave me the evil eye — ‘Whose pushing this kid?’” said Scott Scheffler, the father of the defending Masters champion. "I said, ’Sir, I'm not pushing this kid. This kid is pushing me. He wants to hit golf balls. I need someone to help me.'"
The first visit to Royal Oaks was on Mother's Day. Smith recalls a tiny kid with a long back swing who repeatedly made solid contact during a session that lasted nearly two hours. His parents took out a loan and joined Royal Oaks the next day.
So began a relationship with the only swing coach Scheffler has ever had through some 90 junior titles, three All-American seasons at Texas, two Masters green jackets, one Olympic gold medal and the No. 1 world ranking for a longer stretch than anyone this side of Tiger Woods.
“He's getting crazier and crazier by the day," Scheffler said playfully of his 73-year-old mentor. "But he's like a savant when it comes to the golf swing, he really is. The more I'm able to communicate to him how I'm feeling and the things that I want to feel in my golf swing, the better he gets at teaching.
“He's the only person, really, that I’ve consulted with my swing my whole life,” he said. “He’s kind of the driving force behind what I do.”
As famous as Scheffler has become — especially as he goes for his third Masters title in the last four years — Smith is not defined by the success of his star pupil.
Scheffler is but the most recent in a long line of kids whose game Smith nurtured from before they were old enough to drive a golf cart.
“For Randy to have taught multiple players from when they were really young all the way until they get on the tour is something pretty rare,” Scheffler said.
Justin Leonard and Harrison Frazar. Ryan Palmer and Colt Knost. Hunter Mahan and Gary Woodland, who drove eight hours from Kansas only to realize he had the wrong date. He made the trip twice, and it was worth it. “His voice is a big voice in my head. He means everything to me,” Woodland said.
There also have been Dallas transplants over the year like Anthony Kim, Martin Laird and most recently Si Woo Kim.
But the numbers that define Smith are 18 national awards from the PGA of America, including professional of the year (1996) and teacher of the year (2002). And beyond the dozen or so juniors that earned PGA Tour cards are the hundreds of kids who earned college scholarships.
“Coaches normally get tour players after they become tour players. He was the O.G. of developing tour players when they were kids, and he mentored me in doing that," said Jamie Mulligan, the longtime pro at Virginia Country Club in Long Beach, California. Mulligan's stable of kids-turned-tour players include Patrick Cantlay.
More than one player has referred to Smith as a father figure. Knost, who in 2007 won the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Amateur Public Links, was the one who moved to the Dallas area from Ohio.
“There was a PGA professional in Ohio who reached out to my mom and said, ‘I think he should go see Randy Smith,’” Knost said. “I don't know if he even knew Randy. But Randy agreed to see me. He turned me into the player I am. He's the main reason I wanted to go to SMU, to stay close to him.”
Smith, with his West Texas drawl and no-nonsense doctrine, keeps it simple. He's more about finding answers in the ...
