WAIKOLOA — Taking a golf lesson from a PGA Tour professional is a rare opportunity, but at Waikoloa Beach Resort during the month of July, all it takes is a phone call.
Bob May — who famously dueled Tiger Woods to a playoff at the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla Country Club in Louisville, Kentucky — is taking all ages for group or individual instruction any day of the week, beginning as early as 6:30 a.m. and as late as 5 p.m. A five-day junior clinic is also being offered July 17-21.
May is a proponent of the “swing the handle” method of teaching, which he learned as a junior golfer in Southern California. At age 11 he began taking lessons from the legendary “Little Pro,” Eddie Merrins, at Bel-Air Country Club. Merrins saw something special in the young man, as he devoted every Sunday morning at 7 a.m. to giving May lessons.
“The method I teach, which I learned from Little Pro, is simple, but effective. It is, ‘swing the handle, not the club head,’” May said. “If you get your hands set on the club the right way, and move it with the right muscles — which are the forearms — it’ll get you in the right position without really thinking about it. It will naturally happen. The big muscles follow the forearms. The forearms are connected to the hands, which are connected to the handle. If we get the handle moving with the forearms, everything else is going to follow.”
Not only did May get invaluable instruction from Merrins that has served him throughout his professional career and now as a respected teacher in his own right, but he met some of the giants of the game.
“Little Pro would call me and tell me he had a friend he wanted to introduce me to,” May said. “I’d show up and one week it would be Byron Nelson, the next week it would be Lee Trevino. He was friends with all the greats of the game, and it was such an honor for me to meet these legends when I was just starting out.”
Apparently, the lessons with Merrins and exposure to his “friends” paid off. May became an All-American in high school and by age 16 he had set many of the junior golf records in Southern California, most later broken by a young Tiger, and qualified to play in the 1985 Los Angeles Open.
It is well chronicled that Tiger, seven years younger than May, taped May’s records to his bedroom wall and one day hoped to break them.
“I just wanted to hopefully one day win as many tournaments as he did,” Tiger said.
May excelled on the golf team at Oklahoma State University, earning NCAA All-American honors three times, and a No. 5 U.S. ranking by Titleist and Golfweek. He was a member of the victorious 1991 Walker Cup team alongside Phil Mickelson and David Duvall.
May turned pro in 1994, playing on the European Tour for several years, where he won the prestigious British Masters in 1999 by a stroke over defending champion Colin Montgomerie.
But he might very well be remembered best for the tournament he didn’t win, the 2000 PGA Championship, that featured one of the most memorable final rounds in the history of golf. May and Woods were paired together in the last group that Sunday, and matched each other shot for shot, birdie for birdie, each carding a 31 on the back nine and a 66 on the day to force a three-hole playoff.
At the time, Woods was at the height of his prowess, with 14 wins in his previous 27 events, including back-to-back major wins that summer at the U.S. Open by 15 strokes at Pebble Beach, and the Open Championship by eight strokes at St Andrews.
Going into the day, May said, “I knew he would be playing a different golf course. But I told my caddie if we can beat up on old man par we might have a chance.”
This is something he teaches.
“I’m never playing against another player … I’m playing against the golf course. Winning a golf tournament is not the goal; winning a tournament is the reward for reaching your goals,” May said.
In the playoff, May and Woods again matched one another stroke for stroke, neither giving an inch. Woods finally won with a spectacular bunker shot and tap-in putt on the third playoff hole, and immediately walked over to May and gave him an embrace, acknowledging the well-fought battle.
“This is one of the greatest duels I’ve had in my life,” Woods said after the playoff. “Bob played his heart out.”
It looked like a turning point for May, and he had breakout years on the PGA Tour in 2000, 2001 and 2002. In addition to pushing Tiger to the brink at the PGA Championship, he won more than $2 million in prize money and finished in the top 25 more than 20 times during that span, raising him to the elite level of the PGA Tour.
Unfortunately, May said, “I injured my back at the Byron Nelson in 2003 and didn’t touch a club for more than two years.”
He made a comeback in 2006-2007, finishing second once and in the top 10 several times, but the pinched nerves he experienced a few years earlier and the nagging pain that ensued never really allowed him to compete at the level he knew he was capable of on a consistent basis.
“Plus,” May said, “my kids were getting a little older and my focused shifted to them. I wanted to change my quality of life.”
The decision to start a golf academy and share his insights into the swing and the mental side of the game came to him one day on the practice range in his hometown of Las Vegas.
“A buddy of mine who owned the course said, ‘You should open a golf academy,’” May said. So with his friend, Jeff Gallagher, another PGA Tour standout, he did just that. “I used to travel in a big bus when on tour and Jeff used to travel with me quite a bit.”
The two traveling buddies launched the Bob May Golf Academy in 2012, with a home base at TPC Las Vegas, in addition to having spent his Julys on Hawaii Island since 2014.
In addition to teaching swing mechanics, May equally emphasizes the mental side of the game.
“I learned so much from Merrins,” he said, “I was always thought of as a non-emotional player, but that’s what Little Pro taught me. He said he shouldn’t be able to tell if I was playing good or bad … you don’t want to be on an emotional roller coaster on the golf course. Getting nervous or upset is natural, but it’s what you do with it that makes a difference. If you are properly prepared and emotionally in check, then you are ready to play your best and reach your goals.”
While most golfers he teaches may not be in a playoff with Tiger Woods anytime soon, nor playing against the best players in the world on the PGA Tour, May’s teaching philosophies can help anyone become a better player, whether their goal is to break 100 for the first time or 80 for the first time.
“Is there a perfect golf swing?” May asked. “To me, a good golf swing is something that’s going to repeat itself all the time. Jim Furyk is a great example. It may not be the prettiest swing, but it’s repeatable. I feel very fortunate to have played at the highest levels of the game. But for me, it is equally rewarding to be able to share my knowledge and give back to the game that has given so much to me.”
Spoken like a true champion.
Bob May Golf Academy info: https://www.waikoloabeachgolf.com/rates-specials/bob-may-academy